New York Times first US paper urging Biden to drop out of 2024 election

The New York Times has become the first US paper to urge the incumbent president Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential election race following a weak debate performance against former president Donald Trump.

Biden, a Democrat, and Trump, a former Democrat who turned Republican, met on Thursday night at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta, without a live audience.

During the first round of debates ahead of the upcoming presidential election slated to be held in November, the presumptive nominees argued about the US economy, foreign policy, COVID, abortion and immigration, while exchanging multiple insults, name-calling one another’s family members and morals, and even challenging their rival to a Golf match.

On Friday, NYT's editorial board called on Biden, 81, to drop out of the race.

They said Democrats needed to find a better candidate to replace Biden.

NYT's editorial board cited Democrats admitting Biden was no match for Trump.

Biden-Trump debate marked by heated exchange of personal insults

US President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump engaged in a heated exchange of insults during Thursday night

The appeal came after observers at the presidential debate noticed Biden appeared frail and confused, struggling to finish his sentences and mixing up words when speaking.

NYT's editorial board said in the article, “That is no longer a sufficient rationale for why Mr. Biden should be the Democratic nominee this year,” the editorial board wrote. “Voters… cannot be expected to ignore what was instead plain to see: Mr. Biden is not the man he was four years ago.”

The NYT board said Biden appeared on the debate stage “as the shadow of a great public figure,” who now “struggled” to articulate his own policy position and ultimately failed to adequately counter Trump who is just 3 years junior to Biden, but has a much better hold of himself.

The board wrote, “There are Democratic leaders better equipped to present clear, compelling and energetic alternatives to a second Trump presidency,“ adding, “It’s too big a bet to simply hope Americans will overlook or discount Mr. Biden’s age and infirmity that they see with their own eyes.”

The editorial board concluded that Democrats had a better chance of winning against Trump if Biden found a replacement and pulled out of the race.

After the debate, Biden said, “I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious.”

“I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to,” he added.

Biden went on to say, however, he saw himself as the best-qualified candidate for the presidency. “I know how to get things done. And I know, like millions of Americans know, when you get knocked down, you get back up.”

Likewise, Biden's team, who tried to justify the incumbent’s weak performance during the debate, said the president had been suffering from a cold and was “over-prepared and relying on minutiae.”

The second and final debate of the presumptive nominees is scheduled for September 10, 2024, and will be sponsored by ABC News. The location of the second debate has yet to be announced.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir