The New York Times Editorial Board has called for Joe Biden to exit the 2024 presidential race following his weak debate performance against Donald Trump.
The editorial comes after the president appeared frail during the Thursday evening debate. His voice was soft and raspy, which his campaign attributed to a cold. He also interrupted himself and gave rambling answers to multiple questions. Vice President Kamala Harris even admitted Biden struggled: “Yes, it was a slow start,” she said Thursday. “That’s obvious to everyone.”
“The president appeared on Thursday night as the shadow of a great public servant,” the board wrote on Friday night. “He struggled to explain what he would accomplish in a second term.
“He struggled to respond to Mr. Trump’s provocations,” the board continued. “He struggled to hold Mr. Trump accountable for his lies, his failures and his chilling plans. More than once, he struggled to make it to the end of a sentence.”
While the editorial board said Biden would be their “unequivocal” pick over Trump, they called on the Democratic party to put forward a new candidate.
“The clearest path for Democrats to defeat a candidate defined by his lies is to deal truthfully with the American public: acknowledge that Mr. Biden can’t continue his race, and create a process to select someone more capable to stand in his place to defeat Mr. Trump in November,” the Board wrote.
“It is the best chance to protect the soul of the nation — the cause that drew Mr. Biden to run for the presidency in 2019 — from the malign warping of Mr. Trump.”
The president’s performance has since sent Democrats into “panic mode.”
“The expectations for Joe Biden were low, but he didn’t come close to meeting them,” one Democratic strategist told The Independent.
Another Democratic strategist told The Independent the debate was “horrible.”
“Need to have Harris take over,” the person said. “Cleanest option.”
Meanwhile, the president has yet to show any signs of stepping down. Biden’s campaign said he has no plans of dropping out. The president also acknowledged his weak performance at a campaign rally on Friday in Raleigh, North Carolina.
“Folks, I don’t walk as easy as I used to,” Biden said. “I don’t speak as well as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know. I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. I know how to do this job.”
“I know what millions of Americans do: When you get knocked down you get back up,” he continued.
Biden, for his part, did have strong moments amid his overall-weak performance.
Biden laid into Trump over his alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels and the recent civil ruling that found him liable for sexually abusing writer E Jean Carrol.
The president said Trump has the “morals of an alley cat.”
“The crimes that you are still charged with — think of all the civil penalties you have,” Biden said. “How many millions of dollars do you owe in civil penalties for molesting a woman in public? For doing a whole range of things? Of having sex with a porn star...while your wife was pregnant?”
Trump responded by denying the affair with Daniels and calling his Manhattan trial — which centered around hush money payments to the adult film star — politically rigged.
