President Joe Biden took the unprecedented step of bowing out of the 2024 presidential race Sunday after concerns about his health and ability to run reached a fever pitch among key Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi and, according to media reports, even former president Barack Obama as well as ardent former celebrity supporters including George Clooney.
In a statement released Sunday, Biden wrote, “It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelectino, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
Biden promised to make a public address later in the week about his decision.
Read the president’s letter making the announcement below:
The presumptive Democratic nominee is now Vice President Kamala Harris: Online chatter began to focus on her taking Biden’s place on the ticket after the president’s disastrous June 27 debate, further fueled by the White House calling her “the future of the party” on July 3.
The 81-year-old president’s poor showing during the CNN live debate with Donald Trump raised a flurry of questions about his fitness to lead the country for four more years. During the 90-minute event, Biden appeared frail and confused, which his campaign later attributed to a cold and exhaustion.
In subsequent unscripted speeches, the president appeared stronger and considerably more focused as he defended his ability to lead and championed his achievements, including a just-wrapped NATO conference, but the damage to his perceived electability had already been done. One by one, newspapers, journalists, celebrities and politicians joined the chorus for Biden to step aside for a younger candidate who might have a better chance at beating Trump in November.
A post-debate sitdown with ABC News George Stephanopoulos on July 5, during which Biden reassured the nation he had simply had a “bad night,” did not dissuade the growing loudness of Democratic detractors, especially when Stephanopoulous, who didn’t know he was being recorded, said that Biden had no chance to win. The ABC News anchor later apologized for his remarks.
One of the most devastating defections came on July 10 from Clooney, who had co-hosted a major fundraiser in Los Angeles for Biden just last month but now argued in an op-ed for the New York Times, “We are not going to win in November with this president. On top of that, we won’t win the House, and we’re going to lose the Senate.”
The Biden camp chalked up the the Clooney defection to “previous tensions” involving the actor’s wife, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, who wrote in May that she believes Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has committed war crimes in the country’s continued assault on Gaza, a military assault the Biden administration has continued to support with only occasional reprimands.
The day after the debate, the editorial board of the New York Times was the first of several publications to call for Biden to step aside. The board referred to Biden’s candidacy as a”reckless gamble.” They added, “It’s too big a bet to simply hope Americans will overlook or discount Mr. Biden’s age and infirmity that they see with their own eyes.”
Other media outlets who quickly joined the New York Times, including The Chicago Tribune, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Economist and The Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
Amidst the speculation Biden still had a number of vocal supporters in Hollywood, including “The View” co-host Ana Navarro, who said on July 3 that she was “disgusted” by Democrat pundits calling for Biden to drop out.
Following Clooney’s July 10 critique of the president, Navarro said that the media pile-on against Biden has been “full of inaccuracies, exaggerations and unfounded conclusions — which in turn is shaping public opinion” and that it “needs to stop.”
Actor and comedian D.L. Hughley also strongly disagreed with Clooney: The Def Comedy Jam Star argued that a Biden backup plan already existed: VP Kamala Harris. “The worst that could happen is if Joe Biden couldn’t do it, a competent, capable woman would step in and do it. So how is this a real argument?,” he told TMZ on July 10.
Democrat governors also backed Biden at a July 4 meeting, after which New York governor Kathy Hochul tweeted, “JoeBiden is in it to win it. The stakes this November could not be higher.”
However, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was far less definite about her support, saying “It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision.”
Mike Roe also contributed to this story.
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