Donald Trump

Subterms

    More stories

    • 200 Shares139 Views

      in US Politics

      US election live updates: top Democrats back Kamala Harris as donations surge after Biden steps aside

      by

      All 50 state Democratic party chairs have endorsed Harris to be the party’s new presidential nominee to run against Republican nominee and former president, Donald Trump, Reuters reports.The chairs held a conference call after President Joe Biden announced he was stepping aside as the party’s candidate.“Following President Biden’s announcement, our members immediately assembled to unite behind the candidate who has a track record of winning tough elections, and who is a proven leader on the issues that matter to Americans: reproductive freedom, gun violence prevention, climate protection, justice reform, and rebuilding the economy,” said Ken Martin, president of the Association of State Democratic Committees, in a statement.When the Democratic National Convention meets in Chicago on 17 August, any nominee for president needs to secure the votes of 1,986 delegates. Joe Biden had more than 3,800 delegate pledged to vote for him after the primary season, but those people are now released from that obligation.Kamala Harris has, according to the latest count by website The Hill, already secured votes from 531 delegates, with the states of Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Florida and Louisiana all offering support.Deborah Cole is a Berlin correspondent for the GuardianGermany’s mainstream political class expressed respect and a degree of relief over president Joe Biden stepping aside in the race given deep-seated fears for Europe about a win by Donald Trump in November.The chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who had only recently expressed strong support for Biden’s bid for a second term, praised Biden’s tough call, posting to social media to say “My friend Joe Biden has achieved a lot: for his country, for Europe, for the world. Thanks to him, transatlantic cooperation is close, Nato is strong and the US is a good and reliable partner for us. His decision not to run again deserves respect.”The vice-chancellor and economy minister, Robert Habeck, echoed the remarks, voicing “great esteem” for Biden and his choice to stand down. Conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who opposes a second Trump term, also said he had “great respect” for Biden’s decision to end his lifetime of political service in January.However the CDU’s deputy parliamentary group leader Thorsten Frei warned against “euphoria” about a potential run by Kamala Harris. He told public broadcaster RBB she had “failed” to develop her own strong profile in office, meaning the switch of candidate might fail to materialise as an “act of liberation” for the Democrats.Thomas Jäger, a political scientist at the University of Cologne, criticised the chaotic way Biden made the bombshell announcement, catching his party on the backfoot. “He let them run into an open knife … it almost seemed like an act of revenge” on those he felt had betrayed him, he said.Jäger told rolling news channel NTV he expected the “voices to grow louder” for Biden to step down immediately as president, with scrutiny of his fitness growing even stronger now that he’s tried to hand the baton to Harris.He said it was “very very optimistic” to believe that Harris as nominee would mark a “breakthrough” for the Democrats, given her weak profile and short time left to campaign.Our picture desk has put together this gallery of Joe Biden’s political career from when he first became a senator in 1972 to the present day.Reuters is reporting that US stock index futures climbed on Monday on the news that president Joe Biden was withdrawing from the election.The news agency quotes Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics saying “Donald Trump is still the solid favorite to win the presidential election, but betting markets suggest he has a slightly lower probability of beating Harris rather than Biden.“Harris will have a real chance to sell herself to the American public in the second presidential debate, currently scheduled for 10 September, although the Trump campaign could withdraw, not wanting to go toe-to-toe with the ex-attorney.”Reuters states that investers are braced for high volatility this week, and notes that shares of Trump-linked stocks such as Trump Media & Technology Group and software firm Phunware were up.CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein has said he thinks the Democratic party is likely to pick Kamala Harris, as “it’s just hard to imagine there is the stomach for a full-fledged second fight to bypass her”.He told the news network:
