U.S. President Joe Biden claps hands next to U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris while hosting a Juneteenth concert on the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. June 10, 2024.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Joe Biden is “absolutely not” pulling out of the U.S. presidential race, his spokeswoman said on July 3, as pressure mounted following his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.

Panic has gripped his Democratic Party in the wake of last week’s TV debate, and internal rumblings about finding a replacement candidate before November’s election have been amplified by polls showing Mr. Trump extending his lead.

The New York Times and CNN reported that Mr. Biden, 81, had acknowledged to a key ally that his reelection bid was on the line if he failed to quickly reassure the public that he was still up to the job.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre rejected those reports outright, insisting Mr. Biden has no intention of withdrawing.

“The President is clear-eyed and he is staying in the race,” she told reporters.

Mr. Biden told a call with campaign and party staffers that he is going nowhere.

“I’m in this race to the end and we’re going to win because when Democrats unite, we will always win. Just as we beat Donald Trump in 2020, we’re going to beat him again in 2024,” he said, according to a source close to the campaign.

He repeated that message in an emergency meeting with Democratic governors, who pledged their continued support, attendees said afterward.

“As the President continued to tell us, and show us, that he was all in… we said that we would stand with him,” Maryland Governor Wes Moore, seen as a rising star and potential future presidential candidate, told reporters alongside Minnesota’s Tim Walz and Kathy Hochul of New York.

Mr. Walz said Mr. Biden was “fit to serve.”

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who also attended the meeting at the White House and is seen as one of the top picks to replace Mr. Biden if he should drop out, said on social media platform X that “he is in it to win it and I support him.”

Mr. Biden has admitted he performed poorly in the debate, and was blunt in a radio interview recorded Wednesday with Wisconsin’s Civic Media.

“I screwed up. I made a mistake. That’s 90 minutes on stage. Look at what I’ve done in 3.5 years,” he said.

He echoed that sentiment in an interview with Pennsylvania’s WURD radio on Thursday, saying “I had a bad debate.”

Aftermath

The Biden campaign has been desperate to reassure Democratic donors and voters that the president’s performance against Trump was a one-off.

But party figures have voiced bafflement over what they see as deflection and excuses from the President and his aides.

Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, one of the Democratic Party’s biggest donors, told the New York Times that Biden should withdraw.

“Mr. Biden needs to step aside to allow a vigorous Democratic leader to beat Mr. Trump and keep us safe and prosperous,” he said in an email to the paper.

The concern was compounded by a New York Times poll conducted after the debate that showed Trump with his biggest lead ever over Mr. Biden — 49% to 43% of likely voters.

It wasn’t until Wednesday — six days after the debate — that Mr. Biden completed a round of calls with Democratic congressional leaders, and staffers have also voiced consternation over the glacial pace of the outreach.

“We are getting to the point where it may not have been the debate that did him in, but the aftermath of how they’ve handled it,” a senior Democratic operative told Washington political outlet Axios.

Mr. Biden may be tested on his ability to think on his feet when he sits with ABC News on Friday for his first television interview since the debate, and he will also hit the swing states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in the coming days.

‘More worrisome’

The President has cited fatigue as a new explanation for his poor debate showing, saying that he was unwise to travel “around the world a couple times” before the debate.

But he had been back in the United States for nearly two weeks and spent two days relaxing and six days preparing before the debate.

Democratic lawmakers have begun to go public with their doubts. Arizona congressman Raul Grijalva became the second sitting Democrat to call on Mr. Biden to drop out.

“If he’s the candidate, I’m going to support him, but I think that this is an opportunity to look elsewhere,” Grijalva said, according to the Times.

In the street where the president grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, there was sympathy for Mr. Biden — but no campaign signs for either candidate.

“I was embarrassed for him. I felt he didn’t feel well and he probably shouldn’t have gone on the stage,” said 73-year-old Jamie Hayes.

