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      The 48 hours that consigned Joe Biden’s 2024 candidacy to history

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      Forty-eight hours is an aeon in American politics, especially if you are Joe Biden and the party that you lead, and a relentlessly growing number of your closest allies within it, are turning inexorably against you.On Friday morning, the message coming out of Joe Biden’s camp left no room for interpretation. He might be sick with Covid, but he was resolute: the Biden re-election show must go on.“He’s not going anywhere,” Biden’s campaign chair, Jen O’Malley Dillon, snapped on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, a program that the president watches so avidly it has become the daily temperature gauge of Biden’s ailing campaign.Then Biden himself popped up with a statement clearly intended to silence the doubters. “I look forward to getting back on the campaign trail next week to continue exposing the threat of Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda,” he said, referring to the ultra-right blueprint produced by Trump acolytes for a second Make America Great Again (Maga) term.When news came in later that afternoon that the Biden campaign had scheduled a visit to Austin, Texas, for an event at Lyndon Johnson’s presidential library on Wednesday, it seemed that he really did mean it. Biden, 81 be damned, was forging ahead.The problem was, the doubters would not be silenced. As Friday slipped into Saturday, the noise emanating from them was building from whispers into a cacophony.On Friday alone, at least 10 Democrats in Congress joined those who had publicly called for Biden to go, arguing that it was in the best interest of the party and the country given the threat to democracy posed by Trump. Prominent figures in the party such as Senator Sherrod Brown, himself in a tough race for re-election in Ohio, called on Biden to end his campaign.Sending a message that would not have been lost on Biden and his team, top Californian lawmakers close to Nancy Pelosi, the former Democratic speaker of the House, joined the chorus. Adding her name to that of Adam Schiff, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren told Biden bluntly that his candidacy was “on a trajectory to lose the White House and potentially impact crucial House and Senate races down ballot. It is for these reasons that I urge you to step aside.”While the 40-odd members of Congress who by Saturday had stuck their necks above the parapet remained a small minority of the 264 Democrats in Congress, in private the rot went much deeper. The stamp of Pelosi, and other leading Democrats who had been pushing Biden to quit from behind the scenes, was beginning to tell.As Biden continued to self-isolate in his house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, with the first lady, Jill Biden, only able to support him from a separate room, the president could sit and stew over the many of his supposed political friends who were abandoning him. According to the New York Times, he was fuming about Pelosi’s role as the person he blamed for being the prime instigator of a campaign to oust him.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionBarack Obama, with whom Biden has had a fraught relationship since Obama nudged his former vice-president to stand aside for Hillary Clinton in the presidential race in 2016, was also the subject of Biden’s mounting frustrations, the newspaper reported.With the walls closing in, it couldn’t have helped Biden’s mood that Trump was delighting in his misery. So much for the new, warm and caring Trump who was supposed to have emerged from the previous weekend’s shooting – on Saturday Trump was back to his favourite pastime of rubbing salt into a rival’s wounds.He was so happy to be in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Trump told a Maga rally – so much more fun than sitting “on some boring beach watching the waves coming in”. There was more.“At this very moment, Democrat party bosses are frantically trying to overthrow the results of their own party’s primaries to dump crooked Joe Biden from the ballot,” Trump gloated.For once, he was telling the truth.Not that Biden’s own campaign team knew any better. The Times reporter, Kenneth Vogel, disclosed on X that 30 minutes before the historic announcement was made, Biden re-election staffers were busily calling delegates pushing them to shore up his crumbling hopes by publicly declaring support for him.Too little, too late.We don’t know when exactly he made the decision, but it seems by late on Saturday Biden had finally come to the view that he had no choice but to repeat the words that so many Democrats had been telling him over these past exceedingly painful days: “I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down.”He called two of his closest advisers, Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, to the vacation home and together “far into the night” they wrote the announcement letter, according to the New York Times. Members of the president’s family and some close aides were told that the end was coming on Saturday, but most of the campaign staff were only notified literally 60 seconds before the news broke.History books will record the moment the statement was posted – 1.46pm, 21 July 2024.It may be some time before we know the full emotional depths to which Biden had to dig to write that agonizing letter. As he said in it, the presidency had been “the greatest honor” of his life, and now he was kissing it goodbye.But that was then. The 48 hours were now done. A new era begins. More

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      Democrats rush for new strategy as Kamala Harris emerges as favorite

