The Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) calls for President Biden to drop his re-election bid after Thursday night’s disastrous debate.
The AJC Editorial Board is releasing a Sunday front editorial pleading with the president to step aside “for the good” of the country and keep former President Trump from returning.
“The shade of retirement is now necessary for President Biden,” the board wrote.
During the first presidential debate in Atlanta on Thursday, they argued that Biden did not make “competent and coherent vision for the future of America.”
“He failed to outline the most fundamental aspects of his platform,” they wrote. “He failed to take credit for the significant accomplishments of his 3½ years in office. And he failed to counter the prevarications of an opponent, who, according to CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale, lied 30 times during the course of the debate, approximately once every 90 seconds of his allotted time.”
AJC lambasted the responses by Biden’s surrogates, former President Obama and Vice-President Kamala Harris, as well as attempts to obfuscate that the president had a cold.
But, Biden’s age and mental acuity was a concern only heightened by Trump’s resolve, the newspaper argued.
“President Biden’s ability to withstand the mental and physical rigors of another four-year term would be of concern regardless of his opponent,” they wrote. “The fact that he is all that stands in the way of Trump returning to the Oval Office significantly raises the stakes.”
The refusal of Trump’s Vice President Mike Pence and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to support the former president was part of the “egregious” personal and professional example that even his supporters could not ignore after 2020, concluded The Wall Street Journal editorial board in a piece published Wednesday evening.
“That Trump remains at the top of the Republican ticket is a testament to the deep divisions and tribalism that has come to define American politics in the 21st century,” they wrote.
The board called on Biden to hand over the torch of leadership in August at the convention to a new generation of Democratic leaders.
“If he truly hopes to defeat Trump, he must pass the torch to the next generation of Democratic leaders and urge the party to nominate another candidate at its convention in Chicago in August,” they wrote. “Doing this will require a massive and unprecedented string of legal and regulatory actions to get a Biden successor named and placed on each state’s ballot. This is difficult and necessary work that must start immediately.”
There was a debate over whether any Democrat could now proceed and give a rallying cry that appealed both to Republicans and to Democrats prior to the election.
“The Democrats have a number of talented and principled leaders who might take the president’s agenda forward and provide the nation with a viable alternative to Trump,” they wrote. “The right candidate would make it a priority to appeal to Republican and Democratic voters.”
Biden got the board’s endorsement as they were “grounded in his incumbency and the belief of Democratic leaders and pollsters that he stood the best chance of defeating Trump in November.”
“This is no longer the case,” they said.
The Atlanta-based newspaper even admitted that this is the harsh reality that many Democrats will have to face.
“Biden deserves a better exit from public life than the one he endured when he shuffled off the stage Thursday night,” they said.
The AJC Editorial Board’s call for Biden to step down comes just one day after The New York Times called for him to drop out of the race.
“Mr. Biden has said that he is the candidate with the best chance of taking on this threat of tyranny and defeating it,” The Times said. “His argument rests largely on the fact that he beat Mr. Trump in 2020. That is no longer a sufficient rationale for why Mr. Biden should be the Democratic nominee this year.”
“Mr. Biden answered an urgent question on Thursday night. It was not the answer that he and his supporters were hoping for,” the Times concluded. “But if the risk of a second Trump term is as great as he says it is — and we agree with him that the danger is enormous — then his dedication to this country leaves him and his party only one choice.”
The optics triggered a meltdown in the Derp Stream Media, which had literally dozens of Democrat Party figureheads suggesting that 81-year-old Joe Biden would be well advised to pull his party out of contention at the Democratic National Convention.
However, Biden has shown no signs that he intends to drop out.
“I can do this job, because, quite frankly, the stakes are too high,” Biden energetically said. “Donald Trump is a genuine threat to this nation.”
Biden, too, commented on his relatively unsteady debate performance: “I don’t debate as well as I used to.”
