The New York Times to Joe Biden: Drop out.
In an editorial headlined, “To Serve His Country, President Biden Should Leave the Race” The New York Times said that Biden remaining in the presidential election is tantamount to a victory for its arch-nemesis, former President Donald Trump.
“At Thursday’s debate, the president needed to convince the American public that he was equal to the formidable demands of the office he is seeking to hold for another term. Voters, however, cannot be expected to ignore what was instead plain to see: Mr. Biden is not the man he was four years ago,” the Times wrote.
The Times, while praising Biden overall, called him a “shadow” of who he once was, repeating multiple times that Biden “struggled” in multiple phases of the debate.
After Thursday's debate, writes the editorial board, voters "cannot be expected to ignore what was instead plain to see: Mr. Biden is not the man he was four years ago."
Read: https://t.co/pmT2lYUEaO pic.twitter.com/jUnzxTOVqN
— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) June 28, 2024
“More than once, he struggled to make it to the end of a sentence," the Times wrote.
The Times editorial, which included its de rigeur trashing of Trump, summed up the Biden candidacy as a “reckless gamble.”
It noted that “the president’s performance cannot be written off as a bad night or blamed on a supposed cold, because it affirmed concerns that have been mounting for months or even years.
“Even when Mr. Biden tried to lay out his policy proposals, he stumbled. It cannot be outweighed by other public appearances because he has limited and carefully controlled his public appearances,” the Times wrote.
Noting that Biden sought the debate as a vehicle to eliminate doubts that he was not mentally competent for a second term, the Times wrote, “The truth Mr. Biden needs to confront now is that he failed his own test.”
The Times said that the "clearest path for Democrats" was to "acknowledge that Mr. Biden can’t continue his race."
The Times was not alone.
“It was a disaster last night," mega-donor Betty Cotton of New York said, according to USA Today. "He should seriously think about stepping down so that we don't lose the election."
“This is really serious and I’d like to explore what the options are,” Cotton said.
Shekar Narasimhan, founder of the AAPI Victory Fund, also said the debate was a disaster for Democrats.
“I thought the debate performance by President Biden was terrible,” he said. “It has the unfortunate result of reinforcing the opinion that Biden is too old and not capable.”
As of Friday morning, there was no indication Biden would listen to the rumblings of discontent.
Asked if Biden would quit, Biden campaign representative Seth Schuster responded: “No,” according to CNN.
