Joe Biden’s dismal performance against Donald Trump on Thursday fueled speculation that the 81-year-old Democratic president, who is seeking re-election in November, could throw in the towel.
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This scenario, currently very unlikely, would plunge the United States into a period of great uncertainty.
Explanations.
For what ?
Joe Biden, the oldest sitting US president, missed a crucial opportunity to reassure millions of voters of his vitality and health during the first debate of the campaign.
On stage, the Democratic leader often appeared confused, mincing his words and getting confused.
AFP
Calls to withdraw from anonymous Democrats spread through the press as soon as the show ended.
Joe Biden regularly says he is the best-qualified candidate, despite polls that show his age is turning off voters.
At a meeting Friday in North Carolina, he reiterated that he plans to “win” the November election.
“I don’t debate as well as I used to,” he admitted, but “I know how to do this job.”
Comment ?
If Joe Biden were to throw in the towel, however, the process to replace him would be a bit technical.
The president has already been named as the Democrats’ presidential candidate in a series of primaries, which were held from January to June. He should therefore, in theory, be inducted at the party convention in Chicago.
If Joe Biden leaves the race before this big gathering, scheduled for mid-August, the last word would go to the party delegates, i.e. 3,900 people with very varied profiles and for the most part completely unknown to the general public.
This would then be “the kind of Convention where anything goes”, with each camp trying to push its candidate forward, predicts Elaine Kamarck, researcher at the Brookings Institute, in a recent note.
A roughly comparable scenario presented itself to Democrats on March 31, 1968, when President Lyndon B. Johnson publicly announced, in the midst of the Vietnam War, that he would not seek a second term.
What if Joe Biden were to abandon his candidacy between the convention and the election? It is then the party’s “national committee” which, in an extraordinary session, would nominate the candidate.
Who ?
Joe Biden has already nominated Vice President Kamala Harris to campaign with him, but there is no rule that says the running mate automatically replaces the incumbent candidate.
Getty Images via AFP
Vice President Kamala Harris.
Sent in to put out the fire after the Democratic president’s poor performance, the 50-year-old conceded that Joe Biden had been “slow to start” but had “finished strong.”
At no time did she mention the possibility of replacing him.
Kamala Harris, the first woman and first African-American to serve as vice president, could also face competition from other members of the party’s young guard.
Like California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is riding high among Democrats.
The latter, however, considered that this type of “conversation” was “not good for our democracy”.
The names of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro are also being bandied about.