President Joe Biden, right, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, are seen on a television at Tillie’s Lounge during the presidential debate on Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Cincinnati. For many voters in the U.S., there’s despair in the air after the presidential debate this past week.
| Photo Credit: AP

Following a disastrous performance at the debate stage in Atlanta, there is a growing clamour within the ruling Democratic party and the mainstream American media for President Joe Biden to step down from the presidential race.

However, the 81-year-old President and his campaign have asserted that he is not giving up and is determined to successfully run for the November 5th presidential elections.

“Mr. Biden is the nominee (of the Democratic party. No switching of the nominee,” campaign leadership has asserted.

Mr. Biden, the 46th President of the United States, has won the Democratic presidential primary.

As of June 29, he had 3,894 delegates as against 1,975 delegates required to win the nomination of the party. These delegates would meet in Chicago from August 19 to 22 to formally nominate the winner of the primaries to run for the November 5 presidential elections.

Mr. Biden, seeking a second term in the White House, stumbled and fumbled during the televised presidential debate with his predecessor Donald Trump on Thursday night in Atlanta, setting off alarm bells among top Democrats about whether he can stay atop the gruelling months ahead of the elections on November 5.

The 78-year-old Mr. Trump, who is the presumptive Republican Party candidate for the presidential election, clashed right from the start with Biden and by the end of the 90 minutes debate, gave enough fodder for serious editorials and opinions as well as memes on social media.

Over the last 50 hours after the first presidential debate in Atlanta on Thursday night, wherein his performance was seen far below par against his rival Mr. Trump, multiple media outlets, including The New York Times and his own party supporters and key decision makers, are calling him to step down from the race.

“Dropping out is Mr. Biden’s most patriotic option,” The Atlantic said Saturday.

“To serve his country, President Biden should leave the race,” The New York Times editorial board wrote Following the debate.

The New York Times wrote, “That is no longer a sufficient rationale for why Mr. Biden should be the Democratic nominee this year.” Similar messages are coming from inside the party as well.

However, his inner circle is standing by the side of Mr. Biden.

A post-debate poll says that 10% of the independent voters have moved towards Mr. Biden after the debate, a point that is being made by his team.

“It wasn’t my best debate ever as Barack (Obama) pointed out. I understand the concern after the debate,” Mr. Biden told his fundraisers in New Jersey. “I get it. I didn’t have a great night, but I’m going to be fighting harder,” he said.

“Research during the debate shows us converting more undecided voters than Trump did, in large part because of his conduct on January 6,” Mr. Biden said. He argued Mr. Trump’s lies were the biggest takeaway: “People remember the bad things during his presidency.”

“I didn’t have a great night but neither did he,” he said again of Mr. Trump.

Several prominent columnists — Paul Krugman, Tom Friedman, Nicholas Kristof, Jonathan Alter, and David Ignatius — argued that the chance of a diminished Mr. Biden losing to Mr. Trump is too high to risk.

Democrat presidential candidate U.S. President Joe Biden listens as Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during their debate in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., on June 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Former President Donald Trump gloated on Friday over President Joe Biden’s often halting performance at the first debate ahead of the November election, saying Democrats have no better choices while calling the Democratic incumbent “the most incompetent president” in U.S. history.

Trump spoke to thousands of supporters Friday at a rally in Chesapeake, Virginia, a day after President Biden’s disappointing performance sparked concerns among his allies and other Democrats who were hoping for a more vigorous candidate to secure and improve his chances at reelection. President Biden repeatedly stumbled, paused and could not complete sentences, prompting some people to wonder whether they could replace him ahead of November.

“The question every voter should be asking themselves today is not whether Joe Biden can survive a 90-minute debate performance, but whether America can survive four more years of crooked Joe Biden in the White House,” Trump said.