      The Democratic party has just gone through a very traumatic episode of nudging aside a president who they respect, who they think has been more successful than many expected, but whom the vast majority of them had come to believe cannot win and did not feel comfortable about re-nominating him for four more years.
      After going through all of that, it’s just hard to imagine there is the stomach for a full-fledged second fight to bypass her. Especially with the candidates who might have the best chance – like Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom – already indicating they won’t run against Harris.
      My colleague Joan E Greve has this explainer of what happens next in the nomination process now that Joe Biden has stepped aside …German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock has said Joe Biden’s decision to step aside showed he was willing to put his country’s interests above his own, Reuters reports.It quotes her saying “I have great respect for the US president’s decision. Biden has also done an incredible amount for transatlantic relations, and not just during his term as president.”Hugo Lowell reports for the Guardian on what the latest developments mean for the Donald Trump campaignDonald Trump is scrambling to pivot his campaign against Kamala Harris, with attack ads hitting her current record in office and her past in California, according to two sources familiar with the matter.The Trump campaign is viewing Harris as the presumptive Democratic nominee, especially after Biden gave his endorsement, and started preparing opposition research dossiers against her in recent weeks. But as much as Biden’s withdrawal has left Democrats floundering ahead of its nominating convention next month, it has in many ways also flummoxed the Trump campaign.Trump-aligned political action committees such as MAGA Inc will unleash a wave of attacks against Harris, including a $5m television ad in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, casting her as the puppet master in the Biden administration.The Trump campaign was always set up to defeat one person – Biden – and Trump’s allies in recent weeks even pulled punches to keep the president viable as a candidate because they were so keen to run against him.The problem for the Trump campaign is that their best attack lines against Biden, on age and mental acuity, cannot be used and, if anything, they might be reprised by Democrats against Trump given he now will be the oldest candidate.And the millions of dollars that the Trump-aligned Pacs spent creating attack ads against Biden, including one as recently as last week that was centered around Biden’s slip-up at the presidential debate last month about military deaths, have gone to waste.Read more from Hugo Lowell here: Trump scrambles to pivot campaign to attack Kamala HarrisIsrael will be the strongest US ally in the Middle East regardless of who is elected president in November, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.Reuters reports that Netanyahu, speaking to reporters before flying to Washington, said that he would thank president Joe Biden for all he has done for Israel.The Biden administration’s continued provision of resources for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has caused the president to lose some support on the left of his party.If you would like something to listen to about the news that Joe Biden is to step aside from his re-election campaign and has instead endorsed vice-president Kamala Harris to challenge Donald Trump in November, then our Politics Weekly America have a podcast on the topic recorded overnight. Jonathan Freedland is joined by politics reporter Nikki McCann Ramírez to discuss what happens next. You can listen to it here.

