Senior Democrats are working out how to give Joe Biden a dignified exit from the presidential race.
There has been widespread speculation about Biden’s future following his disastrous debate performance last Thursday, as Democratic bigwigs worry that his accelerating dementia may damage their electoral chances.
According to a report from Axios, one senior official outlined a plan to allow Biden to leave office “on his terms” rather than being forced out against his will.
The outlet reported:
t’s not just Joe Biden’s age. It’s not just his debate debacle, which made the president look slow, old, foggy. It’s what’s next that truly worries even Biden’s biggest supporters.
They fear that if three years as president took this much of a toll, Biden could look, act, sound and feel much worse at 86, after five more years. And Democrats would be devastated if Donald Trump won because voters concluded Biden’s time has passed.
Why it matters: Top Democrats worry Biden’s situation hits too close to home for too many to ignore. Most people have watched a loved one decline — at first slowly, then dramatically — as they hit their mid-80s. These Democrats fear the party, not just Biden, would pay for ignoring this.
Meanwhile, an unnamed senior Democratic official outlined how Biden would not be “dragged off” the stage and therefore they must work out how to give him a dignified exit:
This is not about him submitting to the will of others yelling at him that he failed. Joe Biden is too proud for that argument. He will not be dragged off the stage.The goal is to let him walk off the stage. He came; he saw; he conquered. He wanted to get rid of Trump for the country; he wanted to prepare America for the future; and he wanted to help nurture the next generation to be a transitional president.
He can say to himself, in all honesty: All three have now been accomplished. He got rid of Trump; helped prepare America through his legislation for the future; and, under his tenure, a generation of new Democrats have emerged. You’ve got to give him the dignity to walk off on his own. The idea that it would happen in the immediate aftermath is clueless.
Biden held a meeting at Camp David over the weekend to discuss his political future, while his campaign spokesperson has insisted that he is “absolutely not dropping out.”
“One of the strongest voices imploring Mr. Biden to resist pressure to drop out was his son Hunter Biden, whom the president has long leaned on for advice,” the New York Times reported.
“Hunter Biden wants Americans to see the version of his father that he knows — scrappy and in command of the facts — rather than the stumbling, aging president Americans saw on Thursday night.”
