Joe Biden “Needs To Step Aside,” Netflix Co-Founder Reed Hastings Says In Latest MegaDonor Blow To POTUS

Dominic Patten

3 July 2024 at 6:47 pm·3-min read

The donor dam has broken on Joe Biden.

Just hours after Watchmen boss Damon Lindelof wrote a guest column for Deadline calling for the 81-year-old incumbent to bow out of the 2024 election after a truly terrible debate performance last week, Netflix’s co-founder Reed Hastings is publicly advocating POTUS walk away.

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“Biden needs to step aside to allow a vigorous Democratic leader to beat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous,” the deep pocket donor to both Biden’s 2020 and 2024 campaigns said Friday, The Netflix board chair’s correspondence was first reported by the New York Times. Deadline has seen the email Hastings sent.

Netflix has not responded to request for comment on Hastings’ statement. If and when they do, this post will be updated.

Having stepped back from his co-CEO role at the global streamer in early 2023, Hastings and spouse Patty Quillin gave the Biden-Harris reelection campaign $100,000 last year. During the 2020 race, the couple handed over more than $1.6 million to the former Vice President’s ultimately successful effort to defeat Donald Trump.

Earlier today, as events moved further into high gear, Biden told White House staff and campaign workers on separate conference calls that he wasn’t even thinking about leaving. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre added to that, insisting POTUS is “clear-eyed” and on the job.

The spin wasn’t getting much traction.

To that, Hastings’ remarks hit as Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are meeting right now in the White House with Democratic governors in-person and virtually on the debate debacle and poll dives that followed.

Attending are Gov. Tim Walz, Minnesota, Chair, Democratic Governors Association and Gov. Laura Kelly, Kansas, Vice Chair, Democratic Governors Association, with the latter there remotely. Also joining virtually (*) and in-person are Gov. Katie Hobbs, Arizona *, Gov. Gavin Newsom, California, Gov. Jared Polis, Colorado *, Gov. Ned Lamont, Connecticut *, Gov. John Carney, Delaware, Mayor Muriel Bowser, District of Columbia, Gov. Josh Green, Hawaii *, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Illinois, Gov. Andy Beshear, Kentucky, Gov. Janet Mills, Maine *, Gov. Wes Moore, Maryland and Gov. Maura Healey, Massachusetts.

Potential future Oval Office contender Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan is there too, with Gov. Roy Cooper, North Carolina *, Gov. Phil Murphy, New Jersey *, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, New Mexico *. Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York, and Gov. Tina Kotek, Oregon *. With the New York Times reporting that a Biden alley says the president knows the heat is on, Gov. Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania *, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico *, Gov. Dan McKee, Rhode Island, Gov. Albert Bryan Jr., U.S. Virgin Islands * and Gov. Jay Inslee, Washington * are also in the building to listen to and talk to POTUS and VPOTUS today.

Despite the flurry of calls and Zoom conferences with donors by campaign staffers and scripted appearances by the 81-year-old POTUS since his often incoherent debate stint on June 27 on CNN, a rising tide of lawmakers and others have taken to cable news to plead with Biden to exit the race. As it stands right now, under the Democrats’ rules and fundraising regulations, the obvious replacement would be Harris, but the fast moving situation is becoming more and more of a blur.

This being America, it is the money that truly talks.

Saying publicly what many have been expressing over the past week, Lindelof and now Hastings may be the first to call to for Biden to step aside — but going into the 4th of July holiday, rest assured they won’t be the last.

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