NYT Editorial Board Reiterates Call for Biden to Step Aside As He Remains Defiant

The New York Times’ editorial board is doubling down on its call for President Joe Biden to step aside from the 2024 race — even as he insists that will not happen.

In an editorial on Tuesday, The Times wrote, “For voters who held out hope that President Biden’s failure to communicate during last month’s debate was an aberration, the intervening days have offered little comfort.”

“Mr. Biden, instead of campaigning vigorously to disprove doubts and demonstrate that he can beat Mr. Trump, has maintained a scripted and controlled schedule of public appearances. He has largely avoided taking questions from voters or journalists — the kinds of interactions that reveal his limitations and caused him so much trouble on the debate stage. And when he has cast aside his teleprompter, most notably during a 22-minute interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Friday, he has continued to appear as a man in decline,” it continued.

The editorial noted the president’s poll numbers have dropped, while he has insisted they are simply wrong.

Turning to his refusal to drop out of the race, the Times noted Biden cited his victories in the Democratic primary. But it argued, “Democratic leaders shouldn’t rely solely on the judgment of the few voters who turned out in this year’s coronation primaries.”

“They should listen instead to the much larger group of voters who have been telling every pollster in America their concerns for a long time. Mr. Biden has to pay attention to the will of the broader electorate that will determine the outcome in November,” it insisted.

Additionally, the editorial board recalled that while he was defending his fitness for the job, Biden said he needed to sleep more and work less after 8 p.m., and added, “He has resisted the obvious conclusion that a man who needs to clock out at 8 should not attempt to perform simultaneously two of the world’s most difficult and all-consuming jobs — serving as president and running for president.”