Under pressure to step down due to health concerns, Joe Biden received a major endorsement on Saturday, with left-wing figure Bernie Sanders backing the 81-year-old Democratic president.
“Enough! Mr. Biden may not be the ideal candidate, but he will be the candidate and must be the candidate. And with an effective campaign that speaks to working families about their needs, he will not only beat Mr. Trump, but beat him soundly,” the 82-year-old senator said in an op-ed in New York Timescalling on Democrats “to stop the bickering and the nitpicking.”
I will do everything I can to see that President Biden is re-elected.
Why?
Despite my disagreements with him, he has been the most effective president in the modern history of our country and is the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump — a demagogue and pathological liar.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) July 13, 2024
Since a calamitous debate on June 27 against Republican candidate Donald Trump, 78, Joe Biden has been assailed by harsh criticism regarding his physical and mental state. Some 20 congressmen are now calling on him to step down.
Vice President Kamala Harris, considered as a possible alternative, assured him again on Saturday of her loyalty and confidence, during a campaign event in Philadelphia (northeast), shortly before a rally by Donald Trump in the same key state of Pennsylvania.
“This is the most existential, most consequential and most important election of our lives and we always knew it would be difficult,” she said.
“But if we know one thing about our president, Joe Biden, it’s that he’s a fighter,” Mr.me Harris. “So we’re going to continue to fight, we’re going to continue to mobilize, and in November we’re going to win. We’re going to win,” she said.
The interested party himself repeated on Friday in Michigan (north) that he was staying in the race. “I am a candidate and we are going to win,” a galvanized Joe Biden told his supporters in Detroit.
Serial slips of the tongue
All the polls since the debate indicate that his disastrous performance, while it has heightened Americans’ concerns about his ability to govern for much longer, has not moved the electoral lines much.
But many seem to give the Republican a relative advantage for November. The most worrying trend for the Democrat remains his persistent deficit in some decisive states.
Additionally, more than half of U.S. Democrats believe Joe Biden should withdraw from the White House race, according to a poll Thursday.
According to this Ipsos survey for the Washington Post and ABC, 56% of Democrats and 67% of respondents believe that the president should withdraw his candidacy.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump are, however, tied at the national level, with 46% of voting intentions each.
Ahead of a highly anticipated press conference on Thursday, the American president had announced “President Putin” when he wanted to welcome his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky. He immediately corrected himself.
Facing journalists, he then mentioned “Vice President Trump” instead of his vice president, to the great delight of his opponent. “Good job, Joe!” Donald Trump had quipped.
Bernie Sanders, the unsuccessful candidate against Joe Biden in the Democratic primaries in 2020, therefore wanted to show his support on Saturday, affirming that he would do “everything in (his) power to see President Biden re-elected.”
“Yes. I know this: Mr. Biden is old, gaffe-prone, stiff-footed, and had a disastrous debate with Mr. Trump. But I also know this: A presidential election is not an entertainment contest. It does not begin or end with a 90-minute debate,” he wrote.
The senator also cites the recent French legislative elections as an example: “It is time to learn a lesson from the progressive and centrist forces in France who, despite their deep political differences, have united this week to soundly defeat right-wing extremism.”
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