      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. The extraordinary decision upends American politics and 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. Biden said he planned to speak to the nation in more detail later this week

      Harris said she would run for president, and she was “honored” by Biden’s decision to endorse her. “I am honored to have the president’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” Harris said. “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic party – and unite our nation – to defeat Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda.”

      It is still unclear whether the party will coalesce around Harris, or whether the Democratic national convention will have a floor fight for the nomination. However, all 50 state Democratic party chairs have already endorsed Harris to be the party’s new presidential nominee. Senators Mark Warner, Tammy Baldwin and others quickly offered their support for Harris in messages on Sunday, as did Bill and Hillary Clinton.

      Two of the most likely alternatives to Harris, Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom, appear to have ruled themselves out of the running

      Democratic leaders quickly heaped praise on the president for his lifetime of service. “Joe understands better than anyone the stakes in this election” wrote Barack Obama. Nancy Pelosi, who reportedly was one of several lawmakers nudging Biden to withdraw, spoke of her “love and gratitude” in a message after the announcement

      Trump, with typical grace, reacted to the news with a vicious attack on Biden and his legacy. “Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for president, and is certainly not fit to serve – and never was!” the Republican nominee said in a post to his own Truth Social network. The former president rehashed a familiar litany of unsubstantiated grievances in his message. JD Vance, Trump’s newly installed running mate, called Biden “the worst president of my lifetime”
      In today’s First Edition newsletter, my colleague Archie Bland sets out what happens now:While Joe Biden won the Democratic primaries at a canter, his status as the party’s nominee had not yet been officially confirmed. As Joan E Greve sets out in this useful explainer, the delegates who are pledged to vote for Biden at the party’s convention next month will now be released from their obligation.In theory, that could mean an open “floor fight” in which candidates vie for the delegates’ votes. The Democratic National Committee chair, Jaime Harrison, said yesterday that the process would be “transparent and orderly”. The DNC’s rules committee said last night that it would meet on Wednesday to settle on the process.Kamala Harris has no automatic right to Biden’s delegates as his vice-president, but his endorsement plus the explicit support of many prominent figures in the party mean there is a very good chance she will run unopposed, or be a strong favourite even if someone stands against her.In her favour is wariness among the Democratic establishment of a chaotic display to the public in an open battle at the convention – alongside worries that Black and female voters could turn away from the party if Harris were to be denied the nomination that some feel she has already earned.Tat theory will only be tested if a serious rival emerges, which looks increasingly unlikely. One potential candidate, Gretchen Whitmer, governor of Michigan, quickly said yesterday that she would not stand; another governor, Gavin Newsom of California, has repeatedly said that he would not stand against Harris. Both endorsed her last night, along with more than 100 other elected Democrats.Read more here: Monday briefing – Joe Biden passes the torch – and transforms the race for the presidencyThe Kremlin has responded to Biden stepping aside, saying “a lot can change” in the next four months.“The elections are still four months away, and that is a long period of time in which a lot can change,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the SHOT news outlet.“We need to be patient and carefully monitor what happens. The priority for us is the special military operation,” Peskov said, using the euphemism for the Ukraine war that President Vladimir Putin prefers.Putin had said several times said that he felt Biden was preferable as the future US president to Trump for Russia, even after Biden cast the Kremlin chief as a “crazy SOB”.Russian state television led news bulletins with the news of Biden leaving the election race and Biden’s support for Harris, though it said it was unclear if Harris would earn the Democratic nomination.Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on the Telegram messaging app that he wished Biden good health and added that the goals of the special military operation would be achieved.If Kamala Harris becomes the nominee, then, as said in a 2020 Harris campaign ad shared widely after Biden resigned, Trump will be up against “The Anti-Trump”.Here is a reminder of some of the ways they differ: A prosecutor versus a felon. The first Black person, the first person of South Asian descent, and the first female Vice President in US history, versus a white man. The oldest Presidential candidate in US history versus someone almost 20 years younger than him. The US property mogul who inherited a fortune from his father versus the daughter of a biologist and a university Professor in economics, both of whom are immigrants.On that note, this is Helen Sullivan handing over to my colleague Martin Belam in London.Here is a roundup of this morning’s front pages: More

    • 250 Shares139 Views

      in US Politics

      The post-Biden era may be uncertain for the Democrats, but for Trump it will be utterly dismaying | Simon Tisdall

