“We must defend the United States against a Trump presidency”, justifies the newspaper’s correspondent in Paris

The New York Times, the leading American daily, called on the outgoing president to abandon his candidacy after a debate considered disastrous against Donald Trump.

“We must defend the country, we must defend the United States against a possible Trump presidency”justified Saturday June 29 on franceinfo Roger Cohen, head of the office of New York Times in Paris as his newspaper calls on Joe Biden to withdraw from the race for the White House after his catastrophic debate with Donald Trump Thursday evening on CNN.

“The newspaper considered that the situation is so serious, the importance of a Democratic victory is such that a reduced Joe Biden is not the best way to defend the country”he explained. But the American president reaffirmed forcefully, during a rally in North Carolina, that he will go all the way. Barack Obama supported the candidate on the social network “X”.

Roger Cohen already remembers a diminished Joe Biden at the ceremonies for the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings in the spring: “It is now clear that President Biden is a diminished man. He is diminished from four years ago and if he wins, he will have four years ahead of him. There is reason to be concerned.”, he said. And the image of a revived Joe Biden in North Coraline changes nothing, according to him: “We can’t erase this with the North Carolina rally. No, no! There is something going on. The White House has chosen to hide as much as possible what we all saw.”explains the American journalist.

According to the correspondent, Thursday night’s debate “has changed the stakes. There is a real debate now about whether Joe Biden can replace him as the candidate.”he assures. He does not think that the editorial of his newspaper will have a real influence “even if it is a very important newspaperhe said. They will make their own decisions.”but “it can weigh, especially, among the people around Biden”he specifies.

Roger Cohen believes that Joe Biden’s first presidency has been full of successes, particularly on the economic front and also in the management of the war in Ukraine. But “In life, you also have to manage your decline. It’s part of life. Would his greatest service to the country now be to leave the field open to someone else? That’s the question the newspaper asked.”he believes.

According to him, replacing Joe Biden is still possible: “There could be an agreement on a candidate before the convention in August in Chicago.” But Roger Cohen is not very optimistic: “The White House is showing no signs yet”, he points out. It is difficult for Americans to forget that they “saw with their own eyes”. The effect on American voters “will last over time”he fears.