Abigail Disney, an heir to the Disney fortune and a major Democratic donor, said she would not give any more money to President Joe Biden or the Democratic National Committee until he steps aside.
Disney, the granddaughter of Roy O. Disney, who cofounded The Walt Disney Company, said Biden and groups supporting him “will not receive another dime from me until they bite the bullet and replace” the president in an email to The New York Times.
Disney went on to tell CNBC that she wasn’t trying to be disrespectful to the president, but rather that she was focusing on “realism.”
“Biden is a good man who has served his country well, but the stakes are far too high to allow timidity to determine our course of action,” she wrote in an email to the network. “If Biden does not step down the Democrats will lose. Of that I am absolutely certain. The consequences for the loss will be genuinely dire.”
HuffPost has reached out to Disney for additional comment.
Tasos Katopodis via Getty Images
The White House remains on damage control following Biden’s disastrous appearance in his debate against former President Donald Trump last week. Biden has met with lawmakers and appealed to voters in recent days, saying his age will not be an issue while vowing to remain in the race.
Privately, the president has spoken with governors to try and assuage their fears. But several congressional Democrats have called on him to step down and some major donors have expressed their own misgivings.
Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings — one of the largest benefactors to Democratic causes in recent years — said earlier this week Biden should end his campaign in order to keep the country “safe and prosperous.”
Disney said Thursday she would throw her weight behind Vice President Kamala Harris if Biden does end his bid, calling her an “excellent” choice who would lead Democrats to a landslide victory.
“If Democrats would tolerate any of her perceived shortcomings even one tenth as much as they have tolerated Biden’s (and let’s not kid ourselves about where race and gender figure in that inequity) and if Democrats can find a way to stop quibbling and rally around her, we can win this election by a lot,” Disney wrote.