Trump repeated several of the false claims he made on Thursday, including about abortions later in pregnancy, and again referred to rioters who have been charged with storming the Capitol to try to overturn his 2020 loss as “hostages.” He applauded a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that came out earlier on Friday, limiting a federal obstruction law that has been used to charge Trump and hundreds of Capitol riot defendants. And he called for their release.

“Free the J6 hostages now. They should free them now for what they’ve gone through,” he said, adding that the ruling “was a great thing for people that have been so horribly treated.”

Trump has long suggested the people charged in the riot have been unfairly prosecuted and continues to promote lies and unproven theories about voter fraud.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin appeared alongside Trump on Friday, saying he was going to work to secure a Trump victory in a state Biden won in 2020. The Republican governor, who was once a favorite potential presidential candidate for anti-Trump Republicans, notably waited during this year’s primary and only endorsed Trump in March.

“This is about strength versus weakness,” Youngkin told Trump supporters. “We have seen the weak America that Joe Biden has created, and we all lived through the strong America that Donald Trump built.”

Trump said he did not think President Biden could drop out of the race, mentioning the demands from some Democrats and opinion writers calling for Biden to step aside. He then criticised other high-profile Democrats such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Vice President Kamala Harris and former first lady Michelle Obama.

Trump said he would be very happy going against Ms. Harris, who is Biden’s running mate.

Ms. Harris can’t just swap in for him at the top of the ticket by default should President Biden decide to step aside. Individual state delegations would need to be lobbied to replace Biden ahead of a virtual roll call where the party intends to nominate Biden. The exact date for the roll call has not yet been set.

There is no evidence President Biden is willing to end his campaign. And it would be nearly impossible for Democrats to replace him unless he chooses to step aside.

Christopher James Caton, 49, of Virginia Beach left his home at 4.30 a.m. to see Trump speak on Friday.

“Trump was unbelievable,” Caton, wearing a Second Amendment ball cap, said of Thursday night’s debate. “He was on fire. He was steady. He didn’t stutter.”

Even Democrats have to admit that President Biden performed poorly, Mr. Caton said.

Sydney:

Within minutes of the conclusion of this week’s presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, it became clear to many that the 81-year-old Biden may not be capable of winning the general election in November.

His inability to clearly communicate during the 90-minute debate earned harsh criticism from across the US political spectrum, most notably among Democrats.

Van Jones, a former official in the Obama administration and CNN analyst, said about Biden:

He had a test to meet tonight to restore confidence in the country and of the base, and he failed to do that.

We’re still far from our convention. And there is time for this party to figure out a different way forward.

Biden did land a few blows on his predecessor over Trump’s various personal indiscretions and the January 6 2021 insurrection on the US Capitol, saying at one point, “you’ve got the morals of an alley cat”.

But it was not enough to persuade many sceptics that Biden is capable of fighting off the Trump campaign, not to mention performing the duties of US commander-in-chief and the hardest job in the world for another four years.

If polls over the weekend show Biden is losing support after his dreadful debate performance, which seems highly likely, the move to replace him as the Democrats’ candidate will become even more intense and, ultimately, irresistible.

How would this play out in the next few weeks?

Persuading Biden to step aside

Even with the withering criticism from his party, Biden remains in control of his fate. He won 99% of the pledged delegates in the Democratic primary process earlier this year, meaning he is entitled to the nomination. As a result, any decision to move to a different candidate starts with Biden himself.

Absent dramatic health news or his removal under the 25th amendment to the Constitution, which allows for such action by the vice president and a majority of his cabinet if the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office”, Biden would have to agree to step down as the party’s nominee.

We should be realistic here: Biden is a very stubborn man. You don’t get to be the president of the United States without being enormously self-confident. Biden may not be the smartest or most talented politician, but he is dogged and relentless in his ambitions.

He ran for president twice before his success in 2020. He didn’t let a brain aneurysm, plagiarism charges, familial dramas or personal tragedy stop him seeking the highest office in the land. The day after the debate with Trump, he shook his fist at a campaign event in North Carolina and asserted, “When you get knocked down, you get back up”.

