President Joe Biden could decide within days whether to remain a candidate for reelection, said Hawaii’s governor, who took part in recent meetings with Biden and other Democratic governors and whose family has known the president for years.
And if Biden decides not to run, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green told The Associated Press on Saturday that he thinks the president would nominate Vice President Kamala Harris to replace Biden.
“I think the president will continue in this campaign unless he feels he can’t win or he feels he’s hearing from his aides that he shouldn’t run,” Greene said.
“If the president felt he wasn’t capable, and he really wasn’t capable, he would step down.
“We’ll probably know within the next few days how the president feels about this,” he said.
Biden has repeatedly said he will continue to campaign against his Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump.
But questions have been swirling about Biden’s intellectual acuity since his dismal performance in last month’s debate.
As some Democrats urged Biden to withdraw from the campaign, the president pointed to the support of other elected officials in his party, particularly state governors.
Green, who was a doctor on Hawaii Island before being elected governor, said everyone has parents or grandparents who have had moments when they just didn’t get along or had trouble expressing themselves clearly.
What to know about the impact of President Biden’s debate performance:
But they will not be discarded because of their experience, wisdom or role in the family, he added.
“That’s why I support the president until he says otherwise,” Greene said.
Greene said the multi-day deadline for a decision anticipates pressure that could come on Biden once lawmakers return to Capitol Hill this week.
“I really, honestly think that’s a decision that has to be made by him, and it shouldn’t be made by another governor. It shouldn’t be made by anyone other than him and the advisors closest to his heart,” Green said.
Greene was quick to point out that Trump is just three years younger than Biden and that both men have worse days ahead of them.
But he maintained that temperament was more important than age.
“For God’s sake, these two guys have the codes to nuclear weapons,” Green said.
“We don’t need someone tweeting in the middle of the night and raging at other countries. That’s not OK. That’s not President Biden’s issue.”
Greene said that if Biden were to withdraw from the campaign trail, the president should have the right to say who should replace him.
“If that happens, I think it’s clear that the entire Democratic Party would be thrilled to have the president nominate a vice president,” Greene said.
“Harris is an influential figure, a leading thought woman and an African-American who has served as attorney general of (California),” Greene said.
“There are no better qualifications than those held by our current vice president.”
Greene, whose wife’s uncle was Biden’s college roommate, also offered insight into the governor’s meeting with the president last week.
During the meeting, Greene asked about Biden’s health.
Biden responded that everything was normal except his brain.
Greene told The Associated Press that the president was joking, but that the context was lost when the information was leaked to others.
“It was a total joke. You have to be cognitively normal to make self-deprecating jokes,” Green said.
He also denied allegations that his advisers had arranged the meeting so that governors who support Biden would speak first in order to stifle opposition.
Instead, he said it was a very candid, unscripted conversation with 25 governors with differing views.
“That call went as you would expect in a coffee shop: a few people let their mouths slip, a few people probably overly praised the president, but most were just trying to make sure, ‘Are you OK?'” Greene said.
