The New York Times has become the first US newspaper to call for President Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race following a weak debate performance against former President Donald Trump.
Biden, a Democrat, and Trump, a former Democrat who turned Republican, met on Thursday night at CNN headquarters in Atlanta, without a live audience. In the first round of debates ahead of the November presidential election, the presumptive nominees argued about the US economy, foreign policy, COVID-19, abortion, and immigration. The debate was marked by multiple insults, name-calling involving each other’s family members and morals, and even a challenge to a golf match.
On Friday, the NYT editorial board urged Biden, 81, to drop out of the race, suggesting that Democrats needed a stronger candidate. The board cited Democrats admitting Biden was no match for Trump. Observers at the debate noted Biden appeared frail and confused, struggling to finish sentences and mixing up words.
The NYT editorial board wrote, “That is no longer a sufficient rationale for why Mr. Biden should be the Democratic nominee this year. Voters… cannot be expected to ignore what was instead plain to see: Mr. Biden is not the man he was four years ago.” They added that Biden appeared on stage “as the shadow of a great public figure,” who now “struggled” to articulate his policy positions and failed to adequately counter Trump, who is just three years younger but appeared more composed.
“There are Democratic leaders better equipped to present clear, compelling and energetic alternatives to a second Trump presidency,” the board wrote, concluding that Democrats had a better chance of winning if Biden found a replacement and pulled out of the race.
After the debate, Biden acknowledged, “I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to.” However, he maintained that he is the best-qualified candidate for the presidency, saying, “I know how to get things done. And I know, like millions of Americans know, when you get knocked down, you get back up.”
Biden’s team, attempting to justify his weak performance, stated that the president had been suffering from a cold and was “over-prepared and relying on minutiae.”
The second and final debate of the presumptive nominees is scheduled for September 10, 2024, sponsored by ABC News. The location has yet to be announced.
