US politics

Subterms

    More stories

    • 163 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      ‘Oh thank God’: Democratic swing state voters feel relief after Biden drops out

      by

      For many Democratic swing state voters, Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential election came as a relief.“Oh thank God,” said Cathy Gramze, a retired nurse who lives in the suburbs of Detroit. “My diagnosis has for a long time been that he cannot run again and I am not entirely sure that he should finish his term in office.”Gramze had worried about Biden’s fitness long before the debate. His 27 June performance merely confirmed what she had long feared. “A lot of the time he is the president we need, but some of the time he isn’t.”Kamala Harris, who Biden endorsed on Sunday and who has earned the endorsement of most prominent Democratic elected officials, “needs to be the presidential nominee”, Gramze said.For more than a year, voters across the political spectrum have been saying they feel Biden, who is 81 years old, is too old to run for re-election. Those anxieties crescendoed in the wake of his first debate with Donald Trump, in which Trump lied repeatedly about a range of issues and Biden struggled to push back or even answer questions coherently. Following the debate, more than 30 Democrats in Congress called on Biden to end his presidential campaign, with the powerful former Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly ratcheting up the pressure on Biden to drop out of the race last week.In the last few weeks, polling has increasingly shown Biden lagging in critical swing states, with large majorities of Democratic party voters indicating they believe he should not renew his campaign. Recent national polls also show Trump losing to the vice-president, whose path to victory, like Biden’s, will involve winning the critical states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.Not only Democrats welcomed the announcement. Dan Rose, who has long supported Trump, said he was glad Biden pulled out of the race.“He doesn’t have the caliber we need in a president,” said Rose, who said he worries about the economy. Rose, who is from De Pere, Wisconsin, said he will still support Trump but felt Biden had made the right choice in ending his campaign. “The Democrats might be in a pickle now,” he added.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionIf the Democrats are in a pickle, few grassroots party members expressed concern following Biden’s announcement.“How courageous and brave of him to do that,” said Chris Fleming, who is retired and volunteers for a group organizing rural Democratic voters in Wisconsin. This year, Fleming’s husband had $15,000 in student debt cancelled by the Biden administration – which she said left her feeling grateful for Biden. “I have nothing but respect for him,” she said.Jake Knashishu, an attorney from Decatur, Georgia, said Biden’s departure from the race “relieved, for the most part, concerns about him being able to really present himself as an effective alternative to Trump”. Biden’s withdrawal gives Democrats a better shot at Georgia, Knanishu said.He had spoken with a neighbor on Sunday who “saw Joe Biden as kind of Ruth Bader Ginsburg 2.0 – holding on and refusing to pass the torch and maintain stability”, said Knashishu. “She just feels relieved, because she knows that at least we’re not going to have that happen again.” More

    • 163 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      As Biden departs, Trump set to face questions over his age and acuity

      by

      With 78-year-old Donald Trump now certain to face a Democratic candidate younger than he is, the Republican could have the tables turned on him over the questions of age and mental agility that he often sidestepped while Joe Biden was his opponent.The age gap between Trump and any of his likely Democrat opponents – Kamala Harris, 59; Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, 52; Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, 51 – could make him the sole focus of voters’ desire for a generational handover of power.And with Biden’s often stumbling public appearances – and especially his disastrous debate – now a thing of the past, there is likely to be a fresh focus on Trump’s mental acuity and his frequently rambling, confused campaign speeches.Last month, for example, Trump got the name of his own doctor wrong. Previously he has made high-profile campaign trail gaffes, in which he seemed to think Barack Obama was still president and mistook his arch Republican rival Nikki Haley for Nancy Pelosi.Nearly 60% of US voters said last month that Biden should “definitely” or “probably” be replaced, while Trump’s favorability rating had risen to 40% since his hush-money conviction and the attempt on his life eight days ago. Harris’s favorability sits at around 39%.Biden’s departure from the ticket upends several aspects of Republican’s calculations, including that Trump the felon will now possibly have to debate Harris the former prosecutor in September – if she receives the nomination.The vice-president proved her debating skills in 2019 when she delivered a highly personal attack on Biden on the issue of race that he later described as “hurtful” and chilled relations between the Biden-Harris camps before she was named vice-president.Political commentator Anthony Michael Kreis posted on Twitter/X soon after Biden’s announcement: “I can’t believe the GOP is running an old guy for president. Yikes.”Trump’s reaction to his recent assassination attempt – pumping his fist and mouthing “Fight, fight, fight!” – has been full of vigor and helped unify his Republican party behind him and after his brush with death, he vowed to run a “unity” campaign.But that pledge dissolved on Saturday when he returned to disparaging Biden, Harris and the Democratic agenda and has been delivering his usual rants on the campaign trail, often laced with conspiracy theories and even a repeated and bizarre reference to a shark.After Biden announced he would abandon his re-election effort, Trump responded to Biden’s announcement, saying his now ex-rival was not fit to run for president and “not fit to serve”.Trump said last week he didn’t think that switching out Biden for Harris “would make much difference”, he told Bloomberg. “I would define her in a very similar [way] that I define him.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionA pro-Trump Super Pac accused Harris on Sunday of being “in on” a cover-up of Biden’s “mental decline”, and characterized her as the driving force behind the administration’s policies.Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf says that Trump’s “less than gracious” response to Biden stepping down is something Democrats will hope continues as a successor to Biden emerges. “Trump is reverting to type, Biden is out of the picture, and Trump is the only one who can seize defeat from the jaws of victory.“Without having Biden as his opponent, and calling him ‘Sleepy Joe’, who is he going to rail against? How he attacks a woman is very different but you can already tell from the way he attacked Biden on Sunday that he’s not thinking clearly. His vitriol has taken over again.“Democrats will be able to use Harris as an offensive chess piece in the suburbs of the country, women’s right to chose and reproductive freedom, and hope that Trump screws up by overreacting so they can accuse him of bring incapable of controlling himself because of his age,” Sheinkopf said, “and it becomes a different race.”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 More

