Despite the growing revolt, Biden rejects the call to step down
US President Joe Biden committed to remain in the White House campaign on Friday, rejecting a rising Democratic party dissent that has led to rumors that he could step down as early as this weekend.
The stakes are great, and the option is obvious. “We will win together,” the 81-year-old stated in a statement from his Delaware Beach home, where he is under Covid isolation.
“I look forward to getting back on the campaign trail next week,” Biden said, as his doctor confirmed the president was recovering from the disease’s symptoms.However, Biden’s political health appeared to be in even worse shape, with ten additional House Democrats and two senators publicly calling on him to withdraw from the November race against Donald Trump.
A disastrous debate performance against Trump three weeks ago triggered panic about Biden’s age and health. More than 30 House Democrats and four senators have now called on him to drop out.
A key donor, Silicon Valley investor Michael Moritz, also joined other supporters such as actor George Clooney who want Biden to make way.
“Sadly, President Biden has a choice — vanity or virtue,” the New York Times quoted Moritz as saying.
With reports that top Democrats have also expressed concerns, polls showing Trump on course for a return to the Oval Office, and fundraising drying up, the walls appeared to be closing in.
NBC News reported that some of Biden’s family had “discussed what an exit from his campaign might look like” although there was no final decision to do so.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the front-runner to succeed him as the Democratic presidential candidate if Biden does drop out, was holding an emergency call with donors on Friday.
Biden’s campaign however pushed back against reports that he would bow out, saying that while there had been some “slippage” in support, he was still the best candidate.
“Absolutely the president’s in this race,” campaign chairwoman Jen O’Malley Dillon told MSNBC’s Morning Joe program. “Joe Biden is more committed than ever to beat Donald Trump.”
– ‘Dark vision’ –
Biden’s statement criticized his rival’s speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Thursday, claiming that “Donald Trump’s dark vision for the future is not who we are as Americans.”
However, the contrast between the two campaigns has been dramatic, with Trump receiving a jubilant welcome from freshly unified Republicans after surviving an assassination attempt on Saturday.
The pressure on Biden has increased in the previous 48 hours, with claims that former President Barack Obama, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and the party’s congressional leaders have all expressed worry behind the scenes.
On Friday, top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries was vague, stating that the “ticket that exists right now is the ticket we can win on” but that it was Biden’s “decision to make.”
The stage may now be set for Biden’s most important weekend as president, with media speculation that the US leader is utilizing his time hunkered down at Rehoboth Beach to speak with family members and consider his next steps.
According to the NBC story, he might use a “carefully calculated plan” to stand down based on his own timeline, giving some respect to what would be a historically late decision by a sitting US president not to run.
Any move by Biden to step down less than four months before the election would have to try to avoid disruption in the Democratic Party over his replacement as nominee.
Biden beat Trump in 2020, becoming the oldest president in US history in the process.
But a series of polls have shown him trailing Trump in the 2024 race despite his rival being a convicted felon, while some polls show Harris as more competitive.
AFP
