Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy stepped into the debate about the debate on Friday, saying he does not believe President Joe Biden will step down as Democratic candidate.
“Joe Biden is going to be the nominee. Joe Biden is not going to give it up,” McCarthy said on Fox Business. “Why? Because Jill does not want to give it up either.”
For the Democratic party to nominate someone besides Biden, 81, he would have to step out of the race himself because of all the delegates he’s collected through primary elections.
“I learned when I was negotiating with him, you can’t negotiate with him. He just talks about cars. You have to negotiate with staff,” he said.
McCarthy negotiated with Biden frequently during his stint as speaker. It was a deal they made to raise the debt ceiling that saw McCarthy ousted from his position, as others in his party opposed him for working with Democrats.
Democratic strategists and voters were alarmed by Biden’s debate performance on Thursday night. While facing former President Donald Trump, Biden stumbled over his words, lost his train of thought, and moved very slowly. Immediately after the debate ended, analysts on CNN’s panel brought up the possibility that Democrats would have to start considering replacing Biden.
“I think there‘s a lot of people who are going to want to see [Biden] consider taking a different course now. We‘re still far from our convention, and there is time for this party to figure out a different way forward if he will allow us to do that,” Van Jones, who worked in the Obama White House, said.
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Other Republicans have floated the idea of using the 25th Amendment to remove Biden from office. The New York Times editorial board has since called on Biden to step down as well, saying it would be “the best chance to protect the soul of the nation.”
“His problem is age,” McCarthy said. “It’s not even what he said. It’s just the look of [what] he did, his actions, which everybody knows — he’s not the same person he used to be.”
