Republican lawmakers are calling for President Biden to resign immediately following his announcement that he will not seek reelection in November.
“If Joe Biden is unfit to run for president, then he is unfit to serve,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, said in a statement. “He must resign immediately. We hope November 5th comes soon.”
“If Democrats have determined that Joe Biden is unfit to run for reelection, they have clearly determined that he is unfit to control nuclear weapons codes,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) said minutes after the shock news broke. “Biden must resign immediately.”
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik of New York similarly said, “If Joe Biden cannot run for reelection, he is also fit and unfit to serve as President of the United States and must resign immediately. The Democratic Party is utterly corrupted by their blatant corruption and desperate attempts to cover up the fact that Joe Biden is unfit for office.”
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House Speaker Mike Johnson has led the calls for President Biden to resign. (Getty Images)
“If Joe Biden is ineligible to be the Democratic nominee for president, then he is unfit to serve the remainder of the term. For the good of our country, Joe Biden should resign immediately,” said Kevin Hahn (R-Okla.), chairman of the Republican Study Committee.
The 81-year-old president is facing growing pressure to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race following his disastrous debate defeat against former President Donald Trump last month.
His weak performance raised concerns about whether he had the mental and physical stability to campaign and serve another four-year term.
Biden finally caved to the pressure on Sunday, writing in an open letter that “serving as President has been the greatest honor of my life. Though I intended to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and our country to step aside for the remainder of my term and focus solely on fulfilling the duties of my presidency.”
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Biden announced Sunday that he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. (AP/Evan Vucci)
Democratic lawmakers who called on Biden to step down say they are confident he can complete the roughly five months remaining in his term.
Among the arguments made by opponents of his candidacy are that questions about his eligibility are hindering his campaign, and that their concerns are not about the near future but about where he will be in the next four years.
But Republicans who have long argued that Biden is mentally unfit to be president saw the announcement as an end to their doubts.
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President Biden and former President Trump held a debate at CNN studios in Atlanta on June 27, 2024. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Montana), the Senate Republican campaign chairman, said in a statement, “If Joe Biden cannot run for reelection, he can no longer serve as president. The presidency is the hardest job in the world, and I can no longer be confident that Joe Biden can effectively perform the duties of commander in chief. Out of concern for our national security, I am formally asking President Biden to resign.”
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“If this man can’t run for president in an election that’s only four months away, who is going to run this country?” Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas wrote on X.
“He lacks the intellectual acuity and cognitive capacity to run a political campaign and is ready to serve another six months as president? He should resign,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-Ill.) wrote in her speech.