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      Democrats are rushing to figure out a plan to keep the presidency in November after Joe Biden announced on Sunday he would suspend his bid for re-election.In the hours after Biden’s announcement, a swarm of Democrats endorsed Kamala Harris, the vice-president and onetime presidential candidate, moving her to the top of the list of potential nominees, while donations surged.Biden threw his support behind Harris, saying that choosing her as his vice-president was “the best decision I’ve made”. His campaign finance account changed its name to “Harris for President”, unearthing a $96m cash war chest for the vice-president to make her case to American voters.Small-dollar donors meanwhile raised more than $46.7m on ActBlue in the first five hours of Harris’ presidential campaign, the fundraising platform said on X on Sunday.Harris confirmed she would run.“I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” she said in a statement on Sunday. “Over the past year, I have traveled across the country, talking with Americans about the clear choice in this momentous election. And that is what I will continue to do in the days and weeks ahead.”Harris was to make her first public appearance on Monday morning at the White House, where she is scheduled to speak at an event honoring National Collegiate Athletic Association championship teams. She is filling in for Biden, who is recovering after contracting Covid last week.The endorsements cascaded throughout Sunday, though there were some notable absences that could indicate desire for an open Democratic convention and a primary-esque fight for the nomination before the event in Chicago in mid-August.Barack Obama did not endorse Harris, and neither did the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi – two heavyweights in Democratic politics who reportedly played lead roles in pushing Biden out of the race.“We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead,” Obama said in a statement. “But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”By Sunday’s end Harris still appeared the favorite for the nomination, though the many steps between now and winning enough delegates allow for an untold number of ways her candidacy could go awry, especially in such a tumultuous election year.She won endorsements from the leadership of several influential caucuses and political organizations, including the chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the entire Congressional Black Caucus.Harris, if elected, would be the first woman and first person of South Asian descent to be president.Several men who have been discussed as potential running mates for Harris – Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, North Carolina governor Roy Cooper and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly – were among those who issued statements backing her.The rounds of endorsements followed weeks of clamoring on the left and social media memes pushing for Harris’ rise. Her supporters, dubbed the “KHive”, shared coconut emojis, a nod to a speech in which she laughed about something her mother used to say: “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” They resurfaced an ad from Harris’ 2020 presidential bid that attacked Trump for his comments on women and questionable businesses and posted copies of a check Trump made to Harris’s previous campaigns in California.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionNo coordinated opposition has emerged against Harris or in favor of any other candidate, a sign that Harris will probably be able to win the presidential nomination. Some reports indicated that the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, would not challenge Harris. The California governor, Gavin Newsom, said on Sunday he would be endorsing Harris. Both had been floated as possible contenders.But on Sunday, at least one potential challenger did emerge. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia senator who changed his party affiliation from Democrat to independent earlier this year, is reportedly considering a return to the Democratic party so he can run for the presidency.The rules and processes for securing a Democratic nominee will be unfamiliar to many involved. With Democrats wading into uncharted territory, Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison said the party would soon announce the next steps in its nomination process.Biden is the first president in 56 years to call off his campaign for re-election. In 1968, Lyndon Johnson stepped down from campaigning, which led to a floor fight for delegates at the Democratic convention, also in Chicago.While Democrats piled praise on Biden for making a hard but statesmanlike decision, Republicans began attacking Harris and alleging the left was engaged in an anti-democratic practice that could lead to lawsuits.Republicans sought to pin Biden’s vulnerabilities on Harris and called for Biden to leave the White House, saying if he was not competent enough to campaign, he should not remain president.“Kamala Harris is just as much of joke as Biden is,” the Trump campaign said in a statement. “Harris will be even WORSE for the people of our Nation than Joe Biden. Harris has been the Enabler in Chief for Crooked Joe this entire time. They own each other’s records, and there is no distance between the two. Harris must defend the failed Biden Administration AND her liberal, weak-on-crime record in CA.”Read more about Joe Biden dropping out of the 2024 election:

      Joe Biden drops out and endorses Kamala Harris

      Democrats praise Biden and Republicans go on the offense

      Who will replace Biden? How does the process work?

      A look back at Joe Biden’s life in politics
      Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report More

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      Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 race: our panelists’ reactions

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      Ben Davis: ‘This was the right move’It was the right move. Joe Biden’s dropping out of the race at this late stage is unprecedented and risky. The risks of a Trump presidency are far higher, though. The president was in a position where winning was incredibly unlikely, floundering in the polls, facing a major revolt from his party, and unable to fix the critical concern voters have – his age. A move to a candidate in Kamala Harris who can forcefully make the case against Donald Trump, barnstorm the country, do town halls and press conferences, and inject energy into the political moment offers Democrats a chance to catch up and beat Trump.Had Biden done these things, he could have held on after his shocking debate performance. But the fact that he was unable to make his case publicly and energetically confirmed people’s fears in the first place. Both Biden’s defensive posture over the last few weeks and the oftentimes shambolic slow-motion movement against him by party elites caused great harm. Biden bowing out and endorsing Harris may mean that episode is soon forgotten.Endorsing Harris, rather than entertaining ideas for some sort of “blitz primary”, was also the smart move. It allows the party to start campaigning vigorously again immediately. It puts the kibosh on any sort of “donor coup” that would result in a more conservative candidate that many progressives feared. Currently, Trump is still the favorite in this election, but a Harris campaign gives Democrats a much higher ceiling than the Biden one did. Trump is still deeply unpopular, and Harris has a great chance to capitalize. We will see if she takes it.

      Ben Davis works in political data in Washington, DC
      Richard Wolffe: ‘This election is now about old versus new’The Trump campaign can pretend like they have a plan to run against Kamala Harris, but there are no plans that are worth the pixels they’re written on.Nobody in politics or the media today has any working experience of the presidential nomination process in the era of smoke-filled rooms, party bosses, or any kind of convention that wasn’t already locked up before the delegates arrived.Nobody except for Joe Biden, who just secured his legacy of an epic lifetime in honorable public service by voluntarily relinquishing the nomination.Whoever becomes the Democratic presidential nominee has already turned the Trump narrative on its head.Instead of strength versus weakness, this election is now about old versus new. No amount of Trumpy bleating about the Democratic primaries, or Biden’s record, will change that.For Democrats, it will be hard – but not impossible – to seek to draw the greatest possible contrast with Donald Trump. And the greatest contrast to an old racist misogynist is a woman of color.The drive to lock up the nomination for Kamala Harris will be swift and intense. But it is unlikely to happen without Harris proving herself on the public stage. The process will be a messy mixture of high-minded rhetoric and low-minded horse-trading.There will be debates, and speeches, and endless blather on social media. The last Harris campaign did not excel at any of those tests.Is there enough time for an orderly process? You betcha! The Biden meltdown lasted all of three weeks, and the outgoing president was accused of dragging things out. The Trump assassination attempt was all of one week ago, and it might as well have been last year.Back in the 1960s, when they still had open conventions, the British prime minister Harold Wilson famously said that a week was a long time in politics.There is a month before the end of the Democratic convention, which is more than enough time for several candidates to rise and fall before the balloons drop on the party’s presidential nominee.

