Joe Biden must resign as president “immediately,” the top Republican in Congress said Sunday after the US president announced he was abandoning his bid to retake the White House amid intense pressure over his age.
“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for president, he is not fit to serve as president. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson in a statement.
The end finally came shortly after Biden had been diagnosed with COVID-19, forcing him off the campaign trail and into isolation in Rehoboth Beach.
Biden’s decision to pull out also caps a tense and chaotic period in the US election, with Trump having survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally on July 13.
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Biden joins a small club of US presidents who have decided to throw in the towel after just one term, with the last being Lyndon Johnson in 1968 — a year also marked by political turmoil and violence.
Johnson’s replacement as nominee, then-vice president Hubert Humphrey, went on to lose heavily to Richard Nixon.
But Democrats are counting on Harris to fare better, and hoping that she can prevent convicted felon Trump from making a sensational comeback to the Oval Office.
In recent weeks, the Biden campaign has reportedly been quietly carrying out a head-to-head survey of voters measuring how she matched up against Trump.
While Harris struggled to make an impact in her first years in the White House, she has emerged in the last year as a strong performer on the campaign trail on key messages such as abortion rights.
The former prosecutor has also made much of her life story as the first woman in US history to hold the vice presidency, as well as the first person of Black and South Asian origin.
Barring opposition from her party, Harris is now set to be nominated at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 19 in what promises to be a dramatic moment — and a heartrending one for Biden.
Biden took office in January 2021 pledging to heal the “soul of America” after four turbulent years under Trump and the shock of the January 6, 2021, Capitol assault by his supporters.
Overcoming a reputation for verbal flubs, Obama’s former vice president pushed through a massive COVID recovery plan and a green industry scheme.
US allies welcomed his pledge that “America is back” following Trump’s trampling on international alliances, and his strong support for Ukraine as it battled Russia’s 2022 invasion.
But he faced criticism over the catastrophic US withdrawal from Afghanistan and inflation that meant overstretched Americans ignored otherwise positive economic numbers.
Behind it all were the ongoing concerns about his age with a series of senior moments, including tripping up the stairs to Air Force One and falling off his bike, contributing to the doddery image played up by Republicans. (AFP)
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