(Rehoboth Beach) The pressures got the better of his stubbornness. Joe Biden announced Sunday his withdrawal from the race for the White House after weeks of speculation about his physical and mental capacities, plunging his camp – and the campaign – into the unknown. The American president also announced his support for the candidacy of his vice president, Kamala Harris.
The 81-year-old Democrat thus joins the very select club of outgoing American presidents who have thrown in the towel while running for a second term. But he is the first to do so so late in the campaign. The only one, too, to have to drop out due to questions about his mental acuity.
“I believe it is in the best interests of my party and the country that I step aside and focus solely on serving as president for the remainder of my term,” he said in a statement, announcing that he would address the nation “later this week.”
This shock announcement, even if it was expected despite the repeated denials of the main person concerned, disrupts a campaign which has already experienced many twists and turns, the first of which was the assassination attempt against Donald Trump on July 13.
Now a replacement must be found for Mr. Biden, who was supposed to be inaugurated at his party’s convention in Chicago in mid-August.
On X, the American president announced his support for the candidacy of his vice-president, Kamala Harris.
“Today, I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be our party’s nominee this year,” Biden said.
Kamala Harris would be a natural, but not automatic, choice to become the Democratic nominee.
The final word goes to the Democratic Party delegates, 3,900 people with very diverse backgrounds and most of them completely unknown to the general public.
Draw
It was Joe Biden’s disastrous performance in his June 27 debate with Donald Trump that precipitated events.
That day, from the first seconds of the verbal joust that he himself had called for, it was a very weakened Biden who appeared in front of the screens of his dismayed supporters.
With a cat in his throat forcing him to cough, he got tangled up more than once, sometimes unable to finish his sentences.
A painful spectacle that brought to light the doubts about his age, which his relatives had tried to keep a lid on.
Who was going to be the first to draw his gun and ask him to stop there? The little music quickly rose, starting from relatively unknown Democratic elected officials to reach heavyweights of the party.
One after another, big names, frightened by the polls showing him as the loser and fearing a landslide victory for Donald Trump, have abandoned him, most of them initially in private.
The US media, citing anonymous sources, claimed that former President Barack Obama, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Democratic leaders in Congress Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries had expressed their concern.
And the images of Joe Biden, who tested positive for COVID-19 and struggled to get down the gangway of his plane, only added to the nervousness of his camp.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump, who miraculously escaped gunfire during a campaign rally, seemed to be enjoying a state of grace, with legal victories and a consecration at the Republican Party convention in Milwaukee.