In response to calls to withdraw his bid for re-election, President Joe Biden of the United States of America has done so, so bringing the already precarious race for the White House of this year into an unknown terrain.
In the midst of rising criticism from his fellow Democrats, the announcement that was made on Sunday by the oldest serving president in the history of the United States came at a time when more than thirty members of Congress publicly advocated for his departure.
This week, Vice President Joe Biden, who is 81 years old, will deliver a speech to the nation. He stated in a post on X that he will continue to serve as president and commander-in-chief until the conclusion of his term in January 2025.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And 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,” President Joe Biden wrote.
The initial remark that he made did not include an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris; but, a few minutes later, he followed up with an expression of support for her.
In the history of the United States, Harris, who is 59 years old, would make history by being the first Black woman to run at the top of a major party ticket.
As a result of Biden's historic decision, his successor will have fewer than four months to run a campaign. Biden is the first incumbent president to give up his party's candidacy for re-election since President Lyndon Johnson in March of 1968.
After delivering an unstable performance at the first presidential debate of the 2024 election season, Biden was met with wrath from the Democratic Party. He lost his train of thought and struggled to express key talking points, which led to the backlash.
As a result of Biden's inability to finish sentences in a comprehensible manner at times, the public's attention was diverted away from Trump's performance, in which he made a series of fraudulent remarks, and instead focused on questions concerning Biden's suitability for another term in office.
He expressed additional concerns in an interview a few days later, dismissing aside the concerns of Democrats and an increasing deficit in opinion polls. He also stated that he would be happy with losing to Trump if he knew that he would "give it my all."
At a NATO summit, he made a number of mistakes, including calling Harris "Vice President Trump" and referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin by his name when he was actually referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. These mistakes further fueled concerns.
During his campaign trip to Las Vegas, Vice President Joe Biden was forced to cut short his trip because he was diagnosed with COVID-19 for the third time just four days before the announcement on Sunday. He had received public calls from more than one in ten members of the Democratic Party in Congress to withdraw from the contest.
The departure of the 46th President of the United States from the campaign places the Democratic Party in a predicament that has never been seen before. There is just one month left until the Democratic National Convention, and there are less than four months left until the election on November 5.
Whether other top Democrats would challenge Harris for the party's nomination - she was largely considered as the pick for many party officials – or whether the party itself would chose to open the field for nominations remained unknown. It was uncertain which of these two possibilities would occur.
Biden has been under a great deal of strain as of late, according to Mike Hanna of Al Jazeera, who reported from Washington, District of Columbia.
“It is very difficult to say what made him make the decision now. What we do know is that he has been repeatedly insistent that he would not step down … So it comes as a bit of a surprise and a bit of a shock that Biden is saying he will step down after weeks of saying he won’t,” Mike stated.
Netizens were quick to react to President Biden’s latest move. “Joe Biden has been the worst President in my lifetime and Kamala Harris has been right there with him every step of the way. Over the last four years she co-signed Biden's open border and green scam policies that drove up the cost of housing and groceries. She owns all of these failures, and she lied for nearly four years about Biden's mental capacity--saddling the nation with a president who can't do the job. President Trump and I are ready to save America, whoever's at the top of the Democrat ticket. Bring it on,” Senator J.D. Vance, who was introduced as Donald Trump’s running mate under the Republican party, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“Donald Trump donated $6,000 to Kamala D. Harris’s reelection campaign while she was California’s attorney general. He gave $5,000 to Harris’s campaign in September 2011 and $1,000 in February 2013. Ivanka Trump gave Kamala Harris’s campaign $2,000 in 2014,” Art Candee claimed.
“America must be unburdened by what has been,” Ian Miles Cheong responded. “Kamala and Joe are two peas in a rotten pod. It doesn’t matter which one of them is running. They’re both awful,” Paul Zypula commented.
“Kamala Harris is going to destroy you and your orange clown cult leader,” Jules Morgan told J.D. Vance. “You’re running with the worst POTUS of your lifetime, my lifetime and all Americans who have ever lived lifetimes,” Neall stated.
“She has been actively working behind the scenes to COVER UP his cognitive decline - she's just as bad as him!” another netizen penned. “Kamala has NO ACCOMPLISHMENTS ! Her CAREER was boosted in California when she was the MAIN SQUEEZE of Willie Brown - then the Powerful Speaker of the California Assembly. She become Vice President based on her Race & being a Woman, & lots of CHEATING in 2020 ! END DEI !” an X user stated.
Business Times has reached out to President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for comments.