      Richard Wolffe is a Guardian US columnist
      Lloyd Green: ‘Harris must now reunite her party’On Sunday, Joe Biden declared that he would no longer seek reelection, an announcement that should have instead been made soon after the 2022 midterms. “If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race,” Biden told George Stephanopoulos of ABC little more than two weeks ago. The good Lord apparently works in mysterious ways.Biden’s exit throws a wrench into Republican hopes of painting Donald Trump’s opponent as old or addled. Kamala Harris, 59, his likely adversary, is nearly two decades younger than the former president. Come the fall, the contrast will be stark.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionCongressional Democrats must also be heaving a sigh of relief. Hours before Biden’s withdrawal, a poll published in the Detroit Free Press showed Trump with a seven-point ahead in Michigan, a do-or-die battleground for the Democrats. The same poll, however, reported Representative Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, three points ahead (43%-40%) of Republican Mike Rogers, a former Michigan congressman.With Biden out, Democrats again have a chance of flipping the House and a prayer at retaining the US Senate. Nationally, polls show Harris running marginally better than Biden.She must now unite her party. Already, Biden, Bill Clinton and the Congressional Black Caucus have endorsed her. Still, convention delegates expect to be wooed. Expect abortion to reemerge as a key issue.Likewise, whom she picks as her running mate will be scrutinized. A swing-state governor or senator could wind up on the ticket. Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro and Arizona’s Mark Kelly all come to mind. For that matter, so too does Kentucky’s Andy Beshear, a Democratic governor in a ruby-red state.The US is staring at uncharted waters. The race will be one for the ages. How it all shakes out is anyone’s guess.

      Lloyd Green is an attorney in New York
      Osita Nwanevu: ‘Harris can win. She must’The paeans being written to the heroism and courage of Biden are extraordinary ⁠– it’s rare to see history being so quickly and blatantly rewritten. The truth is that today marks the end of one of the more shameful and ridiculous sagas in American presidential politics ⁠– a crisis made and extended by the fecklessness and inertia of the Democratic party as an institution and the bullheadedness of a man who should have understood his own limits and the risks a re-election campaign would pose to the country years ago.It’s been reported that Biden’s own staffers were informed mere moments before his decision to withdraw was publicly announced on X ⁠– one final illustration of the remarkable insularity the last month has revealed within the White House and Biden’s inner circle.For weeks they charged ahead, questioning the integrity of their critics and ignoring all contrary data until Biden’s position became fully untenable. And one has to wonder now the extent to which their behavior has been reflective of how this administration has handled substantive policy matters behind the scenes, perhaps most especially the war in Gaza, which Biden has backed with an implacability that has baffled and troubled even experts who’ve become accustomed to American deference to Israel. Well before June’s fateful debate, that war fundamentally tarnished what might have been remembered, on the basis of Biden’s domestic policy record, as a respectable and even transformative presidency. Unavoidably now, Biden’s arrogance and solipsism will be part of his story.If she obtains the nomination, as seems likely, what will Harris’s story be? Thanks substantially to the administration’s own efforts to sideline her, we know very little about her as a leader. Thanks to her time as California’s attorney general, her record in the Senate and her last presidential run, we know a bit more about the policies she’d probably support in office ⁠– all told, she offers progressives both much to hope for and much to be wary of.A key test in the weeks ahead will be how she handles the Gaza question ⁠– substantively, a break from Biden there is absolutely necessary. And politically, she could do with an even broader break ⁠– the public has been down on this administration for ages and the campaign’s efforts to refocus attention on Trump’s negatives and the threat he poses to democracy simply hadn’t been working.It’s unclear what will, but removing Biden from the ticket has given the Democrats the opportunity for a full reset. Donald Trump has never won the support of even a plurality of the American public in an election. He has never been viewed more favorably than unfavorably. And he’s never looked more beatable than he did at this year’s Republican national convention. Harris can win. She must. Here’s hoping she does.

      Osita Nwanevu is a Guardian US columnist More

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      Kamala Harris says ‘my intention is to earn and win this nomination’ after Joe Biden endorses her for 2024 race – live

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      Joe Biden has become the first president in 56 years to call off his campaign for re-election, brought down by a disastrous performance in his late June debate against Republican nominee Donald Trump that caused a marked decline in his public support, and sparked a pressure campaign by his fellow Democrats to convince him to bow out. The president announced his decision on Twitter/X, as well as his support for Kamala Harris to take his place. The vice-president replied that “my intention is to earn and win this nomination”, while Democratic chair Jaime Harrison said “the party will undertake a transparent and orderly process” to find a new candidate.Here are some of the of major developments in this breaking story:

      Barack Obama called Biden “one of America’s most consequential presidents”, but did not endorse Harris and seemed to indicate he wanted an open nomination process at the Democratic national convention next month, in Chicago.

      Hillary and Bill Clinton quickly threw their support behind Harris.

      Democratic former House speaker Nancy Pelosi was a major figure in pressuring Biden to end his re-election bid, and spoke glowingly of him after he left the race.

      Donald Trump heaped scorn on Biden, saying he “was not fit to run for president, and is certainly not fit to serve”.

