All three national newspapers say Biden should step down or at least consider it – Media Nation

President Biden in May 2023

The editorial pages of all three national newspapers are calling on President Biden to end his reelection campaign or seriously consider it. The most outspoken of the three is the liberal New York Times, which argues that Biden’s disastrous performance in Thursday’s debate shows that he is no longer the strongest candidate to end the threat (free link) that Donald Trump poses to democracy if he wins the election in November:

As it stands, the president has engaged in a reckless gamble. Some Democratic leaders are better equipped to present clear, compelling, and forceful alternatives to a second Trump presidency. There is no reason for the party to jeopardize the stability and security of the country by forcing voters to choose between Mr. Trump’s deficiencies and Mr. Biden’s. It is too big a gamble to simply hope that Americans will overlook or disregard Mr. Biden’s age and infirmity that they see with their own eyes.

The Times says it will support Biden if he persists in his candidacy: “If the race comes down to a choice between Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden, the sitting president will be the clear choice of this board.”

The Washington Post, more centrist than the Times but just as anti-Trump, begins its editorial (free link):

If President Biden had plans for the weekend, he should cancel them and devote himself to some soul-searching. His dismal performance in Thursday’s debate raises legitimate questions about his ability to serve another four years in the world’s toughest job. It is up to him to determine, in discussions with his family and his staff, whether continuing to seek reelection is in the best interest of the country.

Unlike the Times and Post, the Wall Street Journal’s right-wing editorial page is more concerned about the possibility that a weakened Biden could actually win (free link) and prove he’s not ready to run for a second term :

Well, it was painful – for the United States. President Biden’s faltering and stumbling performance Thursday night made it abundantly clear that he is not capable of remaining four more years in office. For the good of the country, even more than that of their party, Democrats are having difficulty thinking about the need to replace him at the top of their list.

Closer to home, the Boston Globe did not give its opinion. But three of its columnists did. Adrian Walker, Scot Lehigh and Brian McGrory all write that now is the time for Biden to give up his seat to a Democrat who might have a better chance of beating Trump. Walker has the phrase of the day to describe the president’s atrocious debate performance: “Biden wasn’t just bad. He was bad in a way that presidential candidates are never bad. »

Biden could have stepped down a year or two ago, but chose not to. The argument for keeping him in the race is that the chaos that would be unleashed by rejecting the nomination at an open Democratic convention would be a greater risk than keeping him at the top of the ticket. It now seems likely that the biggest risk is sticking with Biden, a good, honest man and successful president who may simply not be up to the task of stopping the authoritarian threat which threatens this fall.

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