Dubai: Republican former President Donald Trump, who has been notably quiet since the presidential debate, broke his silence on Thursday with a forceful return, launching attacks on both beleaguered Democratic incumbent Joe Biden and US Vice-President Kamala Harris in a leaked video that he subsequently posted on his own Truth Social account.
In the video, Trump, sitting in a golf cart, holding cash, with his son Barron beside him, said that Biden is withdrawing from the race due to his performance in the June 27 debate.
The 78-year-old asked, “How did I do with the debate the other night?”
“I kicked that old broken down pile of crap” during the debate, Trump, seen sitting in a golf cart, says in the video.
“He’s quitting the race. Yep, I got him out of the race. And that means we have Kamala,” Trump says. “She’s so bad, she’s so pathetic.”
His comments came as the drumbeat of pressure on Biden to drop out of the US presidential race intensified with a bombshell report in the New York Times that he had conceded the possibility to a key ally, as well as movement within his own party to demand his withdrawal.
As Americans gather for their Independence Day holiday, concern has swelled over the 81-year-old incumbent’s mental acuity, with rumblings within his party about finding a replacement candidate before November’s election.
Amid growing international concern about Biden’s standing, The Economist, joining The New York Times and Boston Globe, has become the latest major publication urging the president to withdraw from the race.
Trump lead over Biden grows
The uncertainty simmered ahead of the embattled president’s much-anticipated television interview Friday with ABC News, an event most of political Washington — and perhaps the nation — will be watching closely to see whether Biden can indeed bounce back from his faltering debate performance.
All eyes will also be on a Biden campaign rally set for Friday in Madison, Wisconsin, one of the battleground states seen as crucial for a Biden victory.
Meanwhile, two polls released on Wednesday compounded the concern, including one post-debate survey by the Times that showed Trump with his biggest lead ever over Biden - 49 per cent to 43 per cent of likely voters.
A Wall Street Journal poll found an almost identical result, with him leading by 48 per cent to 42 per cent. It’s Trump’s largest lead of the race in both polls.
The surveys suggest that worries over Biden’s age are driving the shift. Nearly three-quarters of voters in the Times poll said the 81-year-old president is too old for the job — up 5 points from a pre-debate poll taken last week. And the Journal poll found that the share of voters who say Biden is too old to run has risen by 7 points since February, to 80 per cent.
Efforts to quell dissent
The Biden campaign faces discouraging poll results amidst efforts to quell dissent from Democratic lawmakers and donors urging him to step aside for another candidate to challenge Trump.
After a lackluster performance in last week’s debate, concerns have grown about Biden’s ability to serve another four-year term. Campaign leaders, in a memo to staff on Wednesday, acknowledged potential shifts in the race reflected in recent polling, cautioning that polls are snapshots subject to fluctuation. Campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon and manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez emphasized that a comprehensive assessment of the race will require weeks, not days.
Still, the trendline is largely backed up by a number of other national polls in the last week, with major polling averages moving consistently in Trump’s direction.
Those national numbers may understate Biden’s problems. Presidential elections are won in the Electoral College, and polls of battleground states show Trump increasing his average lead over the past week in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Wisconsin remains the closest battleground, with Trump and Biden tied in the RealClearPolitics average.
Biden campaign pollster Molly Murphy said in a statement that the Times poll “doesn’t fundamentally change the course of the race.”
“President Biden continues to narrow Trump’s support among independents, and we have work to do to bring home our coalition — all the while Trump appears unable to expand his coalition,” she said.
The Times surveyed 1,532 registered voters from June 28 to July 2, with a margin of sampling error of 2.8 percentage points. The Journal poll surveyed 1,500 registered voters from June 29 through July 2, with a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.
Delicate balance by Harris
Harris, meanwhile, finds herself navigating a delicate balance: Publicly supporting Biden while also positioning herself as a leading contender for the presidency if he chooses not to seek re-election.
Former congressman Tim Ryan, while expressing admiration for Biden, argued in a Newsweek piece that “the Democratic nominee in 2024 should be Kamala Harris.” Publicly, Harris has remained steadfastly loyal to Biden. In an interview with CBS News, she affirmed, “Joe Biden is our nominee. We defeated Trump once, and we will do it again, without question.”
She expressed pride in being on the current ticket with the president. Immediately after the debate, Harris swiftly defended Biden on television, acknowledging his slow start but praising his strong finish against Trump.
As the first woman, first Black person, and first person of Asian descent (her mother is from India) to hold her office, Harris serves as a pivotal figure positioned just a step away from the presidency, as Americans often remark.
While Harris would ascend to the presidency in the event of Biden’s death or incapacitation, it is not guaranteed she would replace him should he withdraw from the race. Biden has maintained he has no intentions of stepping down.
