2024-07-12 13:38:05
After President Joe Biden’s slip of the tongue at a NATO summit, senior Democrats began calling for him to drop out of the presidential race. The blunder occurred during a key press conference, where Biden referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump.” Earlier in the day, Biden also made the mistake of introducing Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin.”
The Telegraph writes about this.
The incidents have sparked criticism and concern among Democrats. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called on Biden to step aside for a younger successor immediately after his speech. Himes stressed that the president must think about his legacy and acknowledge that he is not the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump in November. He added that Biden must put the country’s interests first.
Those comments were echoed by California Congressman Scott Peters, who said the stakes were too high and Democrats risked losing. Illinois Rep. Eric Sorensen also called on Biden, 81, to drop his candidacy and instead support a leader who can confront modern threats to democracy.
At a news conference where Biden was repeatedly asked about his reelection intentions, he said he was committed to continuing his campaign. But Biden said he might step down and let Kamala Harris run if his team told him he could not win the election.
David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Barack Obama and a frequent Biden critic, said on CNN that it is unfair to him if the president’s team is not telling him the truth about the current state of the race. Axelrod stressed that Biden should be told the truth about his reelection chances.
Earlier, “Cursor” reported that Joe Biden embarrassed himself again by calling Kamala Harris “Trump”. This incident occurred just a few hours after the 81-year-old president misspoke and called Vladimir Putin “the president of Ukraine”.