    • 125 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      Biden withdrawal throws spotlight on to role of Democratic delegates

      by

      It’s been more than 50 years since delegates to a Democratic national convention haven’t known their nominee as they walked through the door. Now, in the wake of Joe Biden’s decision on Sunday not to seek re-election, there’s a mad dash.Delegates are due to convene in Chicago on 19 August, and while the Democratic party seems to be coalescing around Kamala Harris, there’s no guarantee that she will be the nominee, and others could still throw their name into contention.But just a few hours after Biden’s announcement, Google documents were circulating asking delegates to pledge their support for Harris.Jonathan Padilla, a delegate from California, said he could stand for things to be a hair less mad.“I don’t want to be rushed into something,” Padilla said. “I do want to have deliberation. There’s a lot of frustration in the party, and I think having a process to talk to people from the campaign and to the candidate or people around her is necessary … to help us be unified in November.”Delegates are, by and large, local volunteers expected to spend thousands of dollars to fly to Chicago and attend the convention. It’s often viewed as a reward for activism and dedication, but it’s typically a far less consequential role than it might be next month.One delegate who isn’t yet old enough to drink expressed his mounting anxiety about how things are unfolding and how little has been predictable.“I’m a young, young person,” said the delegate, who requested anonymity because he feared being replaced by his state chair. “This is my first convention … And this is scary. It’s super anxiety-inducing, and crazy, and so much.”He said he was disappointed with the party for communicating poorly. “But at the same time, I don’t really feel like I have time to be disappointed. I feel like I just need to go knock on some doors.”In a “normal” election year, each state sends a number of delegates to the convention who have been pledged to a candidate. Those delegates are expected to vote for that candidate , on pain of being replaced by a state chair if their vote is wayward. With a majority going to one candidate, as has happened every election year since the 60s, that’s the end of it. A candidate is chosen.That bureaucratic, uncontroversial process has become an open question this year.In a call on Friday, before Biden dropped out, Elaine Kamarck, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a member of the party’s rules committee, likened the process of selecting a new presidential nominee to a mini-primary, with delegates as the voting audience. If Biden were to drop out, the process would be “scrunched into three weeks or something. It’d be incredibly tight.” The question at the convention would then become whether a consensus had formed on a new nominee.But that’s not exactly what’s happening right now. Instead, members of the California Democratic party have begun circulating a Google document asking delegates to pledge their support for Harris publicly and immediately. According to the list, shared with the Guardian by a delegate, 83 people had already signed on as of 9pm on Sunday. A second Google document is circulating to delegates with a form for pledging their support for Harris on a petition. Before the start of the convention, the Democratic National Committee is also planning to hold a virtual roll call , where a nominee would be chosen for legal purposes.View image in fullscreenOhio presents a problem. State law ostensibly requires parties to select their nominees by 9 August to appear on the ballot. Ohio lawmakers changed the law this year, but Democrats worry that the change won’t take effect in time.Padilla said he expected Harris to be the nominee, but some delegates are unhappy with the pressure for an early decision.“Vice-President Harris has the next 72 to 96 hours to mitigate any serious challenge,” he said. “And pending that, I think the party moves forward with the existing plan of the virtual roll call, which would mitigate risk at the convention, but it does probably leave a lot of delegates who would want a more transparent, deliberative process probably not happy.”Susan Herder, a Biden delegate from Minneapolis, said she thought Biden might be the best president of her lifetime, crediting him with turning the country around from Covid-19 and an economy in which the wealth gap had widened.After the debate and Biden’s exit, she’s ready to start campaigning for Harris. She said she intended to respect all voters and would listen to them to understand their points of view.“I am looking forward to the future,” she said in an email. “I hope everyone who is inclined will help us elect Kamala Harris. It’s a great way to defeat anxiety, fear and feelings of hopelessness. LET’S GET HER ELECTED!”While some delegates have only just come around to supporting someone other than Biden, others had been pushing for a change during the primaries, long before Biden’s disastrous debate.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“I think we were feeling like our message has become even stronger in the past few hours,” said Asma Mohammed, leader of Minnesota’s “uncommitted” movement and a Democratic convention delegate. “In the past few hours, there are people who have reached out and said, ‘You know, you’re right. We needed a better candidate.’”Mohammed has been calling for pushback against the Biden administration’s support for the war in Gaza, demanding a plank in the party platform that calls for a ceasefire, an arms embargo and a president ready to support that position. She believes Harris is more sympathetic to her position than Biden was, despite having taking $5m in campaign donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), but wants time to put the question to her.“We are delegates from our communities, and we are being asked to represent,” Mohammed said. “We can’t do that if we’re only being given one option.”A degree of dissent against the virtual roll call had percolated up from delegates days ago. Delegates Are Democracy and Welcome Party, two organizations formed in recent days to help inform confused delegates about their options, have been hosting webinars, airing concerns from delegates about a convoluted process.Chris Dempsey, head of Delegates Are Democracy, said he had been speaking with dozens of delegates who say the process is opaque and that party leaders have been gatekeeping information. He stressed that Delegates for Democracy had not been advocating for Biden to withdraw, but was instead trying to guide delegates, who are often volunteers without deep legal training, about the rules.“We think that conventions are essential at putting forward strong nominees,” Dempsey said. “We can beat Donald Trump in November. But we know that we need credible sources of information to share with delegates. We want to be a place that delegates, the public, the media can come and get good information about how the process works.”Kamarck noted in a call on Friday that delegates were already free to vote for whoever they wanted, more or less. The convention rules contain a loophole, she said.“The loophole is ‘in all good conscience’. That was added after the very, very difficult and bitter 1980 convention.”At that convention, Senator Ted Kennedy challenged President Jimmy Carter in primaries and then a floor fight. At the time, delegates could be removed by state leaders if they changed their vote. The conscience clause emerged after that, to prevent delegates from acting like robots, Kamarck said.“On the Democratic side, there is no such thing as Joe Biden releasing his delegates,” Kamarck said. “And Joe Biden gets this. I don’t know why the rest of the press doesn’t get it. Joe Biden said in his Nato press conference: ‘The delegates can do whatever the hell they want to do.’ And that is basically true.” The delegate rules require their votes to “reflect the sentiments” of those who elected them.That phrase had never really been tested, Kamarck said. Until now.Biden’s withdrawal has set off a hunt for delegates, Kamarck said. Again, in a “normal” process, that hunt would start on the floor of the convention, with potential candidates soliciting signatures on a petition to get on a nomination ballot, with no more than 50 from any one state and 300 delegates to make the ballot.“I suspect that somebody from the [Democratic National Committee (DNC)] or the state parties would organize delegate meetings that would be open to the public – because all DNC meetings are open to the public – for the candidates to come and talk to the delegates, because they’d have to win over the delegates,” she said.The nomination for vice-president would be based on a separate vote, she said on Friday. “I imagine what would happen is that whoever emerged as the frontrunner – and maybe there’d be two or three of them – would all name their vice-presidential candidates. But then we’d have an open vote for vice-president. It could get quite confusing. But this assumes, all of this assumes, that there’s a contest. And I for one am very skeptical that there’ll be much of a contest.” More

