“You have legacies, too,” Fetterman said, according to the people, asking what those legacies would become “if you fuck over a great president over a bad debate.”

Then, the first-term senator called the question: Who was with him — committed to sticking with Biden as the party’s nominee?

No more than four people signaled that they were, according to four of the people familiar with the meeting. While not every Senate Democrat was in attendance and some had trickled out of the lunch already, Fetterman, Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois thought Biden should continue.

The paltry show of support for Biden behind closed doors revealed that for all the indecision about whether and how to confront Biden, elected Democrats’ confidence in the president had plunged to a ruinous low. While Senate Democrats have largely kept quiet publicly, Biden may have to plow ahead despite an overwhelming lack of confidence from his former Senate colleagues. The majority of the Democratic caucus left Thursday’s meeting just as, if not more, concerned about the path the party is on with Biden atop the ticket.

At the end of a week that Biden and his top aides hoped would allow them to finally turn the page on the post-debate fallout, the Democratic Party is left floundering in political purgatory. There is no clear path forward as the gulf between the president’s closest advisers, who continue to insist a path to victory still exists, and other party leaders continues to widen. Although Biden’s performance at a closely watched press conference Thursday night did not do major additional damage, more Democrats have continued to come out publicly afterward with calls for the president to end his campaign.

As senators left town Thursday for a weeklong recess, none of those who’d expressed reservations in private had come forth with any public calls for Biden to bow out. Only one senator, Peter Welch (D-Vt.), has publicly called for Biden to step aside. But now, a new resignation is setting in, as many who believe the party might be better off with another nominee don’t see much benefit from further weakening an incumbent who seems determined to push forward.

“I didn’t think that there was anything he could do to reverse this in the moment. And how long has it been? Two weeks? And that appears to be the case. So that doesn’t feel good,” said a Democratic official close to the campaign.

This article is based on interviews with 15 people, including former administration officials, granted anonymity to share details of private conversations, meetings and events over the last week.

Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt didn’t address the party’s tumultuous week in a statement to POLITICO but said the president will be on the road next week speaking to a “diverse base that makes up the Democratic Party.” With scheduled stops in Texas and Nevada and three additional broadcast interviews planned, he will aim to draw a contrast with Trump’s “extremism at the RNC” and Project 2025, the collection of far-right policies from the Heritage Foundation to reshape the government should a Republican return to power.

“The split screen speaks for itself,” she said.

The president’s team orchestrated an aggressive push at the beginning of the week, in an effort to stave off more intraparty calls for the president to step aside as lawmakers returned to Washington and the attention of reporters in the Capitol. Ricchetti, Biden’s most trusted Hill liaison, ramped up outreach to lawmakers, while senior adviser Anita Dunn arranged the president’s surprise call-in appearance on “Morning Joe” and worked with Donilon, now an adviser to Biden’s campaign, to craft the letter to congressional Democrats.

For a moment, the Hill went quiet.

The president on Tuesday delivered a forceful speech that kicked off three days of high-profile meetings at the NATO summit, during which he would try to prove to doubters at home and abroad that he was fit to lead the country for four more years.

That momentum carried into Wednesday, as Biden walked into the room at the AFL-CIO National Headquarters, throwing out an energetic “Hey folks!” as dozens of union leaders jumped up from their seats at the long meeting table and waved their “Unions for Biden-Harris” signs. Their cheers echoed from the walls as Biden shook a few hands and offered a salute to another supporter. He looked out into the room and raised his hands, feigning surprise at the excited crowd, before letting out a “woo!” and flashing a Biden grin. The union leaders, led by AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler, erupted into chants of “four more years.”

The president didn’t mention his devastating debate performance. He didn’t address concerns about his age, other than joking that he’s “only 42.” For just a moment, he got to be Union Joe, reveling in a room of supporters as if the last devastating two weeks hadn’t happened.

But outside those four walls, all hell was breaking loose.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi had just appeared on “Morning Joe,” giving a noncommittal response to whether she supported Biden continuing his reelection bid, a subtle but definitive reopening of the question the Biden camp thought it had closed when the president said he was staying in the race. Hours earlier, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) became the first Senate Democrat to publicly question Biden’s prospects, saying on CNN that he no longer thought the president could win. Contributions from big- and small-dollar donors began to slow, as a growing number of donors and Democratic officials called for him to drop out. And as Pelosi’s comments were reverberating through the Capitol, actor George Clooney — who was with the president at a star-studded campaign fundraiser just three weeks ago — called for him to step aside, saying he was no longer the Joe Biden he once knew. More lawmakers would follow with pleas for Biden to pass the torch, as Biden aides rushed to try and stop another gush of bleeding.

It was a day that encapsulated the harsh reality facing the president’s campaign. His team could scramble to create all the noise they wanted. He could cling to support from Black voters and organized labor. He could host a successful NATO summit and display his foreign policy bonafides. He could travel for energetic rallies and send forceful letters about his intent to stay in the fight. He could sit down for national media interviews and field questions in an hourlong press conference. But there was nothing Biden or his campaign could do to make people unsee what had unfolded on the debate stage two weeks earlier.