      Top Republicans in Congress, including speaker Mike Johnson and other senior House lawmakers, called on Biden to resign immediately. Notably, Mitch McConnell, the GOP’s Senate minority leader, did not.
      Axios reports that Kamala Harris is currently working the phones to consolidate Democrats around her candidacy for president – and that Barack Obama will not make an endorsement until the party does.With Biden out of the race, the nearly 4,000 Democratic delegates to the party convention next month in Chicago will take on renewed prominence, as they will determine who the party selects as his replacement. And while kingmakers like Obama and Bill and Hillary Clinton could play a role in swaying them, Axios heard from a personal familiar with Obama’s thinking, who said he was not planning to sidestep the party’s process:
      Just like he did in 2020 once Joe Biden earned the nomination, President Obama believes he will be uniquely positioned to help unite the party once we have a nominee, lift up that candidate, and do everything he can to get that candidate elected in November.
      Joe Biden announced he would bow out of the presidential race with a post on Twitter/X at 1.46pm ET, then endorsed Kamala Harris less than 30 minutes later.In the time since, we haven’t heard a peep from the president. He has no public events scheduled today, and the last communication from the pool reporter accompanying him in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where Biden is recovering from Covid-19, was at 1pm, and was just to point to a statement from his doctor about his condition.That leaves the three posts Biden made on his X account as his sole public statements regarding his decision to quit his campaign – the letter announcing the decision is not on the White House website, nor on his campaign’s.It is worth pointing out that, back in 1968, most Americans learned that Democratic president Lyndon B Johnson was ending his re-election campaign when he spoke on TV. Here’s CSPAN with a look back at that moment:However, in his letter announcing his exit, Biden said: “I will speak to the nation later this week in more detail about my decision.” So, Biden will likely make a speech, just not today.A few hours after Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid, his campaign fund was renamed “Harris for President”, a filing with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) shows.Another document filed by the previous Biden for President campaign to the FEC notes that Harris is “no longer a candidate” for vice-president and is instead a candidate for president and “will henceforth be conducting campaign activities only in pursuit of that office”.The move gives Harris, already the frontrunner for the presidency among Democrats, access to the Biden campaign coffers. A campaign filing yesterday showed the campaign has nearly $96m in cash on hand.Indivisible, one of the largest progressive US organizations, praised Joe Biden for his decision and said the group would back Kamala Harris.“This was a once-in-a-generation act of statesmanship. President Biden did what he thought was right for his country, and he did it with trademark decency, honesty, and a humbling dedication to public service,” the organization said in a statement.“In this moment, we’re filled with gratitude for our President for his sacrifice, and for our Vice President as she prepares to pick up the torch.”Indivisible said it asked its local leaders on Saturday whether they would support Harris if Biden dropped out. An “incredible” 95.6% of the local chapters’ leaders said “yes”.“Vice President Kamala Harris is meeting the moment with all the tenacity and clarity of purpose that we need from our standard bearer,” Indivisible said.“Indivisible is fully behind her candidacy. We’re ready to fight alongside her for every single vote.”The organization’s comments in support of Harris come as Democrats are swiftly rallying behind the vice-president, who said that she will seek the presidential nomination. Democrats’ seeming unity around Harris’s potential nomination marks a sharp contrast from the past several weeks, during which the party was afflicted by infighting over whether Biden should step down.British prime minister Keir Starmer noted his “respect” for Joe Biden’s decision to exit the presidential race, in a brief post on Twitter/X:Joe Biden has become the first president in 56 years to call off his campaign for re-election, brought down by a disastrous performance in his late June debate against Republican nominee Donald Trump that caused a marked decline in his public support, and sparked a pressure campaign by his fellow Democrats to convince him to bow out. The president announced his decision on Twitter/X, as well as his support for Kamala Harris to take his place. The vice-president replied that “my intention is to earn and win this nomination”, while Democratic chair Jaime Harrison said “the party will undertake a transparent and orderly process” to find a new candidate.Here are some of the of major developments in this breaking story:

      Barack Obama called Biden “one of America’s most consequential presidents”, but did not endorse Harris and seemed to indicate he wanted an open nomination process at the Democratic national convention next month, in Chicago.

      Hillary and Bill Clinton quickly threw their support behind Harris.

      Democratic former House speaker Nancy Pelosi was a major figure in pressuring Biden to end his re-election bid, and spoke glowingly of him after he left the race.

      Donald Trump heaped scorn on Biden, saying he “was not fit to run for president, and is certainly not fit to serve”.

      Top Republicans in Congress, including speaker Mike Johnson and other senior House lawmakers, called on Biden to resign immediately. Notably, Mitch McConnell, the GOP’s Senate minority leader, did not.
      Democratic social media accounts have begun circulating one of Kamala Harris’s advertisements from her failed 2020 run for president as a sign of what she might soon deploy against Donald Trump:Jim Clyburn is one of the House Democrats closest to Joe Biden, having played a big role in getting him the party’s nomination in 2020, and publicly defending him following his fumbling debate performance in June.In a new statement, Clyburn threw his support behind Kamala Harris to succeed Biden:Politicians across the world have voiced support for Joe Biden following his announcement that he will suspend his presidential campaign.Simon Harris, Taoiseach of Ireland, was among the foreign leaders reacting to Biden’s decision with praise.“President Biden has been a voice for reason, effective multilateralism and shared solutions,” Harris said in a statement. He said that Biden and the US saw “early on” that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was “an attack on international law and democratic freedom” and that the aggressor would not stop with its neighbor.Isaac Herzog, the president of Israel, said that he wanted to extend his “heartfelt thanks” to Biden for “his friendship and steadfast support for the Israeli people over his decades-long career” and noted that he was the first US president to visit the country in wartime.“He is a symbol of the unbreakable bond between our two peoples,” Herzog said.Kamala Harris is far from the only Democrat with aspirations of making it to the White House.Indeed, the party has what some would call a bench stacked with talent, such as California governor Gavin Newsom, transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, and several others.But none are as prominent as Harris, who also has the president’s endorsement, and CBS News reports that both Whitmer and Newsom do not plan to challenge her for the party’s nomination:Anti-war voters who aligned behind an “uncommitted” movement to protest Biden’s stance on the Gaza war want to see Kamala Harris “take a clear stance” against US weapons being sent to Israel.The uncommitted movement won 29 delegates to the Democratic convention and plans to use these delegates to push an anti-war message, though with Biden out, all his delegates become uncommitted as well. After Biden’s debate performance, some looked to see how the uncommitted movement could pick up more influence in the convention, though leaders said they would remain focused solely on the anti-war message.If Harris ends up the Democratic nominee, leaders of the national uncommitted movement say she needs to stand against any funding of Israel in the war.“It’s time to align our actions with our values,” uncommitted national leader Layla Elabed said in a statement. “Vice-President Harris can start the process to earn back trust by turning the page from Biden’s horrific policies in Gaza.”Kamala Harris says she will seek the Democratic presidential nomination after Joe Biden endorsed her as his successor following his decision to suspend his re-election campaign.From a just-released statement:
      I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination. Over the past year, I have traveled across the country, talking with Americans about the clear choice in this momentous election. And that is what I will continue to do in the days and weeks ahead. I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation – to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda.
      We have 107 days until Election Day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win.
      In a statement, Barack Obama, under whom Joe Biden served as vice-president, praised his decision to exit the presidential race, without endorsing his successor.“Joe Biden has been one of America’s most consequential presidents, as well as a dear friend and partner to me. Today, we’ve also been reminded — again — that he’s a patriot of the highest order,” Obama said.The former president was reportedly among those who did not believe Biden could win a second term in office following his botched first debate against Donald Trump. While Obama does not comment on that in his statement, he does talk at length about Biden’s decision to suspend his campaign:
      This outstanding track record gave President Biden every right to run for re-election and finish the job he started. Joe understands better than anyone the stakes in this election — how everything he has fought for throughout his life, and everything that the Democratic Party stands for, will be at risk if we allow Donald Trump back in the White House and give Republicans control of Congress.I also know Joe has never backed down from a fight. For him to look at the political landscape and decide that he should pass the torch to a new nominee is surely one of the toughest in his life. But I know he wouldn’t make this decision unless he believed it was right for America. It’s a testament to Joe Biden’s love of country — and a historic example of a genuine public servant once again putting the interests of the American people ahead of his own that future generations of leaders will do well to follow.
      Finally, Obama hints that he would like there to be an open nomination process at the Democratic convention scheduled to be held in Chicago in August:
      We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead. But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges. I believe that Joe Biden’s vision of a generous, prosperous, and united America that provides opportunity for everyone will be on full display at the Democratic Convention in August. And I expect that every single one of us are prepared to carry that message of hope and progress forward into November and beyond.
      In the two hours since Joe Biden suspended his re-election campaign, Democratic senators have been particularly quick to endorse Kamala Harris as his successor.Here’s Massachusetts’ Elizabeth Warren, a progressive who squared off against both Biden and Harris in the primaries leading up to the 2020 election:And Virginia’s Mark Warner:
      President Biden has made historic contributions to our nation. His love of country and loyalty to the American people has been unwavering. He will undoubtedly go down in the history books as a true American patriot.
      After all he’s done, I respect President Biden’s difficult decision to step aside in this upcoming election, and I look forward to hearing more from him later this week.
      While there has to be an orderly process and the decision ultimately rests in the hands of the DNC delegates, I believe Vice President Harris has the experience, energy, and resolve to lead our nation.
      This November, we must defeat Donald Trump and his backwards agenda.
      As well as Tammy Baldwin, who represents swing state Wisconsin, and is a top target of Republicans in November:
      Today I’m proud to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States. I look forward to her candidacy as a new beginning for our party and our country and I am excited to work with her to lower costs for Wisconsin families, grow our Made in America economy, and restore our fundamental rights and freedoms. More