Persuading Biden to step down would require collaboration with his wife, First Lady Jill Biden. “Dr Jill”, as she is known, has taken a hands-on role in managing the president’s daily life and public appearances.

There are very few Democratic Party elders who can be influential with the Bidens. The list probably starts and stops with former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. If those two go to the first lady and forcefully urge Biden’s withdrawal, it could be very difficult to resist.

How could Biden save face?

If Biden withdraws from the race before the Democratic convention in mid-August, his delegates could then vote for a new nominee at the event. Potential nominees include Vice President Kamala Harris, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.

Notably, except for Harris, none of these candidates has been vetted publicly during the Democratic primary process for the world’s most scrutinised job.

If Biden were to withdraw from the race after the convention, a special meeting of the members of the Democratic National Committee would decide on the new nominee. This committee includes around 500 leading party members from all US states and territories. (Whitmer is one of three vice chairs.)

A question senior Biden confidants might be asking themselves is, which scenario offers Biden a more graceful and successful exit?

He may want to anoint a successor and he would want to choose the method that offers him the most control. That may be the convention route, where he at least can claim the allegiance of his primary delegates.

This would require an announcement in the next few weeks. The sooner the better, so as to build as much public support as possible for a new nominee. Biden could salvage a significant amount of his reputation if his handpicked successor then defeated Trump in November.

Things look grim for Democrats right now, but in the long run, they may be in a strong position. Trump is very unpopular with most Americans. The 2021 insurrection remains a massive stain on his legacy. His vote ceiling among probable voters in November is still likely below 50%.

Veteran Obama strategist David Axelrod warned Republicans after the debate:

If, for whatever reason, there’s a change at the top of the ticket, you guys are in trouble with Donald Trump. Because the guy who was up there tonight is not a guy who’s going to inspire people.

A tough and nimble Democratic candidate who can communicate clearly could be very successful in November.

(Author:Lester Munson, Non-Resident Fellow, United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney)

(Disclosure Statement:Lester Munson receives funding from the U.S. Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. He is affiliated with BGR Group, a Washington, D.C., consulting firm and is a former Republican official in the George W. Bush administration and on Capitol Hill)

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

U.S. President Joe Biden, right, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, during a presidential debate hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump opened their first 2024 Presidential debate without shaking hands and went right to mixing it up on policy Thursday night. Some key moments from their 90-minute faceoff.

Economic fireworks

Their first exchange delved into the economy. Mr. Biden spoke softly, in a hoarse voice, as he talked up the economic gains on his watch, saying he rescued it from “free fall” and “chaos” when he took over the presidency from Mr. Trump in 2021. He cleared his throat several times.

Mr. Trump listened with a bemused expression but did not try to interrupt, though his microphone was muted while Biden spoke.

When it was his turn to speak, Mr. Trump bragged about the state of the economy during his term, saying “everything was rocking good.” He blamed Biden for rising prices that have frustrated Americans.

“Inflation is killing our country,” Mr. Trump said. “It’s absolutely killing us.”

Candidates tangle over who’s extreme on abortion

Mr. Biden blamed Mr. Trump for eroding abortion rights after the Republican’s three appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court voted to reverse Roe v. Wade, which had recognised a nationwide constitutional right to abortion. The reversal has energised many voters who support abortion rights and it helped power Democratic victories in the 2022 midterms and special elections.

Also read | The Hindu editorial on the 2024 U.S. Presidential election as a Biden-Trump rematch

“It’s been a terrible thing what you’ve done,” Mr. Biden said, turning to his rival. He pledged to restore the law under Roe if given a second term but didn’t say how he’d accomplish that. He said the idea of turning abortion laws back to states “is like saying we’re going to turn civil rights back to the states.”

