We may be seeing the beginnings of a palace revolt, and the thing about palace revolts is this: They can be nasty. 

In this case, an anonymous White House "official" has told The Atlantic, as Fox News reports, that a serious screw-up by Joe Biden at the NATO summit may be the thing that finally forces him out of the 2024 presidential race — and allows the Democrats to salvage anything.

A White House official told The Atlantic that President Biden making a public gaffe at the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., might be fatal to his campaign. 

"This is a terrible thing to say," an anonymous White House official told The Atlantic in a story published Wednesday. "But that might be the only thing that could force him out at this point, while there’s still time to rewrite the ending."

Biden's performance at the NATO summit this week has come under increased scrutiny amid concerns about the president's cognitive health and ability to serve. 

It's not a terrible thing to say, not at all; Biden's continued presence in the Oval Office, much less the presidential race, poses a national security threat, and the other NATO nations have to know this. But one can see how a Democrat might think it's terrible. This anonymous "White House official" is almost certainly a partisan Democrat somewhere within the Biden operation who is saying this and might be growing desperate at this point to force old Joe out. His initial forays into the NATO summit were anything but encouraging.

See Related: Biden Botches Quote at NATO Summit, What He Says Instead Is a Revelatory Freudian Slip 

Biden's Weird Greeting of British PM Starmer and Befuddled NATO Dinner Remarks 

Note as well the description of this anonymous commenter as an "official." This isn't some mid-grade flunky here; this is a person with some stature in the administration. Whoever this is is not a "staffer" or an "administration worker" but an "official," which term is generally used to describe a more senior person.

At least one columnist at The Atlantic was willing to go on the record.

Atlantic columnist Mark Leibovich said that Biden was a danger to the country. 

"Never underestimate the destructive power of a stubborn old narcissist with something to prove," Leibovich wrote. 

"President Joe Biden, 81, is acting like one of history’s most negligent and pigheaded leaders at a crucial moment, and right now, we are all pedestrians," he added. 

For once, someone at this reliably liberal (but not insane) publication is getting it right. Joe Biden is, in all candor, a clear and present danger to our national security. If that famous (or infamous) 3 AM phone call came tonight, there is nobody in the White House Residency capable of answering or making any kind of meaningful decision; our nation would likely be in the hands of Jill Biden in such an event or worse, Hunter.

At this juncture, it doesn't look as though Joe Biden can be persuaded to leave voluntarily. He has dug in his heels, or rather, his family has dug his heels in for him; their continued security depends on old Joe's remaining at the levers of power, even if he sits there wondering which lever will deliver him his pre-nap pudding cup. The Democrats, if they want him out, are going to have to remove him. Oh, he may surprise us all — he may decide to leave on his own, citing health issues (and thus belaboring the obvious to an incredible degree) or the desire to "spend more time with his family," which may include visiting son Hunter in the Crowbar Hilton. But at this point, it looks like he intends to be difficult. 

The longer he hangs on, the more embarrassing it gets. The longer he hangs on, the happier Donald Trump is. The longer he hangs on, the greater the odds are for the GOP to take the troika this November, House, Senate, and White House.