Biden is taking himself out of the race — Harris wants to jump in and beat Trump
The pressure is on: US President Joe Biden withdraws from the presidential race. Most important questions and answers.
Image: Andrew Hornick (Getty Images)
What happened?
US President Joe Biden no longer wants to run for a second term in the November election. The Democratic Party announced its withdrawal from the presidential race on social media platforms Instagram, Facebook and X. In recent weeks, the 81-year-old has come under massive pressure within his own party because of his age and mental state.
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The US president received a lot of respect for his decision – but the ill-fated one. Collected reactions to Biden’s decision can be found here.
What reasons does Biden give?
The statement read: “It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve you as President. While it is my intention to run for re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and country that I step down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term. Biden announced in the letter that he would explain the reasons for his resignation later.
Who does he recommend instead?
Minutes after his written statement, he announced via social media that he was now endorsing his running mate Kamala Harris: “Today I want to give my full support and endorsement to Kamal as our party’s nominee this year. Democrats – it’s time to come together and defeat Trump.”
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However, the decision rests with the party representatives from all the states. Harris’ advantage is that he appears to be a natural successor because campaign finance rules require him to be the only one with direct access to the Biden campaign’s campaign funds.
Does Harris even like it?
Yes. Biden’s running mate wants to be the Democratic candidate. “I am honored to have the support of the president and look forward to earning and succeeding in this nomination,” Harris said in a written statement.
What do analysts’ initial estimates say?
There is much speculation about the nature of communication. Viewers are surprised that Joe Biden did not announce his departure via a televised address. It might be related to his covid. Although he is at his home in Delaware, organizing a camera crew would not have been a problem for a US president. CNN analysts are relatively certain that he made the decision himself. His campaign staff only found out about it earlier. He wanted to control the moment.
Joe Biden made the decision himself, CNN correspondent MJ Lee says live at the White House. He reportedly informed his closest colleagues in the presidential campaign at 1:45pm (local time) and a minute later the letter went online on his X account. He concludes that there was no discussion with his staff, and he informed them of the move. Given his dwindling poll numbers in contested states and calls for withdrawal from key donors, he said he made the right decision for the country.
There is a lot of anger and bad blood in Biden’s environment. Among other things, campaign officials are upset that big donors have threatened to withdraw funds. In doing so, they will have constructed a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A campaign adviser told CNN that Biden made the final decision in the last 48 hours. There was no final personal meeting with his top advisers. The president examined the facts and concluded that he would be a burden to the Democratic Party.
What led to his decision?
Battle of Biden After a disastrous appearance in a televised fight against former President Trump It came under heavy criticism in late June. During the exchange of blows, the most powerful man in the world was constantly confused, lost the thread, opened his mouth and stared into space, and could not finish his sentences properly. There were already reservations within the Democratic Party and among the public about Biden’s re-election aspirations because of his age. But after the fight, the debate over Biden’s suitability as the Democratic presidential nominee exploded to a new level — and into full public view.
Historic moment: CNN interrupts its program for “this important, important story.”
After the debate, Biden’s poll numbers again deteriorated significantly. Within his own party, one after another stepped forward to publicly call for Biden to drop out of the presidential race. The President himself initially tried to excuse himself. He explained his poor performance Fatigue from heavy foreign travel. He disobeyed his advisors and jumped the gun. He appeared defiant in various appearances and repeatedly promised that he would not back down. But many mistakes followed. Eventually the pressure from within their own teams became too great.
In the past few days, after contracting the coronavirus, Biden has retreated to his private home in Rehoboth, Delaware and has not held any public meetings. During his forced break, he decided to bow to pressure from his party colleagues.
What does this mean for Democrats now?
Democrats must now change their ways as soon as possible and succession planning. In recent weeks, Kamala Harris has drawn increasing attention as Biden’s running mate. The 59-year-old has so far paled in his vice presidency at Biden’s side, but given his weakness, he has recently won the support of several key party members. Democrats will officially nominate their presidential nominee at their convention in Chicago in mid-August.
Republicans have already officially chosen their presidential candidate, Donald Trump, at the nominating convention in Milwaukee. Until recently, Biden had repeatedly said that only he could defeat Trump.
What is Trump saying?
On the texting service Truth Social, Donald Trump minced his words and wrote: “Corrupt Joe Biden is unfit to run for President and he certainly cannot serve — never will!”
He accused Biden of becoming president “only through lies, fake news and not leaving his base.” Trump also alleged that people close to Biden, his doctor and the media knew Biden “couldn’t serve as president.”
Has anything like this happened before?
Absolutely not — no future presidential candidate has dropped out of the race quite like Biden. His move can be compared to that of President Lyndon Johnson, who announced in March 1968 that he would not seek another term in office in light of the Vietnam War.
With content from news agencies DPA and AFP.
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