As of Friday, it looked like President Joe Biden was resisting calls to exit the race. His campaign pushed back strongly on the idea that he was even considering ending his re-election campaign.
Minutes ago, however, the dam broke open and Biden says he’s leaving the race, according to NBC News:
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he will end his presidential re-election campaign, bringing an abrupt and humbling conclusion to his half-century-long political career and scrambling the race for the White House just four months before Election Day.
Biden, 81, could not reverse growing sentiment within his party that he was too frail to serve and destined to lose to Donald Trump in November.
“While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote in a letter posted on X. “I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision.”
Biden thanked Vice President Kamala Harris for “being an extraordinary partner” but did not endorse her to be his replacement as the Democratic Party presidential nominee in his letter.
The immediate question that the Biden administration needs to answer is why a man who is unfit to run for president is still fit to serve as president. The obvious answer is that he’s not fit, he should probably resign from the presidency as well. That’s probably a bridge too far but one that Democrats will be stuck on for the next few months.
It’s a point the Trump campaign made, via its newly minted VP nominee, hours ago before Biden’s announcement:
Everyone calling on Joe Biden to *stop running* without also calling on him to resign the presidency is engaged in an absurd level of cynicism.
If you can't run, you can't serve.
He should resign now.
— JD Vance (@JDVance1) July 20, 2024
As another X user put it, Democrats destroyed their own democratic process because their side was losing to Donald Trump:
Joe just dropped out.
The Democratic elite, corporate media, and billionaire donors successfully pressured the candidate chosen by Democratic primary voters to drop out because he's down in the polls and losing.
Democrats destroy democracy in pursuit of power. pic.twitter.com/mKOydeqDpM
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) July 21, 2024
The notion that the Democratic Party, which is one of the most undemocratic institutions in America, cares at all about representative democracy is a farce. Biden went through the primaries, which were largely stacked in his favor, of course, and won a runaway bid to become his party’s nominee despite his obvious and numerous shortcomings.
In the end, the party establishment, seeing failure on the wall, has decided he needs to be pushed out in favor of just about anyone else.
What happens next is anyone’s guess.
Biden also made a point just minutes ago to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor:
“My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
Buckle up, this insane election year still has more curveballs on the horizon.
Donate Now to Support Election Central
- Help defend independent journalism
- Directly support this website and our efforts