Facing mounting pressure to drop his re-election bid, President Joe Biden said only the “Lord Almighty” could convince him to step down in his first interview after his disastrous debate performance, and while some allies are sticking by him, others renewed calls for Biden to step down—with at least one new Congress member joining them.
President Joe Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos he would refuse to take a neurological and ... [+]
Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn.: The House Democrat became the fifth sitting congressional Democrat to call on Biden to step down from the race “for the next generation of leadership,” citing Biden’s poor debate performance and his “lack of a forceful response” after the debate, joining Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, Raul Grijalva of Arizona and Seth Moulton of Massachusetts.
Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill.: The Democrat, who previously called on Biden to end his re-election campaign, told CNN he found some of Biden’s responses in the interview “disturbing,” arguing Biden lacks the “vigor necessary to overcome the deficit” in polling against former President Donald Trump.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas: The House Democrat also doubled down on his call for Biden to step aside, arguing in a CNN interview Friday night Biden’s retirement “more urgent tonight than when I first called for it.”
David Axelrod: The former Obama advisor, and one of the first Democrats to raise concerns over Biden’s mental acuity, argued Biden is “dangerously out-of-touch with the concerns people have about his capacities moving forward and his standing in the race” in a post on X (former 2020 Democratic candidate Julian Castro reposted that statement).
Other Democrats coalesced around Biden: Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., said “Joe Biden is our guy,” while Biden ally Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., argued Biden “clearly laid out the truth” in his interview, and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said on X that Biden “has delivered remarkable progress for the American people,” adding Biden “has plans to do even more in his next term.”
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In a post on Truth Social, Trump said Biden “should ignore his many critics and move forward, with alacrity and strength, with his powerful and far reaching campaign,” mockingly urging Biden to be “sharp, precise and energetic, just like he was in The Debate.” Trump has repeatedly targeted Biden’s mental acuity, a series of vocal gaffes and stumbles.
Biden downplayed the severity of his lethargic, whispery and at times, incoherent, debate performance in ABC’s sit-down interview Friday night, claiming the debate was simply a “bad episode.” Biden, who has attributed the rocky debate to a cold and lengthy travel, rejected the notion his slow and sometimes confused responses at the debate were the result of a larger condition, a concern raised by several Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In the 22-minute interview on Friday, Biden argued he’s up for four more years in the White House, though at times in the interview, Biden made several verbal blunders and rambled off, and spoke with a raspy, whispery voice. Biden also rejected the idea of an independent cognitive test, saying “every day I have that test” as president.
If Biden steps down before the Democratic National Convention starting Aug. 19, the party could hold an open convention, an old-fashioned style of selecting a nominee at the convention that hasn’t been used since 1968. If there’s enough time, some Democrats and pundits have suggesting holding debates, town halls or polling to get a pulse on which potential replacement candidate is well supported by voters, while Clyburn said Democrats could hold a “mini primary” to determine who could challenge Trump in November.
Several Democrats have been suggested as potential replacements, including Vice President Kamala Harris, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, though Newsom and Whitmer have all rejected calls to run, while Harris has expressed support for Biden’s reelection. The only Democrat polling better than Biden in a hypothetical match with Trump is Michelle Obama, who maintained a 50%-39% lead over the former president in a post-debate Ipsos poll (the former first lady is an implausible candidate). Biden was locked in a 40%-40% tie with Trump in the poll, though other polls have him down several points to Trump, and FiveThirtyEight shows Trump with a 42.2%-39.6% lead over Biden, according to its weighted polling average (independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. comes in a distant third with 9.8% support in FiveThirtyEight’s polling average).