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      Who will replace Joe Biden as Democratic nominee? Here are six possibilities

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      Joe Biden’s catastrophic showing at the debate with Donald Trump last month was the worst kind of milestone for the US president – it marked the beginning of the end of his bid for re-election. Trump was formally nominated for the Republicans at the party’s convention, held in Milwaukee, last week, and now Biden will be out of the race.So who will be at the top of the Democratic ticket against Trump now?Biden won the Democratic primaries earlier this year but would not have officially become the party’s candidate for president until endorsed at the 2024 Democratic national convention in Chicago, which takes place from 19-22 August. And it has all fallen apart a month before that.There was no formal mechanism to replace him as presumptive nominee, and such a move would have been the first time a US political party had attempted to do so in modern times. With Biden ultimately quitting of his own volition, he will hope to make the process to choose his replacement smoother. But it will not be straightforward and the immediate road ahead is not clear.On Sunday afternoon, Biden followed his announcement – that he was staying on at the White House as president but stepping aside from his re-election campaign – by saying he now endorses his vice-president, Kamala Harris, to become the Democratic nominee for president.She is the first female US vice-president and would become the first female president of the United States if she is officially nominated by the party at its convention and beats Trump in November. Not long after Biden, Bill and Hillary Clinton also endorsed Harris for the top spot, issuing a “statement from President Clinton and Secretary Clinton”.Hillary Clinton almost became the first woman to be US president, seeking to shatter what she called “the hardest, highest glass ceiling” and was the first female nominee from either of the two major parties in history. But she failed to win it for the Democrats and for women in 2016 as Trump took a shock victory for the Republicans.Biden’s endorsement of Harris will carry weight with delegates at the convention but is not binding.The Chicago convention was supposed to be a highly choreographed event, a formality, for the Biden-Harris ticket. Now things are up in the air.The Democratic National Committee’s chair, Jaime Harrison, said in a statement that the party would “undertake a transparent and orderly process” to select “a candidate who can defeat Donald Trump in November”.So who are the most likely candidates to head the Democratic bid for the White House in November?Kamala HarrisView image in fullscreenBiden’s vice-president was always the most logical pick, as someone already deputizing for the commander-in-chief. But now Harris is the obvious frontrunner for the nomination. However, she has been widely criticised for not carving out more of her own role in the Biden administration and has poor polling approval ratings, suggesting she would struggle against Donald Trump in the glare of an election campaign. The 59-year-old was backing Biden after the debate. Then support for him drained away, and now the spotlight is being trained firmly on Harris. The most senior party leadership, in the shape of the Democratic House speaker emerita, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, and Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, reportedly privately agreed with dozens of members of Congress who have been publicly calling on Biden to quit the race. That number continued to grow over the weekend, until Biden did as they were urging. But few until Biden on Sunday specified who should replace him. Harris was chosen as Biden’s running mate when she was a US senator for California, having been attorney general of the state and previously a district attorney based in San Francisco. She ran an unsuccessful campaign for the presidential nomination in 2020 that never made it to the primaries. As vice-president she was given difficult briefs including immigration but has most assuredly found her footing defending reproductive rights, in the wake of the US supreme court overturning Roe v Wade in 2022.Gavin NewsomView image in fullscreenThe 56-year-old California governor was in the spin room on the night last month after the first presidential debate of the 2024 election, talking down any alternatives to Biden as nominee, saying it was “nonsensical speculation”. He had a prime-time debate last year with the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, which could be a presidential match-up of the future, and has made a point of supporting Democrats in elections away from his home state, which looked, at times, like a shadow White House campaign. Now he will be examined closely as a candidate for the nomination.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionJB PritzkerView image in fullscreenThe 59-year-old governor of Illinois would be one of the wealthiest of possible picks. He can flourish his credentials of having codified the right to abortion in Illinois and declaring it a “sanctuary state” for women seeking abortions. He has also been strong on gun control, and legalised recreational marijuana.Gretchen WhitmerView image in fullscreenThe Michigan governor, 52, was on the shortlist for VP pick for Biden in 2020, and a strong showing in the midterms for the Democratic party was in part attributed to her governership. She has been in favour of stricter gun laws, repealing abortion bans and backing universal preschool.Josh ShapiroView image in fullscreenThe Democratic governor of Pennsylvania has been a rising political star in this crucial swing state for years but shot to national prominence in fall 2022 when, as state attorney general, he won the gubernatorial race over an extreme Trumpist Republican. His name has been on lips of late and the reckoning since Biden stepped aside is if Harris wins the nomination, Shapiro would be a strong pick as her running mate. Alison Dagnes, a professor of political science at Shippensburg University in southcentral Pennsylvania, told the USA Today media network that Shapiro generating buzz because he’s shrewd, tech-savvy and a proven winner in the battleground state with the most electoral college votes.Pete ButtigiegView image in fullscreenHe’s Joe Biden’s perky transportation secretary and a one-time rival the US president beat in the 2020 primaries. Back then he was known most widely as “Mayor Pete” after coming to prominence as the successful civic leader of South Bend, Indiana. His lightning sharp mind and record as a war veteran got him talked about as potentially the first millennial to become president. Buttigieg does not lack ambition – doubling it with a knack for diplomacy and a naturally genial, positive attitude. He was the first publicly gay person ever confirmed to a US cabinet post. That would also be a first for a US president, vice-president or nominee for either of those two slots. More

