Biden’s Democratic discontent issues get a little better, and a little worse

Joe Biden’s future looked a little bit less bleak on Tuesday. But there’s no sign that things are turning around for the embattled US president just yet.

As he endures his second week of fallout from his first presidential debate against Donald Trump, the president is set to face another test of the communication and fitness which both failed him during the 90-minute event in Atlanta. Today marked the beginning of the Nato summit in Washington DC — and massive headaches for all the poor saps stuck on the remaining open roads through the heart of the nation’s capital.

Biden’s aides have promised a “big-boy press conference”, a real back-and-forth with the White House press corps in which Biden will appear for an extended amount of time in an unscripted fashion (as opposed to his political rallies or remarks to donors).

On Tuesday, the president received mixed messages from his allies on Capitol Hill. After respective meetings of House and Senate Democrats, Biden saw clear signs for hope in a resigned Jerry Nadler, who over the weekend had called on the president to step aside behind closed doors, telling reporters that his concerns about the president were no longer relevant given the president’s refusal to budge. Others echoed the same sentiment, not out of any newfound confidence in the president but out of understanding that the latter was willing to go down fighting. Generally, most remain positively morose over a sense shared by many that the incumbent president may be such a drag on Democratic support that it costs his party the Senate, puts a House majority out of reach, and results in Donald Trump back in the White House.

Asked by reporters whether his caucus was on the “same page” as he left one of the gatherings