Some of President Biden’s longest-standing and staunchest allies, including liberal columnist Thomas Friedman, have called for Biden to allow another Democrat to run for president following his performance on the presidential election. CNN Presidential Debate Thursday night.
Friedman, a close friend of the president, The discussion It was one of the most “heartbreaking” events he had witnessed in American politics.
“Joe Biden is a good person and a good president, but he should not seek reelection,” Friedman wrote.
Media members shocked by Biden’s ‘terrible’ debate performance: ‘A total disaster’
Columnist Thomas Friedman, a close friend of President Biden, has called on Biden to step down and allow another candidate to run for president following scathing criticism of Biden’s performance during CNN’s presidential debate. (Getty Images)
Friedman said he “cried” after watching the debate between Biden and former President Trump.
“For America to have the best chance of thwarting the Trump threat in November, the president must step forward and declare that he will not run for reelection and will send all of his delegates to the Democratic National Convention,” he wrote.
Trump, citing his one-on-one conversations with Biden, claimed that he had always given Biden the benefit of the doubt. Trump is a longtime reader of Biden, a veteran reporter and editorial writer, and has sought his advice on Middle East issues.
“Until now, I trusted Biden without question because my one-on-one conversations with him showed me he was the right man for the job,” Friedman wrote. “He clearly is no longer the right man for the job.”
Friedman argued that Vice President Kamala Harris has the right to compete for the top spot but wrote that “voters should be afforded an open process” to find Biden’s successor, leaving open the possibility that Democratic leaders could vie for the top spot before the Democratic convention on Aug. 19.
“A younger Joe Biden could have been that leader, but time has finally caught up with him,” Friedman wrote, “and that became painfully and inescapably clear on Thursday.”
Biden’s ‘disastrous’ debate performance sparks media mayhem, calls for him to withdraw from 2024 election
President Biden is facing a potential political crisis following his lackluster performance in Thursday’s debate. (Photographer: Jacqueline Martin/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Friedman is one of many prominent media figures currently calling on Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
The New York Times op-ed section was filled with panicked reactions to Biden’s performance, with his raspy voice, his choppy and sometimes incomprehensible responses and his seeming inability to nail down Trump’s record despite getting the chance to debate the president on his own terms.
Fellow liberal Times columnist Nicholas Kristof also advised Biden to drop out of the race.
The Times was not alone.
“If Biden truly believes democracy is at stake, he should step aside and let another Democrat run against Trump. Put country first,” said Alyssa Farrah Griffin of “The View.”
“Joe Biden should stand by his accomplishments by ending his candidacy,” Vox correspondent Eric Levitz wrote.
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The Biden and Trump campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.
Fox News’ Joseph A. Wolfson contributed to this report.