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      Biden’s selfless decision to drop out sets stage for an entirely different election

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      Legend has it that when King George III heard that George Washington, the first US president, had decided to retire after his second term, he remarked: “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”Joe Biden, 81, holed up at a Delaware beach house with a bad cough after a Covid-19 diagnosis, ended his presidential re-election campaign on Sunday. It was a selfless decision that put the country’s interests before his own – an act of grace that many see as vividly contrasting with the narcissism of his opponent Donald Trump.It also sets the stage for a completely different sort of election in November as top Democrats rapidly rushed to endorse Kamala Harris, which the president himself did. Now the Republicans will have to deal with issues of mental competence and an ageing candidate.Although many fellow Democrats had lost faith in Biden’s mental acuity and capacity to beat Trump, they had no mechanism to oust Biden, who won a mandate in the party primary and continued to enjoy the support of Black and progressive voters. Although he had spent decades striving for the crown, and sincerely believed he could finished the job, Biden ultimately realised that it was not about him and never had been.Opinion polls strongly suggest that he would have lost in November to Trump, a twice-impeached felon and instigator of the January 6 insurrection. To cling on and go down in flames, returning the White House keys to Trump, would have destroyed his legacy. He would have been remembered as the man who saved democracy in 2020 only to sacrifice it at the altar of his own ambition in 2024.Instead, whatever happens now, the 46th president will be remembered for steering America’s recovery from the Trump presidency and the coronavirus pandemic, delivering legislative achievements that will long outlast him – and giving his party a fighting chance to beat Trump again.His withdrawal was “one of the most stunning acts of patriotism of my lifetime”, Norm Eisen, a former diplomat, wrote on Twitter/X. David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Barack Obama, added: “History will honor him for his many extraordinary accomplishments as president AND for the terribly difficult and selfless decision he made today.” Comedian Jon Stewart tweeted simply: “Legend.”Biden’s announcement, via social media, was the latest drama in a month that has shaken US politics: his hapless debate performance on 27 June, a supreme court decision to grant broad presidential immunity on 1 July, an attempted assassination of Trump on 13 July, the collapse of the classified documents case against Trump selection of JD Vance as Trump’s running mate on 15 July.Future historians will surely look back at the first of those, the debate, as one of the most spectacular own goals in campaign history. For months Biden’s decline had been mostly concealed from the public as he stuck to teleprompter speeches and conducted fewer interviews or press conferences than his predecessors.If this was a conspiracy, it was an inept one: it was Biden’s own campaign that sought a presidential debate much earlier than usual to awaken the nation to the danger of Trump. Instead the incumbent’s halting, doddering showing had the opposite effect, shining a harsh light on his own flaws. From that moment, the writing was on the wall.By Sunday 36 congressional Democrats had publicly called on Biden to drop out of the race. Party heavyweights such as a Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and even his old boss, Obama, had sent powerful signals. Yet Senator Bernie Sanders, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others continued to rally around him. The final excruciating decision was Biden’s alone.It immediately scrambled the race for the White House and potentially threw Trump on the back foot. Suddenly he, at 78, find himself the oldest major party nominee for president that the US has ever seen – his gaffes and name mix-ups will be in the spotlight.The lesson of elections in Britain and around the world this year is that anti-incumbent sentiment is high. If the US is also on course for a change election, Trump is no longer the change candidate. A man who has spent his media and political entire career as a limelight-hogging disrupter will now have to respond to disruption on the other side.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionBiden immediately threw his weight behind Harris, for the nomination. It is surely her race to lose. Some will back her with enthusiasm, pointing to the historic nature of her candidacy and how, since the fall of Roe v Wade, she has found her voice on the issue of abortion rights.Tim Miller, who was communications director for the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign, told the MSNBC network: “If you want to sum up a contrast, a prosecutor versus a convicted criminal, a woman who wants to protect your freedoms versus an old man that wants to take them away.”Others will make a pragmatic case that to bypass the first woman, and first Black woman, to serve as vice-president would be disrespectful, offensive and self-defeating.Cornell Belcher, a Democratic pollster and strategist, said on MSBNC: “If the Democrats want to give the White House back to Donald Trump, let them go into an open nomination process and disrespect and step over the first Black woman vice-president of this country and they will be committing absolute suicide. That is a surefire way for Donald Trump to become president again.”The events of the past month, and the past eight years, have taught us to expect the unexpected – an open nominating process and Democratic melee is still impossible. But Bill and Hillary Clinton were quick to endorse Harris and there will be more to come. Having witnessed last week’s Republican national convention in Milwaukee, Democrats understand the value of unity.They are also aware that Trump’s entire political career has been built on divisiveness over race and sex, starting with the lie that Obama might have been born outside the US and gendered attacks on Hillary Clinton in 2016. As Biden, Prospero-like, drowns his book, the election of Harris, a Black woman, would provide this era’s last word in poetic justice. More

