Biden's decision to drop out crystallized Sunday. His staff knew one minute before the public did

It was never President Joe Biden’s intention to leave the race. Up until he decided to step aside Sunday, he was all in. His campaign was planning fundraisers and events and setting up travel over the next few weeks. But even as Biden was publicly dug in and insisting he was staying in the race, he was quietly reflecting on the disaster of the past few weeks, on the past three years of his presidency and on the scope of his half-century career in politics. In the end, it was the president’s decision alone, and he made it quietly, from his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.