A day after President Joe Biden’s maligned performance at the first presidential debate left pundits worrying about his health and stamina, the New York Times editorial board called for him to leave the race “to serve his country.”
While they acknowledged that Biden has been “an admirable president,” they call his continued campaign “a reckless gamble.” They continued: “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 column began by stating that”President Biden has repeatedly and rightfully described the stakes in this November’s presidential election as nothing less than the future of American democracy.”
They wrote that if “the risk of a second Trump term is as great as he says it is — and we agree with him that the danger is enormous — then his dedication to this country leaves him and his party only one choice.” That is, to step down.
The board said that “someone more capable” should be found by the Democrats to defeat Mr. Trump in November.
“It is the best chance to protect the soul of the nation — the cause that drew Mr. Biden to run for the presidency in 2019 — from the malign warping of Mr. Trump. And it is the best service that Mr. Biden can provide to a country that he has nobly served for so long,” the board concluded.
They further stressed that a second Trump term would be “a significant jeopardy to that democracy” as “his supporters have described, publicly, a 2025 agenda that would give him the power to carry out the most extreme of his promises and threats.. unrestrained by the checks on power built into the American political system.”
They also clarified that the editorial board is “a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values” which is “separate from the newsroom.”
The New York Times’ editorial is behind a paywall and available only to paid subscribers.