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      Joe Biden withdraws from presidential race after weeks of pressure to quit

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      Joe Biden has withdrawn from his presidential re-election race and endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris to take his place at the top of their party’s ticket, an extraordinary decision upending American politics that plunges the Democratic nomination into uncertainty just months before the November election against Donald Trump – a candidate Biden has warned is an existential threat to US democracy.“While it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term,” Biden said in a letter announcing his decision.Biden thanked Harris in his letter and later endorsed her as the Democratic nominee for president in a tweet. He said he planned to speak to the nation in more detail later this week.“My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as president for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my vice-president. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made,” he said.“Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats – it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”Harris thanked Biden in a statement “for his extraordinary leadership as president”. She also said “with this selfless and patriotic act, President Biden is doing what he has done throughout his life of service: putting the American people and our country above everything else.“I am honored to have the president’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” she said. “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic party – and unite our nation – to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda.“We have 107 days until Election Day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win.”The president made the stunning announcement after a weeks-long pressure campaign by Democratic leaders, organizers and donors who increasingly saw no path to victory so long as the embattled incumbent remained on the ticket. More than 30 Democratic members of Congress had called on Biden to step aside. As recently as Friday, his campaign had insisted he was staying in the race. An ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Sunday found that 60% of Democrats believed he should end his run. The same poll found that nearly 76% of Democrats would be satisfied with Harris as the nominee.Biden’s decision to withdraw appears to have been abrupt. The president told his senior staff on Sunday afternoon that he had changed his mind about staying in the race, and campaign officials were still reportedly on the phone with delegates asking if they could count on their support.In a post on Truth Social, Trump said Biden “was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve – And never was!”Biden “only attained the position of President by lies, Fake News, and not leaving his Basement”, Trump said. “All those around him, including his Doctor and the Media, knew that he wasn’t capable of being President, and he wasn’t.”Trump went on to list a series of falsehoods about immigration, concluding: “We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”Minutes after Sunday’s announcement, Trump told CNN that he believed it would be easier to defeat Harris than it would have been to beat Biden.It is unclear if any other Democrats will try to challenge Harris for the nomination. And it is still not clear whether she is better positioned to beat Trump. An NBC News poll from earlier this month showed Trump leading Biden and Harris by 2 points, which was within the survey’s margin of error.Barack Obama, the former president who selected Biden as his vice-president for both of his terms, released a lengthy statement on Sunday praising Biden’s decision. There had been reporting in recent days that there was tension between the two men over Biden feeling like Obama and other Democrats were trying to push him out.“Joe Biden has been one of America’s most consequential presidents, as well as a dear friend and partner to me,” said Obama, who won the presidency in 2008. “Today, we’ve also been reminded  –  again – that he’s a patriot of the highest order.“I also know Joe has never backed down from a fight. For him to look at the political landscape and decide that he should pass the torch to a new nominee is surely one of the toughest in his life. But I know he wouldn’t make this decision unless he believed it was right for America. It’s a testament to Joe Biden’s love of the country – and a historic example of a genuine public servant once again putting the interests of the American people ahead of his own – that future generations of leaders will do well to follow.”Obama, who stopped short of endorsing Harris, said Democrats would be navigating “uncharted waters in the days ahead”. He added: “But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who in recent days had become a major figure signaling concerns among Democrats Biden would be able to win the race, spoke glowingly of his decision on Sunday.“President Joe Biden is a patriotic American who has always put our country first. His legacy of vision, values and leadership make him one of the most consequential presidents in American history,” she wrote.Bill and Hillary Clinton endorsed Harris in a joint statement. “We are honored to join the president in endorsing Vice-President Harris and will do whatever we can to support her,” the former president and secretary of state said.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionHarris’s nomination is not automatic, and there are other Democrats – including the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, the California governor, Gavin Newsom, and the Illinois governor, JB Pritzker – who could seek the nomination. If any of those candidates were nominated in Chicago next month, they would face the monumental task of introducing themselves to voters, crafting a campaign message and defeating Trump – all in two and a half months.Citing sources, CBS News on Sunday reported that neither Whitmer nor Newsom intended to pursue the Democratic nomination. The network added: “There’s no one at this moment preparing behind the scenes to challenge Vice-President Harris.”Whitmer said in a Sunday tweet: “President Biden is a great public servant who knows better than anyone what it takes to defeat Donald Trump. My job in this election will remain the same: doing everything I can to elect Democrats and stop Donald Trump, a convicted felon whose agenda of raising families’ costs, banning abortion nationwide, and abusing the power of the White House to settle his own scores is completely wrong for Michigan.”The chair of the Democratic National Committee, Jaime Harrison, said the party would “undertake a transparent and orderly process to move forward” to choose a candidate to defeat Trump in November.A disastrous debate performance last month, and his uneven public appearances since, have only exacerbated longstanding voter concerns that the 81-year-old president was simply too old to serve another four years.Democrats immediately praised Biden’s decision, including Chuck Schumer, the majority leader in the US Senate, and one of several Democrats who had been pressuring Biden to step aside.“Joe Biden has not only been a great president and a great legislative leader but he is a truly amazing human being. His decision of course was not easy, but he once again put his country, his party, and our future first,” Schumer said in a statement.The US House speaker, Mike Johnson, suggested during appearances on Sunday talkshows that Republicans would bring legal challenges to attempt to block efforts to change the Democratic ticket. Experts are skeptical those efforts will succeed.Johnson was also one of several top Republicans who called on Biden to resign the presidency – something Biden is almost certain not to do.“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for president, he is not fit to serve as president. He must resign the office immediately,” Johnson said, adding that election day on 5 November “cannot arrive soon enough”.The Ohio senator JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, made similar comments on Sunday.Biden’s decision to step aside, though remain as president, caps a singular few weeks in American politics, the latest stunning episode in an unusually tumultuous election season.Trump, the former president and Republican nominee, narrowly survived an attempt on his life during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania that bloodied his ear and left one spectator dead. Biden, after appealing for calm in the wake of attack, had returned to the campaign trail last week determined to salvage his candidacy and once again prove his doubters wrong.In media appearances, the president was defiant, insisting that he would remain the party’s standard-bearer in November. On Wednesday, before delivering remarks at a conference in Nevada, he tested positive for Covid.The president’s withdrawal pushes the Democratic party into largely uncharted waters, with its national convention scheduled to begin on 19 August in Chicago. The nominee will also have a tight window to choose a running mate to take on Trump and Vance. It is not clear how Democrats will choose a new ticket.After serving as Biden’s vice-president, Harris, 59, has the largest national profile of any Democratic candidate, and delegates may view her as the safest option. Campaign finance experts also say that Harris would have the most straightforward legal argument to keep the Biden campaign’s fundraising haul, while another nominee might have to forfeit that money. As of late May, the Biden campaign had $91.6m in cash on hand. More

