Calls for Biden to step down mount after his poor performance at the debate against Trump
Since the end of the debate between US President Joe Biden and his rival Donald Trump, a state of anxiety and tension has prevailed in the ranks of the Democratic Party, after Biden’s disappointing performance.
Three Democratic Party advisers told Politico that they have received heavy criticism demanding the departure of party nominee Joe Biden after his poor performance in the first televised debate on Friday.
One Democratic Party adviser, who preferred not to be identified, told Politico, “I received text messages from at least six party donors, calling the debate disastrous and calling on Biden to resign”.
One Biden campaign supporter rated the debate as “the worst performance in history,” saying, “He performed so badly that no one paid attention to Trump’s lies”.
He also suggested Biden withdraw from the presidential race and cited the governors of Maryland and Michigan as possible alternatives.
US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump held the first televised debate broadcast by CNN on Thursday in Atlanta, Georgia, without the presence of the audience as has been the norm in presidential debates since 1988.
For most of the debate, Biden, (81), seemed hesitant and stumbled more than once, especially when faced with questions about his eligibility for the presidency.
In an article at the New York Times, Thomas Friedman wrote, “I watched a debate between Biden and Trump alone in a hotel room in Lisbon, and it made me cry… I’ve never experienced a more anxious moment in US presidential campaigns in my life… Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, cannot run again… Donald Trump is an evil man and a weak president, who has learned nothing and forgotten a lot, obsessed with his hatred, and far from what it takes to lead America in the twenty-first century”.
“The Biden family and his political team should have an urgent meeting with the president, in which they have difficult discussions full of love, clarity and determination,” Friedman wrote.
“The president should publicly declare that he won’t run for the next election and that he will direct all his supporters toward the Democratic National Convention, to secure America’s best chance in the face of Trump’s threat in November,” Friedman added.
Biden’s slips of the tongue and his mixing of the names of politicians and countries have been numerous since his election as president of the United States in 2021, which has raised ridicule from many of his opponents and the fears of his supporters about the president’s ability to carry out the powers and functions of his office.