      by

      To borrow from Shakespeare, “Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it.” Joe Biden might have clung on. He could, in his pain and pride, have fought and failed and lost the presidency to a gloating Donald Trump. He could have let his stubborn Irish heart rule his greying Yankee head. But in the end, finally, Biden, old and ill, bravely did the right and honourable thing.Likening the departing US leader to the Thane of Cawdor is risky, all the same. The latter’s sudden demise opened the way to even greater tragedy, as students of Macbeth and disputed successions know well. Whether Kamala Harris, Biden’s hand-picked heir, can rise from the ashes of a burnt-out presidency is the great question of the hour. Never in modern times has the Oval Office – the world’s biggest, most awesomely powerful job – been so totally up for grabs with a few frenetic weeks to go.The unforgiving deadline is 19 August, when the Democratic party national convention opens in Chicago. Thursday 22 August is the day the successful nominee must make her or his acceptance speech. After that, there’s no going back, no time for second thoughts. From then until election day on 5 November, it will be all-out war, a fight to the political death with an extremist Republican ticket in arguably the most consequential election since John F Kennedy narrowly defeated Richard Nixon in 1960.Will Harris get her party’s nod, or face a damaging internal competition? She has big advantages. The vice-president since 2021, she can count on nationwide name recognition – unlike Trump’s far-right white nationalist running mate, the deservedly obscure JD Vance. She has black and Asian-American roots, a potential plus with minority voters. She is the first ever woman to hold the vice-presidency. And at 59, she is definitely not Joe Biden.Before joining the White House, Harris was a well regarded prosecutor and senator from California. In office, she has earned a reputation, among those who care to look, for championing women’s rights, education and climate action – and for fighting Republican voter-suppression schemes. She is underestimated and mocked by opponents, as vice-presidents typically are. But she has taken hard knocks and kept going. And she could inherit the $100m Biden-Harris campaign war chest.For the US’s independent and undecided voters, Harris, crucially, is also not Donald Trump. Instead of a grudge match between two grumpy old men, battering each other bloody like cranky Monty Python knights, a fresh choice may soon be on offer – in terms of personality, energy, policy, tone, trustworthiness and moral integrity. It’s a choice that could bring a generational leap. Come January next year, it’s possible a new, younger morning in the US may dawn.Yet it wouldn’t do to get carried away. No one knows at this point whether one or several of the many other senior Democrats mentioned as possible replacements for Biden will throw their hats into the ring. They include state governors such as Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Gavin Newsom of California. Then there’s Pete Buttigieg, a former secretary of transportation, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. Some even talk of a Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump rematch, though hopefully they’re just trying to scare people. Yet consider this: what are the chances now of the first ever all-women ticket?How Biden’s successor will be picked is still unclear. The fact the president has endorsed Harris will carry considerable weight with party moderates. The so-called progressive left – people such as congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – may have different ideas. Having teetered on the brink of pariah-dom, Biden, by stepping aside, has instantly accrued political capital to add to that accumulated during a relatively successful domestic presidency. It will be hard to deny him his choice – and Harris’s potential rivals will be loath to be cast as agents of division.With his huge haul of committed convention delegates gained during the primary season, could Biden simply deliver the nomination to Harris? No. Now he is not standing, those delegates are free to vote for whomever they choose. If the process unravels uncontrollably into a month-long popularity contest, in which rival candidates compete to make their case, the choice of nominee could come down to a nail-biting, last-minute vote or series of eliminatory votes on the floor of the Chicago convention.What an extraordinary, riveting, prime-time spectacle that would make. Even if Harris is ultimately chosen by acclamation, what an awe-inspiring exercise in open, real-time democracy it could be. And how utterly dismaying for Trump and his Republican fib-meisters, mudslingers, cable muppets and poll-manglers. The entire nation, indeed the entire democratic world, would fixate on the drama, would be present, in a very real sense, at the creation.From the crumbling ruins of Biden’s presidency, a new leader may arise, a new champion for American values, the antidote and cure for Trump and Trumpism. The old guy (he is 78) is already spitting blood from his golf cart. Despite his insults, he knows a fresh candidate will be better equipped to call him to account, expose his crimes, skewer his lies, run him ragged. With luck, it will drive him utterly mad.What happened on Sunday evening was a personal political tragedy. It was a lesson in the impermanence of power. It showed how, in a healthy democracy, seemingly unassailable leaders can be brought low. But it was also a moment of tremendous hope, of renewal, of resurgence. What had begun to look dismayingly inevitable – the return of Trump and his repellent brand of mawkish, divisive, egocentric authoritarianism – is suddenly not inevitable at all. Amid anxiety and sadness, the relief is palpable. The adrenaline flows anew. Now let the battle truly commence.Thank you, Joe, for finally getting it. You beat the pandemic, you led the recovery, you extended healthcare, created jobs and showed the way on the climate crisis. You were wrong on Gaza and Afghanistan, too cautious on Ukraine. But you were a decent man and, for the most part, a good president for the US and the world. For all this and more you will be gratefully remembered. But leaving is the best thing you ever did.

