Biden has ended his reelection bid. What comes next?

President Joe Biden finally announced Sunday that he would not seek reelection weeks after a disastrous debate performance against former president Donald Trump that laid bare Biden’s physical and mental decline. As most things in life do, Biden’s exit from the presidential race happened slowly and then all at once. A few Democratic pundits and relatively small-time elected officials expressed grave concerns about Biden’s ability to carry on immediately following the debate, but it took weeks longer for top Biden allies — such as former speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Obamas and the Clintons — to privately reason with and publicly leak damaging information about their ol’ buddy Joe. This outcome was inevitable. Post-debate, the genie could not be put back in the bottle.

In Biden’s letter announcing his decision, he notably avoided mentioning anything about his health. Instead, he wrote, “I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.” The letter also came directly on the heels of a positive update from the White House physician on Biden’s battle with Covid-19. The president, the doctor affirmed, is doing well. This seems intended to shield the president from Republican assertions that he should be removed under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment of the Constitution because, as vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance explained, if Biden isn’t fit to run for reelection then he isn’t fit to be president. The Democrats will have to pretend this is all about Biden’s electability and nothing to do with his poor health. But that comes with other complications; if nothing has changed about Biden since the time he was nominated besides polling, then the Democrats are explicitly rejecting the informed vote of the primary electorate.

Shortly following the release of his letter, Biden announced his intention to give his full support to Vice President Kamala Harris. She is wildly unpopular, but it would have been bad optics to pass over the first black female VP and the last thing the Democrats need is more disunity amid the chaos. A contested convention just a couple of months before Election Day would be a disaster. Plus, even if the Democrats still lose in November, they can just scapegoat Harris and effectively kneecap her political future. “She had her shot and failed,” will be the narrative.

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… pic.twitter.com/x8DnvuImJV

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Amber Duke

Amber Duke is The Spectator’s Washington editor and the Friday host of Rising at The Hill. She is the author of The Snowflakes’ Revolt: How Woke Millennials Hijacked American Media. Amber was previously White House correspondent for the Daily Caller and a co-host of O’Connor & Company on WMAL.

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Biden has ended his reelection bid. What comes next?

Amber Duke

https://thespectator.com/politics/joe-biden-ends-reelection-what-next/

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