For the first time today, a congressman, Texan Lloyd Doggett, called on Biden to withdraw from the campaign, citing among other things his performance in the -disastrous- debate with Donald Trump.
At the same time, many Democrats are pressing the US president to be “honest” about his health, and questions are growing about the responsibilities of his closest aides.
“He saved us from Trump. Don’t hand us over to him again”
“I hope he makes the difficult and painful decision to retire. I respectfully ask that he do so,” Doggett said in a statement to the media.President Biden saved our democracy by redeeming us from Trump in 2020. He must not deliver us to Trump in 2024.” he added.
“We have to be honest with ourselves about the fact that it wasn’t just a horrible night.”Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley told CNN earlier.
“People want to make sure that … the president and his team are being honest with us about where they are,” and Thursday’s call “was really an anomaly,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse told local news station WPRI-TV Monday. Whitehouse, a Rhode Island representative, said he was “horrified” when Biden seemed so confused and at times completely lost in the debate with Trump.
“He will continue to be an aging president”
Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker who wields powerful influence in the party, also said today that it is “legitimate” for some people to wonder about Biden’s health. “I think it is legitimate for them to wonder whether this is just a one-off or a (permanent) situation,” the 84-year-old congresswoman told MSNBC, while praising the president’s “vision.”
“I’m not a doctor. I can’t say what will happen in three or four years, but I believe, based on my experience, that he will continue to be an aging president of the United States,” he said.
After the debate, Biden did not give live interviews or press conferences. something that would force him to speak, as in the 90-minute conference call with Trump, without automatic signaling. On Monday, after a terse statement about a Supreme Court decision, a reporter asked him if he planned to withdraw from the White House race. The president turned his back and left the room without responding.
Question marks are also mounting over the responsibility of the 81-year-old president’s close associates, particularly some of his advisers such as Ron Klein, Anita Dunn and Mike Donilon, but also his wife Jill Biden. Some, such as Senator Peter Welch, accuse them of arrogance because they refuse to give a direct answer. In an interview with the Semafor website, published today, the latter asked “to see reality”.
“A president who only works between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm”
Recent articles, notably on the websites Axios and Politico, speak of a president who only works between 10 am and 4 pm and only reads memos, written in such a way as not to cause resentment.
The White House has consistently dismissed any questions about the president’s mental capacity, often with obvious annoyance. A recent Wall Street Journal investigation that called Biden “weakening” was met with harsh criticism, particularly from his communications team.
For several months now, the President of the United States who has already fallen several times in public, no longer uses the grand staircase of the presidential plane, preferring a smaller, more stable one. In recent weeks, he has been surrounded by his advisers as he walks from the White House to the helicopter waiting for him on the lawn. Biden, who has always been prone to mistakes, has not given a major press conference since January 2022 and has limited his unscheduled conversations with reporters. He spends most weekends at one of his homes in Delaware, with no formal schedule. When he recently visited France for the anniversary of the Normandy landings He went straight from the airport to the hotel, where he stayed all day, without making any public appearances.
Source: AMPE