Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said he thinks President Biden won’t step aside and let the Democratic Party find a new nominee because “you can’t negotiate with him.”
Biden’s shaky debate performance Thursday sparked widespread fear among liberals, leaving pundits to indicate during post-debate analysis that discussions would be had about whether Biden would step down and allow someone else to take on former President Trump in the election.
Biden’s campaign and the White House, however, have said he’s not going anywhere.
McCarthy joined Fox Business on Friday to weigh in, noting that it would be nearly impossible for Democrats to replace Biden unless he bows out himself.
Democratic rules mandate that the delegates Biden has already won in the presidential primary remain obligated to support him at the party’s convention.
“They created this problem and the only way … Joe Biden can come off the ballot is he decides it,” McCarthy said.
“Joe Biden is going to be the nominee. Joe Biden is not going to give it up,” he continued. “Why? Because Jill does not want to give it up either.”
McCarthy noted that during tenure as Speaker, before he was ousted by his own party, he negotiated with Biden on various issues.
“I learned when I was negotiating with him, you can’t negotiate with him. He just talks about cars. You have to negotiate with staff,” he said.
McCarthy said the “real time” for Biden to remove himself from the running would have been a year ago.
“His problem is age. It’s not even what he said. It’s just the look of [what] he did, his actions, which everybody knows, he’s not the same person he used to be,” he said.
