Following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania on Saturday, US President Joe Biden strongly condemned the act of violence and called for unity. While the event has already seen the Republican presidential candidate elevated to the status of “miracle” among his supporters, the situation is also working in the Democrat’s favor, who has been in troubled waters since his poor performance in the debate, according to an expert.
Until Saturday, the 81-year-old Democratic candidate’s campaign was in turmoil, with his health and ability to run for a second term being questioned within his own party.
However, the attempted murder of his rival during a speech in the small town of Butler, north of Pittsburgh, is now sweeping away uncertainties about Joe Biden’s ability to govern, says Rafael Jacob, associate researcher at the Raoul-Dandurand Chair’s Observatory on the United States.
“In the short term, it just put the campaign on hold,” explains the expert in American politics. “And that’s good for (Joe Biden) in terms of his position within the Democratic Party.”
About fifteen Democratic congressmen have already openly asked the American president to withdraw from the race for the White House. And each day that passes brings him closer to the nomination convention in Chicago in August, where the Democratic presidential candidate is officially nominated for the general election, recalls Rafael Jacob.
“For Mr. Biden, his number one problem, right now and for the last two weeks, was not the entire electorate, it was his party,” the researcher said. “And what that does in concrete terms is give him even more time.”
Mr. Jacob wonders how voices demanding the outgoing president’s withdrawal could continue to be raised in the current situation.
“I can’t imagine that any Democrat in his right mind is going to come out in the next 12 hours and say, ‘It’s time for Mr. Biden to go,’” Jacob said. “That would make no sense.”
While he was already skeptical that Joe Biden would pull out, Jacob says he has “even more difficulty believing it” following Saturday’s event. “I really can’t see a scenario right now in which he would withdraw as the Democratic Party candidate,” the expert maintains.
“Uniting as a nation”
Joe Biden told reporters Sunday that Americans must now “come together as a nation.” He also announced that he would address the nation later that evening from the Oval Office.
On Saturday, the Democrat wrote on X that “there is no place for this kind of violence in America.”
I was briefed on the shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania.
I’m grateful to hear that he’s safe and doing well. I am praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally, as we await further information.
Jill and I are grateful to the Secret…— President Biden (@POTUS) July 13, 2024
A “very presidential” exit, certainly, but one that was necessary, affirms Rafael Jacob.
“He did absolutely everything he had to do, everything he had to do as president, that is to say, have a message of unity, a message that unequivocally condemns what happened,” the expert judges.
Campaign ads were also pulled from television in an effort to ease tensions, and Mr Biden directly inquired about Donald Trump’s condition in what he described as “a short but good conversation”.
According to the researcher, Joe Biden “was very, very wise to go in that direction and to strike a perhaps more human note by speaking of Mr. Trump by referring to him as ‘Donald.'” The expert had never heard Mr. Biden speak so familiarly about his opponent.
Questions will certainly have to be asked of the American government after this assassination attempt, believes Rafael Jacob.
“What happened is not just unacceptable from a political or social point of view, it’s appalling from a security point of view that something like this could have happened,” the expert said. “But will that affect Mr. Biden personally? I doubt it.”
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