New York Times editorial board calls on Biden to leave race
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The newspaper’s editorial board said June 27’s debate between the president and Trump proved the 81-year-old “failed his own test”.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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NEW YORK - America’s most influential newspaper, The New York Times, called in an editorial on June 28 for President Joe Biden to step aside and allow another Democrat to challenge Donald Trump for the White House in November.
Describing Mr Biden as “the shadow of a great public servant”, the newspaper’s editorial board - which is separate from its newsroom - said June 27’s debate between the president and Trump proved the 81-year-old “failed his own test”.
“To make a call for a new Democratic nominee this late in a campaign is a decision not taken lightly, but it reflects the scale and seriousness of Trump’s challenge to the values and institutions of this country and the inadequacy of Biden to confront him,” the board said.
His determination to run again is a “reckless gamble”, it said, adding: “the greatest public service Mr Biden can now perform is to announce that he will not continue to run for re-election”.
On June 28, Mr Biden tried to make up for the disastrous debate performance, insisting he was the right man to win November’s US presidential election.
“I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to,” Mr Biden admitted to supporters in unusually confessional remarks.
“But I know how to tell the truth. I know how to do this job,” he said to huge cheers, vowing “when you get knocked down, you get back up.” AFP
