Donald Trump attacks ‘Laffin’ Kamala’ as a Covid-stricken Joe Biden faces all-but-certain doom

Joe Biden, who is still in Covid isolation, is said to be ‘seething’ about being betrayed by senior Democrat leaders, especially party elder Nancy Pelosi and ex-president Barack Obama.

US Vice President Kamala Harris stops for ice cream in Washington DC. Picture: Getty Images

Pressure is mounting on Joe Biden to abandon his presidential bid with more than 40 members of congress now publicly calling on him to quit, as Donald Trump went on the attack against the ­potential Democratic replacements at his first public rally since his near-assassination.

The US President, who is still in Covid isolation at his beach home in Delaware, is said to be ­“seething” about being betrayed by ­senior Democrat leaders, especially party elder Nancy Pelosi and former president Barack Obama.

Speculation is mounting that Mr Biden will quit the race in the next few days, despite his aides maintaining that he intends to continue campaigning this week once he ends his Covid ­isolation.

However, the President may seek to delay any announcement until after the visit to Washington of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday local time.

Mr Biden reportedly believes Ms Pelosi has been the mastermind and co-ordinator of the Democrat revolt against him and is also said to believe that Mr Obama is playing a key role ­behind the scenes.

The most important figures in the Democratic Party – Ms Pelosi, Mr Obama, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and house minority leader Hakeem Jeffries – do not believe the 81-year-old President can defeat Mr Trump and fear he will also lose both houses of congress.

Ms Pelosi, Senator Schumer and Mr Jeffries relayed their views to Mr Biden directly, but when he refused to budge, their views were revealed via a series of co-­ordinated media leaks aimed at pressuring Mr Biden to leave the race.

The former Speaker of the House of Representatives did little to quell speculation that she is leading the charge against Mr Biden with a speech to Democratic activists in North Carolina, where she barely mentioned her party’s presumptive nominee.

“Are you ready for a Democratic president? I thought so,” Ms Pelosi told the activists, not mentioning Mr Biden by name.

The Trump campaign team ­believes Mr Biden’s days are numbered and it is preparing new campaign ads and strategies to attack Vice-President Kamala Harris.

Speaking with his new vice-presidential running mate, JD Vance, at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mr Trump mocked Mr Biden and the Democrats for their leadership chaos.

“They have no idea who their candidate is, and neither do we,” he said. “That’s a problem.

“At this very moment, Democrat leaders are … trying to dump Joe Biden.”

After his message of unity at the Republican National Convention in the battleground state of Wisconsin last week, Mr Trump veered back to his signature confrontational tone.

He called the Democrats the “enemies of democracy”, claimed Mr Biden was “crooked”, and said Ms Harris was “nuts”.

“I call her Laffin’ Kamala. You ever watch her laugh? She’s crazy,” he told thousands of supporters in Michigan.

“You can tell a lot by a laugh. No, she’s crazy. She’s nuts.

“She’s not as crazy as Nancy Pelosi. Crazy Nancy.”

Donald Trump with Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance. Picture: Getty Images

Mr Trump also used the Michigan rally to attack that state’s ­“terrible” Democratic Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, whose name has been raised on a shortlist of possible contenders to replace Mr Biden as the candidate.

The large rally was held indoors and with beefed-up Secret Service protection after last week’s shooting of Mr Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The Trump-Vance campaign is reportedly preparing a vast wave of television and social media ­advertisements attacking Ms Harris if she replaces Mr Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, ­focusing on her record as the current administration’s point person on migration.

Polls show Ms Harris is more competitive against Mr Trump than Mr Biden is, but only to a modest degree.

Despite lingering concerns about Ms Harris’s political abilities, many Democrats believe Ms Harris is the most viable candidate to choose with the limited time available and are concerned that a contest could create further divisions within the party.

The Vice-President has reportedly impressed Democratic leaders with a slew of campaign trail appearances in the past fortnight, with potential running mates ­including Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper.

“We are going to win,” Ms Harris told a sellout Democratic fundraiser in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, attended by Hollywood stars and another ­potential running mate, Transport Secretary Pete Butti­gieg.

“It’s not going to be easy. … It takes believing in something and then going for it.”

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Picture: AFP

But Ms Pelosi has told other Democrats that there should be an “open process” to choose a successor to Mr Biden rather than giving the appearance that the party has crowned Ms Harris without a contest.

Other options to lead the Democratic ticket include Ms Whitmer, Mr Shapiro, and California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Since Friday, at least 12 more congressional Democrats have urged Mr Biden to quit the race, ­including high-profile senator Sherrod Brown, who said “I think the President should end his campaign” because the issue was detracting from the “important issues” facing the country.

One of them, Seth Moulton, wrote an opinion piece in which he implied that Mr Biden’s cognitive decline was such that the President “didn’t seem to recognise me” at a recent D-Day commemoration.

Although most Democrats in congress have remained silent, two house Democrats reportedly estimated that on a secret ballot 70 per cent to 80 per cent of their caucus would prefer Mr Biden to withdraw.