Bernie Sanders Urges Democrats to 'Stop the Bickering' and Support Biden

Sen. Bernie Sanders urged Democrats to “stop the bickering” and support President Joe Biden over former President Donald Trump.
Sanders chastised Democrats who called for Biden to withdraw from the race after his disastrous debate performance, and criticized the media for focusing “obsessively” on Biden’s health.
Biden has repeatedly rejected pressure to withdraw.

Sen. Bernie Sanders urged Democrats to “stop the bickering” and support the president Joe Bidenurging those who have been driven by fears over the outgoing president’s health to call for a new candidate to compete with the former president Donald Trump.

“Enough!” Sanders, a Vermont independent who sits with Democrats, wrote in a New York Times op-ed published Saturday.

“Mr. Biden may not be the ideal candidate, but he will be the candidate and he must be the candidate,” Sanders wrote. “And with an effective campaign that addresses the needs of working families, he will not only defeat Mr. Trump, but defeat him in a landslide.”

Sanders, who at 82 is the second-oldest sitting U.S. senator after Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley, also lambasted the “corporate media” for its “obsessive” focus on Biden’s cognitive abilities.

“The media has frantically sought out every living human being who no longer supports the president or every neurologist who wants to appear on television,” Sanders wrote.

“Unfortunately, too many Democrats have joined this circular firing squad.”

Sanders’ op-ed is the latest attempt to shore up Democratic support for the president’s team, which is suffering an unprecedented crisis of confidence after Biden’s disastrous debate with Trump in late June.

Biden, 81, appeared stiff and at times unfocused during the debate, and the answers he gave were raspy, sometimes garbled and difficult to follow.

His performance, almost universally criticized, has sparked panic among Democratic donors and allies, as well as lawmakers who will also be running in the November election, about whether Biden can effectively challenge Trump.

According to NBC News’ tally, 19 congressional Democrats — including Vermont’s other U.S. senator, Peter Welch — have now called on Biden to step down, a stunning number less than four months before Election Day.

Some prominent Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and current House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, have recently issued statements that have stopped short of unequivocally endorsing Biden as the party’s nominee.

But Biden has repeatedly rejected pressure to withdraw, defending his fitness for the campaign and the presidency while acknowledging his poor debate performance.

He has also received explicit support from some key Democratic groups and allies, including Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, whose support for Biden during the 2020 election cycle was widely seen as a saving grace for this campaign.

Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist and former presidential candidate, repeatedly defended Biden following the debate, setting aside his policy disagreements with the Democrat’s political record.

In his Saturday op-ed, Sanders stressed that he opposed the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s military campaign against Hamas, as well as the Affordable Care Act as a remedy for America’s “broken” health care system.

But “I will do everything I can to ensure President Biden is re-elected,” Sanders wrote.

“Why? Despite my disagreements with him on some issues, he has been the most effective president in the modern history of our country and he is the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump, a demagogue and pathological liar.”

“Yes, I know: Mr. Biden is old, he is prone to gaffes, he walks stiffly, and he had a disastrous debate with Mr. Trump. But I also know this: A presidential election is not an entertainment contest. It does not begin or end with a 90-minute debate,” Sanders wrote.

“Biden supporters can speak with pride of a good, decent Democratic president with a record of real accomplishments,” he wrote.

Sanders highlighted Biden’s efforts to rebuild a U.S. economy devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, his investments in infrastructure and climate change projects, and other accomplishments.

He also contrasted Biden with Trump, who Sanders said wants to “cut taxes for the billionaire class” and let corporations “exploit workers and rip off consumers with impunity.”

“If Mr. Biden and his supporters focus on these issues — and refuse to be divided and distracted — the president will rally working families in key states in the industrial Midwest and beyond and win the November election,” Sanders said.

“And let me say this with the utmost emphasis: for the sake of our children and future generations, he must win,” he added.