Joe Biden has said it is his “duty to the country” to withdraw from the 2024 presidential election and prevent what he says would be “a real danger to American security” if Donald Trump wins a second term.
The US president explained why he dropped out of the race for the White House on Sunday in a sometimes emotional interview with CBS News, his first since he dropped out of the race in July. He said the loss of confidence among Democrats in the House and Senate, who feared his unpopularity would hurt them in the November elections, was weighing on his mind.
Ultimately, Biden said, it was a combination of circumstances that led him to make his momentous decision not to run again, which then saw Vice President Kamala Harris take control of the Democratic ticket and catch up to or surpass Trump in several key states, according to new polling data.
“While I have the great honor of being president, I believe I have an obligation to the country to do the most important thing that can be done, and that is we must, we must, we must defeat Trump,” he said.
Biden said he did not make the decision lightly and made it in consultation with his family in Delaware. At the time, he said, he still believed he could win in November, but events had “moved quickly” after weeks of pressure and growing unease within his party that, at 81, he was too old for the rigors of a second term.
Those fears were reinforced by his disastrous performance in the debate against Trump in June. “I had a really bad day in that debate because I was sick. But I don’t have any serious problems,” Biden said, denying that he had any cognitive issues.
“The polls we had showed that the race was close, that the two candidates would have gone to the last minute. But what happened was that a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was going to hurt them in the races and I was afraid that if I stayed in the race, that would be the talking point.
“I thought it would be a real diversion. (When) I first ran, I considered myself a transitional president. I can’t even say how old I am. I have a hard time saying what I’m saying. Things have moved so quickly. And the combination of the two has been… a crucial issue for me, is to maintain this democracy.”
Biden grew emotional as he recalled the promise he made to his late son Beau to stay in politics. “He said, ‘I know when this happens, you’re going to want to quit. You’re not going to stay engaged. Look at me. Look at me, Dad. Give me your word as Biden. When I’m gone, you’re going to stay engaged. Give me your word.’ And I did.”
Later in the interview, recorded last week with CBS News chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa in the White House Treaty Room, Biden expressed fear for the country if former President Trump wins in November.
“Listen to me, if he wins, look what’s going to happen. He’s a real danger to American security,” he said, adding that he was “not at all sure” that a peaceful transfer of power would take place if Trump were to lose.
“We are at a turning point in world history. We really are. The decisions we make in the next three or four years will determine what the next six decades will look like, and democracy is the key to that.
“That’s why I gave this speech at the Johnson Center about the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is so broken that I propose limiting terms to 18 years. MAGA Republicans have little respect for political institutions. That’s what holds this country together. That’s democracy. That’s who we are as a nation.”
The president also praised Harris and Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor she named this week as her running mate.
“If we had grown up in the same neighborhood, we would have been friends. He’s my kind of guy. He’s genuine, he’s smart,” Biden said of Walz.
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“I’ve known him for decades. I think they’re a hell of a team.”
He said he would campaign with Harris in the weeks leading up to the election and was working with Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, once the favorite to be Harris’ vice presidential pick, to win the key state.
“I will also campaign in other states. I will do whatever Kamala thinks I can do to help the masses,” he said.
Other topics discussed during the interview included Biden’s belief that a ceasefire and peace deal in Gaza were still possible before he leaves office in January, despite escalating civilian casualties there and in Lebanon.
Asked how he thought his presidency would be remembered, Biden cited how he led the country out of the Covid-19 pandemic and his economic successes.
“When I announced my candidacy, I said we had to do three things: restore the soul of America; build the economy from the middle up and the bottom up, not from the top down; and bring the country together. No one, including some of my countrymen, thought we could do what we did,” he said.
“The biggest mistake we made was not putting up signs that said, ‘Joe did it!'”