Mr. Trump said his presidency returned the issue of abortion to the people through state laws. He said he supports abortion ban exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother, and he repeated his claim that Mr. Biden supports abortion up to and after birth.

“We think the Democrats are the radicals, not the Republicans,” Mr. Trump said.

Trump pushes January 6 falsehoods

Mr. Trump lied about his role in the January 6, 2021, attack by his supporters on the U.S. Capitol, and tried to deflect by pivoting to other issues. Pressed on his role, he said he encouraged people to act “peacefully and patriotically,” then changed the subject to launch an attack on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

He said Mr. Biden ought to “be ashamed” for the way the January 6 defendants have been handled.

Mr. Trump, who has floated the idea of pardons for the 6 rioters, suggested his supporters who stormed the Capitol were actually peaceful and are now being politically persecuted.

In fact, the rioters engaged in hand-to-hand combat with police and used makeshift weapons to attack officers. More than 1,400 people have been charged with federal offenses stemming from the riot, and more than 1,000 of them have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial.

“The only person who’s on this stage that’s a convicted felon is the man I’m looking at right now” Mr. Biden said of his rival.

Washington:

Two years after the US Supreme Court stripped constitutional protections for abortion, the explosive issue will feature prominently in Thursday’s debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump — with the Republican under pressure not to alienate voters.

On June 24, 2022, the high court — with a super-conservative majority built under Trump’s presidency — overturned the historic ruling in Roe v. Wade that had protected abortion rights, placing the issue in the hands of the states.

That same day, a handful of US states banned abortions, forcing clinics to close in haste or move to more welcoming places.

The nation, already politically polarized, is now split between the states that have banned or significantly restricted access to the procedure — and the states that have adopted new protections for a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy.

The Supreme Court’s decision sent political shockwaves across the country, and had repercussions — since the ruling, conservatives have lost nearly every referendum or vote revolving around abortion access.

And some of those losses came in states that have recently shifted solidly to the right, such as Ohio, Alabama and Kansas.

Kamala Harris takes the baton 

Since Roe was overturned, “the abortion rights movement discovered that Americans care more about abortion rights than may have been anticipated,” said Mary Ziegler, a professor at the University of California, Davis law school.

“And so they are trying to capitalize on that in ballot initiative fights that have gone mostly the way of the abortion rights movement,” she told AFP.

Democrats are making the most of the moment, hoping to win some crucial support from women and young voters.

Biden, a practicing Catholic who was long vexed by the issue, has become a champion of abortion rights and made it a defining part of his re-election bid, winning the backing of several family planning organizations.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman in the job, has crisscrossed the country for months to mobilize her party faithful.

The 59-year-old Harris in March became the first vice president to visit a clinic performing abortions, in Minnesota.

On Monday, she will hold an event in Arizona — a state seen as a crucial battleground in the November presidential election, and one where the supreme court said a Civil War-era rule banning abortion was valid.

Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs later signed a repeal of the 1864 law.

Across the country, Democrats have also encouraged the organization of mini-referendums on abortion in key states, so that they will coincide with the presidential vote — and hopefully motivate unenthused voters to cast ballots.

Trump deliberately vague 

Democrats are right to be confident in their reasoning, if an avalanche of opinion polls are correct.

According to a Fox News poll published Wednesday, 47 percent of voters consider abortion to be “extremely important” in how they decide between Biden and Trump.

The presumptive Republican candidate, who often mentions that he nominated three Supreme Court justices who helped to overturn Roe v. Wade, has lately been decidedly vague on the issue of abortion.

“You must follow your heart on this issue but remember, you must also win elections,” Trump said in a video message in early April.

He has not campaigned on any promise to make abortion illegal with federal legislation, as the religious right has lobbied him to do.

“The best you can do if your position is unpopular is to not clarify your position,” Ziegler says.

Biden, whose approval rating is less than stellar, will almost certainly attack Trump on the issue when the two take the stage Thursday for their first debate in 2024.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)