Joe Biden Steps Down | The Moments That Led to the End

Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race for the White House comes after a month of questions about his ability to run for a second term. Gaffes, attempts to save face, and mounting pressure from his own party: a look back at the final weeks of Biden’s campaign.

The June 27 debate: a shipwreck for Biden

The American president was counting on this debate on June 27, in Atlanta, to restore his image, tarnished by a clear decline in his cognitive and physical abilities in recent months. He had prepared for it like a top athlete, chaining together, according to CNN, fictitious debates during which his lawyer played the role of Donald Trump. But at the fateful moment, he did not manage to rise to the occasion. Joe Biden showed up with a pale complexion, his eyes often lost in space. Speaking in a weak and sometimes hesitant voice, he made a series of blunders, giving Donald Trump plenty of time to multiply lies and allegations during the 90 minutes that the debate lasted, which repeatedly veered into personal attacks.

The July 5 interview: an attempt to turn things around

A week after the disastrous debate against Donald Trump, the American president wanted to show that he was still capable of fighting. While post-debate polls gave Donald Trump a clear lead, the president gave an interview on ABC with journalist George Stephanopoulos, justifying his poor performance by his exhaustion. “No one is more qualified than me” to “win” the election, he said during this thirty-minute interview. He did not have a moment of absence, but repeatedly dodged the question of whether his physical and mental state had deteriorated during his term. However, the interview did not convince everyone in the Democratic camp.

NATO Summit, July 11: Blunders Continue

The White House announced that Joe Biden would deliver a “big boy” press conference on July 11 — without notes or a teleprompter — after the NATO summit in Washington. He delivered a solid performance for nearly an hour, demonstrating his mastery of the complex China issue. But Biden tripped up his speech with a costly slip of the tongue, confusing the names of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. “I would not have chosen Vice President Trump to be vice president if I thought she was not qualified to be president,” he said. That same day, he introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin.” But he received endorsements from many NATO leaders, including Emmanuel Macron. “We all make slips of the tongue,” the French president told reporters.

From July 3 to 16: the idea of ​​withdrawal is gaining ground

Revelations from the New York Times July 3 had sparked speculation that Biden was considering dropping out of the race if he failed to convince voters in the coming days that he was fit to remain in office. The White House quickly denied the claims. “It’s false to suggest that there’s any thought of ending the campaign,” a spokesman, Andrew Bates, said. But the idea had since begun to gain traction. Asked by BET on July 16 what might make him consider throwing in the towel, the president responded, “If I had a medical problem that came up, if someone, doctors, came to me and said, ‘You have this problem.’” It was the first time that Mr. Biden had even entertained the idea of ​​dropping out of the campaign.

Pushed out of the debate by his own side

Initially presenting a united front, more and more dissenting voices were heard among Democrats. First, Texas Representative Lloyd Doggett publicly declared that it was time for Mr. Biden to “make the painful and difficult decision to step down.” A few senators and more than two dozen members of the House of Representatives followed suit. Anonymous leaks were also rife. Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries reportedly told the president that his candidacy could jeopardize the party’s chances in November. According to CNN, influential former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told Joe Biden that he could “destroy the Democrats’ chances of winning” the congressional elections, citing unfavorable polls. And the final blow: on Thursday, the Washington Post Barack Obama reportedly told people close to him that Biden should “seriously evaluate the viability of his candidacy.”

With information from Agence France-Presse