President Joe Biden replied with a joke when asked about dropping out of the 2024 race.
During a White House press briefing Friday, a reporter asked Biden as he began walking out of the room, “Do you want to reconsider dropping out of the race?”
The president turned around, replying, “I’m back in.”
This marks Biden’s first appearance in the briefing room since the beginning of his presidency.
Users on X, formerly Twitter, did not hold back on their criticism or mockery of the president while reacting to the briefing.
One user asked, “Will he remember how to leave the stage while avoiding questions?”
Another user added, “Surprise to him as well…”
One tweet asked, “Why now? Why hadn’t he been there before? Any ‘reporters’ ask him that?”
See more reactions below:
In July, Biden announced he would be dropping out of the race.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote.
Biden later went on to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee in a separate post.
“My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President,” Biden wrote.
He added, “And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
Despite his endorsement of Harris, Biden still appeared confident last month that if he stayed in the race he would have defeated former President Donald Trump, as IJR reported.
