As we've discussed here previously, one of the most instructive indicators of how a political campaign is doing is found in their fundraising numbers. Those are even more indicative than polling numbers. People don't like flushing their money into something they see as a lost cause and they don't seek to purchase influence from someone who probably won't be in a position to do anything for them. Using that rule of thumb, the outlook is far from brilliant for Team Biden at the moment. Their own campaign team is quietly telling reporters this week that Biden's fundraising numbers are already "disastrous." Whether you're talking about small-dollar donors or the big bundlers, another staffer said that the money "has absolutely shut off." At the same time, Donald Trump continues to rake in dollars after every event he holds. (NY Post)

The Biden campaign has struggled to reap donations in the aftermath of President Biden’s dismal debate against former President Donald Trump, according to a report. 

Contributions from large donors alone could be down by more than half this month and are lower across the spectrum, according to NBC News.

“It’s already disastrous,” a source close to the re-election effort told the outlet about the state of fundraising for the Biden campaign.

“The money has absolutely shut off,” another person close to the campaign said.

Former donors told NBC News this week that they were left with a "negative impression" after a recent fundraising call with the President. It shouldn't be much of a mystery why that would be. While it's true that the debate was nothing short of a debacle, Biden's ABC interview didn't go all that much better. This morning, CNN was describing today's planned press conference as " a critical test" for the President. I posed a question about this on social media earlier today. At what point did it become some sort of challenge or traumatic experience for a politician to take a few questions from the media? Most candidates and elected officials will knock people to the ground in an effort to get in front of the microphone and score some free earned media mileage. 

If Biden's own people are in a panic over whether or not he can stand up under the pressure of having reporters ask him questions for fifteen minutes at 5:30 in the afternoon, what do they expect him to do at two o'clock in the morning when the phone rings and someone tells him that China just opened fire on Taiwan? How will he respond when Russia decides to arrest some more American citizens and hold them hostage in a Moscow prison? Based on how some of Russia's current hostages are fairing, we probably shouldn't get our hopes up very high.

The Democrats may be moving toward lining back up behind Biden because they are resigned to the idea that he will refuse to leave the race of his own volition. But we're continuing to see donors fleeing like rats from a sinking ship. Even previously reliable Hollywood celebrities are refusing to take Biden's calls at this point. Foreign leaders from our own allied nations in NATO are expressing concerns over Biden's ability to shoulder the burden. This isn't just a question of who is going to hand Joe Biden the pen to sign the next tax bill into law. We're talking about issues of national security and even global security. Biden's policies, particularly involving the border have created enough of a crisis. But now we're stuck wondering how or even if Biden can respond if any of those crises blow up into full-scale emergencies.

The fundraising issue may be what it takes to catch the attention of Biden's handlers. That's a glaring red flag. But it's unlikely to sway Jill Biden at this point and won't matter a bit to Hunter Biden, who is only concerned about his own freedom. Sadly, they are the two people who are probably most in control of Joe's path forward from here.