New York Times Revelations | Biden Would Not Rule Out Throwing in the Towel

(Washington) After revelations from the New York Times (immediately denied) that Joe Biden is considering dropping out of the race for the White House, what options are available to him? The Press discussed it with an expert.

“It’s like an earthquake. We don’t yet measure the magnitude it could take,” says Charles-Philippe David, president of the Observatory on the United States and professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal.

This “earthquake” came in several successive shock waves. First a catastrophic presidential debate, where the outgoing president appeared mentally diminished. Then a poll, conducted by the New York Times and Siena College, which showed that the gap after the debate had widened between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

And finally, an article from New York Times revealing that the president has told people close to him that he is considering dropping out of the race for the White House if he fails to convince voters in the coming days that he is fit to remain in office.

Denials, but support is fading

The White House quickly denied the claims. New York TimesThe 81-year-old president is “absolutely not” considering throwing in the towel, said his spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre. “It is wrong to suggest that there is any thought about ending the campaign,” added another spokesman, Andrew Bates.

For Charles-Philippe David, it is impossible to know whether Joe Biden will or will not make the decision to withdraw. “We can’t really predict or extrapolate, we hear one thing and its opposite. But it is possible that he will announce his withdrawal,” he cautiously suggests. However, it is unlikely that he will do so in the next 24 hours. “He is very stubborn, it is a difficult decision to make,” he adds.

While the vast majority of Democrats remain supportive, the president’s support is nonetheless eroding.

Texas Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett spoke publicly Tuesday urging him to step down. Others said he would lose the November election or expressed doubts about it.

Rep. Jim Clyburn, a Democratic representative from South Carolina and a longtime friend and confidant of Joe Biden, said he had not personally seen the president act as he did on the debate stage last week and called it “concerning.” CNN also reported that the Democratic Party is working on a “succession plan” in the event the president steps down.

Biden hangs on

For his part, the main person concerned admitted to having “made a mistake” during the debate, in an interview given Wednesday on local Wisconsin radio, which should be broadcast in its entirety Thursday.

He insisted, however, that he would not step down. “I will be in the race until the end and we will win,” he assured during a conference call intended to remotivate his campaign teams, according to a source close to him.

On Wednesday night, he gathered nearly every Democratic governor at the White House, in person or remotely, for a crisis meeting.

What options for the president?

According to Charles-Philippe David, the president has several choices. “The best option would be for him to resign as president and leave the place to Kamala Harris, whose legitimacy would then be total,” explains the expert. “But it is probably not the one he will choose,” he says.

It also remains possible for the Democratic Party to choose a successor to Joe Biden during the party’s national convention, which will take place from August 19 to 22 in Chicago. Jim Clyburn has also said that he would support a “mini-primary” in the run-up to this convention, if the president leaves the race.

“But if I were them, I would want to avoid this chaos at all costs. It would be terrible, because it would show a Democratic Party that is tearing its shirt in public during this convention,” says Charles-Philippe David.

As for a possible victory for the Democrats in the US elections on November 5, “anything remains possible,” says the expert in American politics. He points out that the two presumptive candidates, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, remain neck and neck in the main swing states, which could swing one way or the other.

And while voter confidence may have wavered, as polls indicate, “four months is still a very long time, especially in American political life. We’ve seen it all before,” adds Charles-Philippe David.

With information from Agence France-Presse and the New York Times