The New York Times has demanded that President Joe Biden withdraw from the race for the White House.
In a scathing op-ed, the Times editorial board noted that Biden appeared to be a “shadow” of himself and that the argument that he was the best Democratic candidate to take on Trump was no longer valid.
Unable to ignore the president’s terrible performance, the publication put it bluntly: “Mr. Biden cannot continue this race.”
The newspaper agreed with Biden’s view that a new Trump presidency would be a disaster for the country and endanger the country’s democracy.
They wrote glowingly about Biden’s administration, calling him an “admirable president.”
Biden gave a shaky performance at Wednesday’s debate, something the New York Times editorial board called a “shadow” of the president
Trump said Biden ‘didn’t know what he was doing’
This is a turnaround for the ‘meaningful newspaper’, which was criticised on Friday morning because reporting on its disastrous performance during the debate was limited to a small piece on the front page.
Instead, the article focused on issues that were largely side issues: Iran ramping up its nuclear activities and an analysis of the legal drama surrounding Julian Assange.
This conflicted with other major newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Both newspapers reported on the debate in their paper editions.
At the bottom of The New York Times morning paper, readers were only asked to watch coverage of the debate online.
This sparked controversy, with many experts questioning whether the Times would have been so relatively quiet on the issue if Biden had performed better or if Trump had performed worse.
The New York Times has demanded that President Joe Biden withdraw from the race for the White House
The advice published by the newspaper’s editorial staff on Friday evening marked a change of heart for the liberal newspaper.
While the editorial board said the choice remained between Trump and Biden — “the sitting president would be the unambiguous choice of this administration” — the message of the piece was clear: Biden should step down at the polls.
The editorial board wrote: “The president appeared Thursday night as the shadow of a great civil servant. He struggled to respond to Trump’s provocations. He struggled to hold Trump accountable for his lies, his failures and his sinister plans. More than once, he struggled to reach the end of a sentence.”
The newspaper repeatedly sounded the alarm about a second Trump term in the White House, writing: “Trump has proven himself to be a significant danger to…democracy — an erratic and self-interested figure unworthy of the public’s trust.”
Given the scale of the elections, the editorial board has decided said the simple fact that Biden defeated Trump in 2020 is “no longer a sufficient reason why [he] should be the Democratic nominee this year.’
In a moment of somber candor, the paper conceded that voters “cannot be expected to ignore what was…clear: Mr. Biden is not the man he was four years ago.”
The editors further believed that Biden’s candidacy is a “reckless gamble.”
“There are Democratic leaders who are better equipped to present clear, compelling and energetic alternatives to a second Trump presidency.”
After the debate, Trump appeared to be in an upbeat mood and boasted about his “big win.”
“Did anybody see something called the debate last night? Man, that was a big one,” Trump told an excited crowd in Virginia
Speaking to a crowd of supporters at a rally in Virginia on Friday, he said, “Did anybody watch something called the debate last night? Man, that was a big one.”
The former president was quick to disparage Biden’s performance, making a humorous comment about the amount of preparation the president had done before the debate:
“Biden spent the entire week at Camp David, resting, working, studying. He studied so hard he didn’t know what he was doing.”
Trump, speaking after Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, pointed out that Biden had set the terms for the debate.
‘He got the debate rules he wanted, he got the date he wanted, on the network he wanted to be with the [moderators] he wanted.
Trump attacked Biden after his disastrous debate performance by celebrating a “great victory” and suggesting the US cannot survive another four years of his presidency if he doesn’t make it past 90 minutes
Trump told the crowd: ‘Biden spent the entire week at Camp David, resting, working, studying – he studied so hard he didn’t know what the hell he was doing’
“No amount of rest or rigging could defend his atrocious record.”
Trump added that the question is not whether Biden can survive a 90-minute debate, but whether the country can survive another four years of him in the White House.
Some of Biden’s closest allies, meanwhile, tried to do damage control and dismiss Biden’s egregious evening as merely a poor performance.
On Friday night, former President Barack Obama rushed to Biden’s defense on gives.’
Obama quickly shifted from comments about the debate itself and instead focused his post on the temperamental difference between Biden and Trump.
Barack Obama came to his former vice president’s defense by saying Friday that bad debates happen a day after Joe Biden’s car-crash performance on stage against Donald Trump
He wrote that the choice was “between someone who tells the truth; who knows right from wrong and will give it to the American people fairly – and one who lies through his teeth for his own benefit.”
Obama closed by saying, “Last night didn’t change that, and that’s why the stakes are so high in November.”
Biden himself also tried to manage the fallout from his poor performance at a debate event in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday.
“I know I’m not a young man. To state the obvious,” the president said, standing next to First Lady Jill Biden, who wore a Christian Siriano dress emblazoned with the word “vote.”
President Joe Biden insisted he can still win the election at his first campaign rally after his disastrous debate performance
Biden addressed a crowd during a campaign event at the Jim Graham Building at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, North Carolina
“But I know what I know, I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. And I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done,” the president argued.
He then vowed to those in the audience that he was still eminently qualified for the nomination.
“I give you my word as Biden. I wouldn’t run again if I didn’t believe with all my heart and soul that I could do this job.”
During his 20-minute speech in North Carolina, Biden attempted to debunk many of the arguments he made against his Republican opponent during the debate.
President Joe Biden has no plans to withdraw from the presidential race after Thursday night’s poor debate performance against former President Donald Trump
“I don’t know what you did last night, but I stood on a stage for 90 minutes debating a man who has the morals of an alley cat,” Biden said.
“Did you see Trump last night? “I think he has set a new record – I mean this sincerely – for the number of lies told in one debate,” the president continued.
At the end of his speech, Biden suggested the rally performance was the beginning of his post-debate redemption arc.
“I know what millions of Americans know: When you’re knocked down, you get back up.”