      Simon Tisdall is the Observer’s foreign affairs commentator More

    • 113 Shares99 Views

      in US Politics

      Trump scrambles to pivot campaign to attack Kamala Harris

      by

      Donald Trump is scrambling to pivot his campaign against Kamala Harris, with attack ads hitting her current record in office and her past in California, according to two sources familiar with the matter, after Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 race on Sunday.The Trump campaign is viewing Harris as the presumptive Democratic nominee, especially after Biden gave his endorsement, and started preparing opposition research dossiers against her in recent weeks. But as much as Biden’s withdrawal has left Democrats floundering ahead of its nominating convention next month, it has in many ways also flummoxed the Trump campaign.Trump-aligned political action committees such as MAGA Inc will unleash a wave of attacks against Harris, including a $5m television ad in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, casting her as the puppet master in the Biden administration.The bet from the Trump campaign is that Democrats fear the possibility of a backlash from their progressive base if they push aside Harris, who is on track to be the first Black female nominee of the party.Still, some senior Trump campaign advisers are uncertain whether she will actually become the nominee, which would complicate their strategy even further.The Trump campaign was always set up to defeat one person – Biden – and Trump’s allies in recent weeks even pulled punches to keep the president viable as a candidate because they were so keen to run against him.The problem for the Trump campaign is that their best attack lines against Biden, on age and mental acuity, cannot be used and, if anything, they might be reprised by Democrats against Trump given he now will be the oldest candidate.And the millions of dollars that the Trump-aligned Pacs spent creating attack ads against Biden, including one as recently as last week that was centered around Biden’s slip-up at the presidential debate last month about military deaths, have gone to waste.View image in fullscreenBiden stepping aside was the Trump campaign’s worst-case scenario for the 2024 election, the two sources said, and everyone from Trump himself to the junior press aides have ironically been urging Biden to stay in the race.The Trump campaign effectively issued an internal directive last month to ensure its staffers did not publicly pile onto the Democratic pressure campaign pushing Biden to drop out, fearing they could help push it over the edge, the Guardian has reported.For weeks, the Trump campaign has been more concerned about running against Harris than Biden, with some senior advisers thinking Harris was better at delivering messages on abortion and Trump’s legal problems.Harris has been vocal on abortion rights, an issue that Trump has told advisers he thinks is an electoral loser after Republicans greatly underperformed in the 2022 midterms following the US supreme court’s overturning of Roe v Wade.And Harris’ past work as a prosecutor could negatively highlight Trump’s recent criminal conviction in New York on 34 felonies of falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money scheme to influence the 2016 election.Some Trump allies, including people at the influential MAGA Inc and Save America Pacs, have also noted she can be humorous at times; clips of her quirky phrases – “did you just fall out of a coconut tree” – have gone viral on TikTok and other social media sites.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionAnother problem for the Trump campaign is that the iterations of the Democratic ticket are currently endless: Harris could be atop the ticket with any number of running mate possibilities, or Harris might not even be on the ticket at all.But the Trump campaign also believes Harris has her own drawbacks that will cancel out any gains or momentum she might generate in the forthcoming weeks until the Democratic national convention that starts 19 August, the two sources said.The Trump campaign believes it can paint her as responsible for what they call the “open” US southern border under the Biden administration, and define her by her tenure as a US senator and, before that, as the California attorney general and San Francisco district attorney.In doing so, it aims to resuscitate the same issues that dogged her in the 2020 Democratic primary, where she was pummeled for being soft on crime and too lenient on first-time drug offenders when she was a prosecutor in California.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? More