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      The tragedy and resilience of Joe Biden: a look back at a life in politics

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      Joe Biden’s historic decision on Sunday to step down as the Democratic nominee for president signals an imminent end to one of the most consequential American political careers.At 81, the oldest president ever sworn in has finally yielded to time – and his own party. Someone else, possibly the vice-president, Kamala Harris, will face Donald Trump in November.Biden, who endorsed Harris on Sunday, will remain in the White House until January. But Democrats and Republicans will soon survey something new: a political landscape without Biden at its centre.Born in Pennsylvania in 1942, Biden attended the University of Delaware and Syracuse law school, became a public defender, then entered politics. A natural campaigner, in 1972, at just 29, he ran for US Senate, scoring a huge upset over J Caleb Boggs, a two-term Republican more than twice his age.View image in fullscreenThe same year, voters gave Richard Nixon a landslide win. Nixon was the 37th president. In 2021, Biden would become the 46th. In that 49-year span, as eight presidents came and went, Biden was a senator for 36 years, vice-president for eight.View image in fullscreenAs a junior senator, Biden suffered his first, but not last, tragedy when a car crash killed his wife, Neilia Biden, and one-year-old daughter, Naomi, at Christmas in 1972. Biden became known for riding the rails, from Delaware to Washington DC and back, to care for his sons, Beau and Hunter, who survived the accident.He married his second wife, Jill Jacobs, in 1977, and their daughter, Ashley, was born four years later.For 17 years, Biden was a ranking member or chair of the Senate judiciary committee. He led five supreme court confirmations. In 1991 the nominee, Clarence Thomas, was accused of sexual harassment and Biden was widely seen to have mishandled the hearings. In 2019, he said Thomas’s accuser, Anita Hill, “did not get treated well. I take responsibility for that.”Biden’s record on crime would also haunt him, particularly his support for a 1994 bill many say contributed to problems of mass incarceration and racial injustice. Another 1994 bill, banning assault weapons, remained a source of pride.View image in fullscreenFor 11 years, Biden was chair or ranking member of the foreign relations committee. In 1991, he voted against the Gulf war. In 2002, after 9/11, he voted for the invasion of Iraq. He later said that vote was wrong.In 1987, Biden first ran for president. At 45, he sought comparison with John F Kennedy but as reported by Richard Ben Cramer in the campaign classic What It Takes, youth, ambition and drive were not enough to prevent embarrassing failure.Biden took to quoting Neil Kinnock, then Labour leader in Britain, about being the first member of his family to go to college. Unfortunately, Biden stopped saying he was quoting.View image in fullscreenKinnock didn’t mind but the US press did. Biden’s freewheeling speaking style (and accompanying evocations of his Irish ancestry) often left him open to error. But he was undoubtedly an effective communicator, all the more remarkably so given he stammered as a child.Months after abandoning his presidential campaign, Biden suffered a brain aneurysm so severe a priest was called to administer last rites. Months later, he suffered another.He was nothing if not resilient. Twenty years later, he ran for president again. A great debate stage line, about a Republican rival, went down in history: “Rudy Giuliani, there’s only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb and 9/11.” But Biden soon dropped out.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionBarack Obama won the nomination. When the Illinois senator, 47, picked Biden, 66, as his running mate, the New York Times said Obama had acquired “a longtime Washington hand” who could “reassure voters” rather than “deliver a state or reinforce [a] message of change”.View image in fullscreenBiden spent eight years as vice-president, his working relationship with Obama, reporting suggested, not quite so close as it was often portrayed. Biden played key roles in successes including advancing LGBTQ+ rights, legislating to prevent violence against women and securing healthcare reform. A push for gun reform failed.Biden eyed a third presidential run but in 2015 the death of his son Beau from brain cancer took a terrible toll. Furthermore, Obama backed Hillary Clinton.Amid the chaos of the Trump years, Biden decided to run again. Significant support from Black voters propelled a primary win. In the year of Covid, campaign travel was limited. For a 77-year-old candidate, that wasn’t much of a problem. Come the election, Biden won by more than 7m votes and with electoral college ease.The first major book on 2020 was called Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency. Regardless, his campaign message about a “battle for the soul of America” fueled two productive years. With congressional Democrats, Biden secured major legislation, boosting the economy after Covid, securing infrastructure investment and funding the climate crisis fight.Trump had incited an attack on Congress, but Trumpism would not die. Republicans took back the House. Biden oversaw foreign policy disaster – the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan – and success, marshalling support for Ukraine against Russia.The dam could not hold. Questions about Biden’s age and fitness ran at a hum before the disastrous debate in Atlanta in June saw Democratic dissent burst through.At first, Biden displayed characteristic fire, blaming “elites” to which he never felt he belonged, vowing to fight on. But then Trump survived an assassination attempt and emerged seemingly stronger than ever.Democratic calls for Biden to quit grew louder. Eventually, he heard them. More