Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said he doesn’t think President Biden will step down and let Democrats find a new nominee because he’s “non-negotiable.”
Biden’s shaky performance in the debate on Thursday caused widespread anxiety among liberals, with experts suggesting in post-debate analysis that there will be talk of Biden stepping aside and putting someone else in charge of challenging former President Trump in the election.
But Biden’s campaign and the White House say he’s not going anywhere.
Appearing on Fox Business on Friday, McCarthy said it would be nearly impossible for Democrats to field a candidate to replace Biden unless Biden steps down himself.
Democratic Party rules stipulate that the delegates Biden has already won in the presidential primary are obligated to support him at the party convention.
“They created this problem, and the only way Joe Biden can disappear from the ballot is if he decides to do it himself,” McCarthy said.
“Joe Biden is going to be the nominee. Joe Biden is not going to give that up,” he continued. “Why? Because Jill doesn’t want to give that up either.”
McCarthy noted that he negotiated with Biden on a range of issues during his tenure as speaker before being expelled from his own party.
“What I learned when I was negotiating with him is you can’t negotiate with him. He only talks about the car. You have to negotiate with the staff,” he said.
McCarthy said the “real time” for Biden to drop out of the race would have been a year ago.
“His problem is his age. It’s not even a problem with what he said. The problem is just the way he looks. [what] “He, as we all know, has behaved differently than he used to,” he said.
