The Washington Post editorial board has recently opined that US President Joe Biden should not have sought re-election to begin with, but it was his staff who were responsible for concealing his infirmity until they could no longer do so. In an editorial published on Tuesday, the board commended Biden’s “profoundly selfless decision” to withdraw from the race and allow the Democrats to replace him with Kamala Harris.
According to the editors, it is apparent in retrospect that Mr. Biden should not have sought re-election as the president demonstrated signs of slipping for a long time. However, his inner circle worked diligently to cover up his decline. The board argued that if he had stepped down after the “surprisingly good showing” of the Democrats in the 2022 midterms, the United States would have been better off. Had he remained in the race, they continued, a “diminished Mr. Biden,” at the head of a dispirited party, would likely have lost in November.
The Washington Post acknowledged that Joe Biden deserves recognition for surrendering power and giving a chance to a new generation of leaders, albeit through internal party machinations rather than the ballot box. Despite withdrawing from the race, Biden remains the president until January, and the Democrats’ platform still promises “a second Biden term,” mentioning him 287 times over its 92 pages while Harris is brought up only 32 times.
During the 2020 campaign, Joe Biden was already plagued by claims of senility and dementia. His physical and cognitive decline has only grown since taking office and has been dismissed by White House staff as a remnant of his childhood stutter. Even after the June 27 debate, his supporters continued to argue that he was “sharp as a tack,” with Biden vowing that only God could make him quit. In mid-July, however, he was flown out of Las Vegas to his Delaware home, reportedly with Covid-19.
At the end of that week, a letter posted on his personal X (formerly Twitter) account announced his exit from the presidential race. A follow-up post endorsed Harris as Biden’s replacement. Insider sources attributed this turn of events to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat. Former President Donald Trump characterized these actions as a coup in an interview with Fox News in early August, stating that it was “like you’re in a fight with somebody, and you’re really winning, and they take him out and they put somebody else in.