“Presidential campaigns don’t end. They run out of money. That’s what’s happening right now,” said one Democratic donor adviser. “Grassroots money, normally, is expensive, and it takes a lot of money to raise that money, so the idea that somehow they’re going to make up high-dollar [donors] with grassroots money is insane.”

A defiant president pulled every lever this week to demonstrate his intent to stay in the race — to prove that he was still the one to beat Donald Trump — but it’s done little to quell the rebellion. Doubts about Biden’s viability are growing among some people inside the White House and campaign operation, as is frustration with the inner circle that many believe is still unwilling to accept the grim political reality.

“Everyone I know who’s involved in this is moving to a place of very real fears about a Republican trifecta,” said a former administration official concerned about what a Trump administration could do with the help of a GOP-controlled Congress. “It’s hard to stomach because we were told this was about saving democracy, and now we’re doing this to protect one guy’s feelings. The despair we all feel is hard to overstate.”

Biden administration aides, who worked behind the scenes all week to reassure wobbly supporters by pointing to polling and economic data showing inflation finally slowing, hoped the president’s appearances at the high-profile NATO summit would serve as a showcase for his work to strengthen the alliance. But news of Biden’s precarious political fate overshadowed the event. World leaders, acutely aware of the president’s plight, found themselves peppered with questions about how a Biden defeat might affect the alliance. Several, from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, were asked to vouch for Biden’s lucidity and performance behind the scenes. They did.

But it didn’t matter. When Biden officials met with Democratic senators on Thursday, Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the two lawmakers facing the toughest reelection bids, did not attend. Just two days earlier, they told colleagues they no longer believed Biden could win.

Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada, another Democrat facing voters in a battleground state this fall, expressed concern to Biden’s aides over whether the president can win her state. She also firmly asked O’Malley Dillon about a campaign memo, leaked that morning, that appeared to prioritize Midwestern states as Biden’s primary path to victory, relegating the Sun Belt states, like Nevada and Arizona, as second-tier, according to two of the five people familiar with the meeting.

O’Malley Dillon said the memo was intended to show confidence in their path to 270 electoral votes, including Nevada and Arizona.

A Rosen campaign spokesperson said in a statement that the senator “will always speak up to ensure our state gets the resources and support needed to help elect Democrats up and down the ballot here,” and she is “confident Democrats will win in November.”

Hours later, Biden was the one facing questions.

Lawmakers, allies and the president’s aides watched closely as Biden fielded questions from reporters for an hour in a high-stakes press conference. He had a few gaffes that gave fodder to his critics, including one before his press conference, when he referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin” before correcting and poking fun at his mistake. And he later called Vice President Kamala Harris, “Vice President Trump.”

Still, his aides saw the news conference as a success. Biden delivered a steady and forceful stream of answers, dismissing concerns about his health and showing off his foreign policy chops — a performance that, had it been delivered at the debate, could have prevented the spiral.

But Biden’s night wasn’t over. After the press conference, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries met privately with the president to convey his caucus’ worries about his electability. It’s not clear if he told the president to withdraw, a move for which many of his members are privately hoping.

The president’s jam-packed week, which included a formal East Room dinner for NATO leaders that went late into the night on Wednesday and political calls and meetings in an already full summit schedule, offered proof, his aides said, of his stamina. “The president said in his one-hour long press conference that he would keep working to allay some of the concerns by being out there,” one Biden aide said.

Democrats awoke Friday morning to another day in limbo. Lawmakers scattered across the country for a week of recess, while Biden forged ahead in Washington. He held more calls with largely reliable allies: the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ political arm, as well as the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. And on Friday evening, he traveled to Detroit, where he delivered remarks linking Trump to the far-right Project 2025 agenda, ahead of another travel blitz next week.

After another week of hand-wringing, many Democrats realize that they’re coming up against a deadline: next week’s Republican convention. Members of the party fear that a continuation of the drip-drip nature of public defections is only further damaging a candidate who appears unwilling to back down.

“It’s time to turn the page as a party and focus on Trump, who has gotten a free pass much of the last two weeks,” said the former administration official. Democratic members of Congress “should continue making the case, whatever their case is, based on the data. But they need to do that quietly now because we’re wasting too much time not focusing on Trump.”

But Biden himself continues to address questions about his health head-on, an indication that he’s aware many Democrats are still struggling to turn the page themselves. During an informal stop at a Northville, Michigan, restaurant Friday evening ahead of the rally, Biden spoke off the cuff for 14 minutes to a room full of supporters, outlining his reasons for running. But as he wrapped up, he insisted — twice — that he remains capable of doing the job.

“I promise you, I’m OK,” he said. “We gotta finish the job. I promise you I am OK.”

Jordain Carney contributed to this report.