By The opinion
Jun 28, 2024, 18:55 PM EDT
The New York Times Editorial Board published an op-ed on Friday calling on Democratic President Joe Biden to drop out of the race for re-election in November 2024.
In an unexpected statement from the group of expert opinion journalists who make up the Editorial Board of one of the most important newspapers in the United States and who are separate from the newsroom, Joe Biden is being asked not to continue seeking re-election.
Biden is already the presumptive Democratic nominee and the overwhelming choice of primary voters.
He faced little opposition during the primary season, and the fact that he won nearly all of the party’s delegates means it is highly unlikely that he will be forced out of the race against his will.
But President Joe Biden’s inconsistent performance in the debate with Donald Trump has raised concerns among Democrats and other individuals and organizations worried about whether he will drop out of the presidential race.
The New York Times editorial calls on him to drop out of the race for a second term. “Biden has said he is the candidate with the best chance of confronting this threat of tyranny and defeating it. His argument relies heavily on the fact that he beat Mr. Trump in 2020. That is no longer a sufficient reason to explain why Mr. Biden should be the Democratic nominee this year.”
“In Thursday’s debate, the president needed to convince the American public that he was up to the formidable demands of the office he intends to hold for another term. Yet voters cannot be expected to ignore what was instead plain to see: Mr. Biden is not the man he was four years ago,” the op-ed asserts.
To then affirm that although “Biden has been an admirable president. Under his leadership, the nation has prospered and begun to address a number of long-term challenges, and the wounds opened by Trump have begun to heal. But the greatest public service Biden can perform now is to announce that he will not continue running for re-election.”
President Joe Biden’s campaign insisted Friday that will not abandon the 2024 race, But fractures in the broader Democratic world seeking a last-minute change were growing after Biden’s disastrous debate performance.
Keep reading:
– Trump appears dynamic, but with lies; Biden had lapses, but offers proposals
– The presidential debate lost interest to the public after losing 35% of the audience
– Kamala Harris defended Biden’s debate performance in an interview with Anderson Cooper