    • 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

    • 113 Shares189 Views

      in UK Politics

      Biden was opponent Trump prayed for, ex-UK ambassador says

      by

      Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorDonald Trump will have harboured hopes of winning a landslide US election victory against Joe Biden, who was the opponent he would have “prayed for”, the UK’s former ambassador to Washington has suggested.The 81-year-old incumbent announced on Sunday that he would cede to calls to end his re-election bid, which had reached a fever pitch over the 25 days since his disastrous TV debate against Mr Trump sparked concerns about his mental fitness.With just 105 days left until the election, all eyes are now on who will replace Mr Biden as the Democratic Party nominee set to face up against an increasingly feverish Trump campaign, which is in the ascendancy after his defiant reaction to an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month.Endorsed by Mr Biden, vice president Kamala Harris has emerged as the most likely frontrunner. But others have called for a wider contest to be decided at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on 22 August – a selection process abandoned more than 50 years ago in favour of primaries and caucuses.Sir Kim Darroch – who was forced to resign as the UK’s ambassador in 2019 after leaked cables showed him labelling Mr Trump an “incompetent” and “inept” president – urged Democrats on Monday not to “rush to a decision” on anointing Ms Harris as their candidate.The ex-diplomat said: “The tide at the moment is flowing strongly with Kamala Harris. I’m not sure if it’s sensible to rush to a decision on that, because what the Democrats have to do is look at three key swing states – Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – and think ‘who is the best placed Democrat to take those?’.“So they need to just pause a little bit and think about this.”Speaking to LBC, Lord Darroch said he believed it had been “a mistake” for Mr Biden, already the oldest president in US history, to initially insist on putting his name forward for a second term in the Oval Office.Sir Kim Darroch was appointed to the House of Lords by Theresa May in 2019 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