Wake up with the Washington Examiner: Biden bows to pressure and leaves legacy in Harris’s hands

Biden bows out Roughly 48 hours after promising he would return to the campaign trail, President Joe Biden shocked the public with a letter announcing his next appearance will be to stump for another candidate because he is stepping out of the contest. The shape of the 2020 rematch between Biden and former President Donald […]

Biden bows out

Roughly 48 hours after promising he would return to the campaign trail, President Joe Biden shocked the public with a letter announcing his next appearance will be to stump for another candidate because he is stepping out of the contest.

The shape of the 2020 rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump was sluggish to start. Voter enthusiasm for the two men was low. Few people outside the campaign teams and their most committed supporters were excited not to have an extended menu to pick from.

That all changed on June 27 when Biden had a public meltdown on the debate stage with Trump. All the criticisms of the president’s age and mental fitness for continuing to execute the hardest job in the world roared into life as more than “cheap fakes” or misinformation. Republicans felt vindicated and Democrats felt betrayed.

Calls ramped up for Biden to step away from the campaign trail for himself to make way for a younger, more vigorous candidate who could give his party a chance to repeat his 2020 victory and keep Trump away from the White House for a second term.

Sunday was the culmination of those demands from elected Democrats, pressure from strategists, and possibly from those in Biden’s inner circle, including the likes of his wife, son, and longtime advisers Anita Dunn and Mike Donilon, whom he’s grown accustomed to listening to more than anyone else in recent years.

Things moved quickly after Biden posted his letter on X and gave Vice President Kamala Harris a phone call to let her know his plans. The initial announcement made no mention of whom he wanted to anoint as his successor, though he followed up shortly after with a post endorsing Harris.

As White House Reporter Naomi Lim pointed out in her all-encompassing report tracking the developments Sunday afternoon, Biden’s support for Harris wasn’t matched by former President Barack Obama, who might be the most influential member of his party.

While she is missing the backing of the former president, Harris shored up the support of several key players on Sunday, Associate Editor Conrad Hoyt reported.

The vice president said she plans to “earn and win this nomination,” and in the early stages, it looks as though she has the inside track to the job.

The Democratic National Committee was planning a virtual roll call early next month to nominate Biden before the convention in Chicago from Aug. 17-22, though the need for an early vote was moot after Ohio extended the deadline for Democrats to submit their candidate and ensure he or she appears on ballots.

It’s not clear exactly what the process is going to look like with a historic shake-up at the top of the ticket, but DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison promised an “orderly” process will take place to choose the party’s next leader.

“In the coming days, the party will undertake a transparent and orderly process to move forward,” Harrison said in a statement. “This process will be governed by established rules and procedures of the party. Our delegates are prepared to take seriously their responsibility in swiftly delivering a candidate to the American people.“

Republicans who tasted blood in the political waters were quick to demand a more dramatic move by Biden. If he didn’t believe he was fit to run for president, they argued, then he isn’t fit to continue serving as the commander in chief.

“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said on X following Biden’s announcement.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) blasted Biden’s decision as “overdue” — the same sentiment as in the editorial we published last night.

“President Joe Biden was right to drop out of his race for reelection, but it should have happened months or even years ago,” it said. “It has long been obvious that he lacks the health, energy, and mental ability to govern for the rest of this summer, let alone ask for four more years in the Oval Office.”

Despite the criticisms that the president took too long to call an end to his political career, there is a brewing effort by some to pin him into a spot where he is forced to continue to run.

Supreme Court Reporter Kaelan Deese reported yesterday that the long-shot move to force Biden to stay in the 2024 contest is continuing apace, though it’s not clear how it could unfold because the Democratic Party does not have a nominee.

“The conservative Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project has been leading the threat of legal action, publicizing a June 21 memo on the matter immediately after last month’s presidential debate, the event that catalyzed the president’s decision to end his campaign,” Kaelan wrote. “The memo warned of a ‘contentious path’ to replacing Biden on the ballot, though questions linger as to whether they will bear fruit as Biden steers Democrats to coalesce around Vice President Kamala Harris.”

Legal scholars are skeptical the movement will have any teeth, but losing Biden as their foil will force Trump and Republicans to recalibrate their strategies for November.

There are still roughly six months left of Biden’s presidency. He has gone down a path only a handful of his predecessors have taken in choosing not to seek a second term in office when it was available. His legacy, as Executive Editor Jim Antle writes for us, will be one of a “loyal and often fierce partisan abandoned by his party.”

Praised for turfing Trump from the White House, Biden was pushed aside when it appeared as though he was going to be responsible for letting him back in. The president’s long career in Washington, which Jim points out began with him barely meeting the constitutional requirement of being 30 to serve as a senator in 1972, will likely be remembered more for his tumultuous presidency than his decades of brokering deals in the Senate, sinking the nomination of Judge Robert Bork, or championing the 1992 crime bill signed into law by President Bill Clinton.

“Even without Biden on the ballot, if Trump wins in November, many Democrats will remember the incumbent as presiding over conditions that contributed to Trump’s political rehabilitation. Biden partisans will defend him as someone who stood down for the second time only to watch the Democrats’ alternative candidate lose,” Jim writes.

“Democrats will celebrate Biden’s selflessness if the new ticket defeats Trump. But questions about whether his team concealed his decline, now openly discussed by most Democrats, heading into this election, until a bad debate forced his hasty departure from the race.”

Click here to see the full timeline of events that led to Biden’s historic decision. And make sure to check back in with us all day for the latest news and developments.