    • 263 Shares99 Views

      in US Politics

      The latest US presidential twist throws the race wide open – but what could it mean for Australia? | Arthur Sinodinos

      by

      The 2024 US presidential election is proof that in America nothing succeeds like excess.The standing down of President Biden is just the latest twist in this extraordinary race – and could be the circuit breaker the Democrats are looking for. It removes age as an issue for them and potentially refocuses the campaign, with Kamala Harris the standard bearer.She is within striking distance of Trump in national polls and involves the least disruptive transition to the Democrat campaign. Trump may seek to ridicule ‘laughing’ Kamala but that could backfire with voters, particularly women. She will need a running mate who can appeal in the swing states and has a compelling personal story. This will inject new energy into the campaign.Undoubtedly, Trump has momentum. The former president’s acceptance speech at the RNC did not chart a new policy direction or presage a kinder, gentler politics. That is not what fuels the Maga engine. Trump has harnessed the anger of those Americans who feel like outsiders in their own country, threatened by rapid change, identity politics and left behind by the widening of income and wealth inequalities.The selection of JD Vance, a smart and articulate convert to Maga is a signal that Trump is not looking to appeal to the ever-shrinking pool of moderates or independents. In Trump’s eyes, Maga is here to stay, and Vance is its tribune.The Democrats’ best strategy now is to turn the election into a referendum on Trump’s negatives, which they define as the chaos of his first term and threat to American institutions. The departure of President Biden provides that opportunity.US elections are determined by turnout. The Maga base is energised by Trump’s ‘resurrection’. Democrats will now have to pick themselves off the floor and push the buttons of various sections of the electorate to motivate turnout.In many ways, this is now a race between Vance and Harris, who is the most likely Democrat nominee. The age issue has been turned on its head. Vance’s views come into focus now that he is only a heartbeat away from the presidency.Many women will vote to send a message on restriction of abortion rights. Vance’s strong views on restricting abortion rights provide a perfect foil for this argument. Harris is best placed to run that argument. Trump has soft-pedalled on the issue in recognition of its lethality to his campaign.What does this mean for Australia and the rest of the world? Do not expect much change in international economic policy from either side of politics.Trump upended trade policy in 2016, forcing Hillary Clinton to disown her administration’s centrepiece trade strategy for the Indo-Pacific, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which dealt a major blow to the US pivot to the region. Since then, market access agreements have been off the table for both sides of politics with more interest in how to tilt the playing field in favour of US firms by imposing higher labour and environmental costs on foreign competitors.Covid 19 and the technological cold war with China are also reshaping industrial supply chains with more reshoring and friend-shoring in the offing. The Aukus capability pact and the Quad focus on critical and emerging tech are leading examples of this trend. Both Trump and a reelected Democrat administration will double down on this, with perhaps more onshoring in Trump’s case.One major point of difference is climate change policy and international cooperation. Trump is likely to again withdraw from the Paris agreement and promises to drill for more oil from day one, further extending America’s energy independence and fossil fuel exports. His industry policy is lower energy costs and less regulation to attract more onshoring.Trump’s tech policy is unclear. He flip-flopped on the banning of TikTok. He is courting the Silicon Valley titans, who are turning Maga in the hope of less tax on capital and no more regulation. Trump’s main beef with big tech is that it restricts free speech (his speech) on social media. Vance is a fan of support for little tech in opposition to big tech, and this appeals to his venture capitalist backers.The Trump mantra of ‘no more wars’ appeals to an electorate exhausted by the blood and treasure expended in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is likely he will follow through on solving Ukraine in one day (by effectively abandoning it), he is encouraging Israel to ‘finish the job’ in Gaza as soon as possible (that is, not on his watch) and the signal to China on Taiwan is very mixed. However, many Republicans are ardent supporters of Taiwan and its right to exist. This could put a brake on Trump sacrificing Taiwan on the altar of a grand bargain with China on trade.Trump is ahead now but we saw over the weekend how quickly things can change. As they used to say on World Championship Wrestling, anything can happen – and probably will.

      Arthur Sinodinos is a former Australian ambassador to the US. He is the partner and chair of The Asia Group’s Australia practice and was a former minister for industry, innovation and science More

    • 275 Shares159 Views

      in US Politics

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

      by

      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

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

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

      by

      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

    • 163 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

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

      by

      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

    • 150 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

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

      by

      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