The Washington Post reports “As panic and confusion over President Biden’s faltering debate performance swept the ranks of Democratic lawmakers late last week, Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) informed a few key allies that he would soon break with Biden in an interview on a Sunday news show, a high-profile defection that would underscore the president’s weakness,”.”Democrats feared who recently registered as an independent but caucuses with Democrats would call for Biden to step aside. If he did, the senator would then become the first prominent elected official allied with the party to call for Biden to exit the presidential race.”