Here Are the Biggest Names Calling on Biden to Drop His Re-Election Campaign

The New York Times Editorial Board: “To serve his country, President Biden should leave the race,” the left-leaning panel declared in a headline the day after the debate, calling Biden an “admirable president” who is “engaged in a reckless gamble,” and urging Democrats to speak out and replace him, or risk handing the election to Trump.

The Chicago Tribune Editorial Board: Writing that it had “had enough” after the debate, the editorial board blasted former President Donald Trump and Biden, calling them “two ugly old men” and “clowns,” and wrote that Biden “should announce that he will be a one-term president who has now seen the light regarding his own abilities.”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Editorial Board: Biden should step down “to defeat Trump and for the good of the nation,” the committee wrote Saturday, rejecting defenses from Biden’s campaign and allies that he had a cold or that his poor performance was an anomaly, writing that “this was not a bad night; it was confirmation of the worst fears of some of Biden’s most ardent supporters … age has finally caught up with him.”

Thomas Friedman: Acknowledging his friendship with Biden and describing how he cried while watching what he called a “heartbreaking” debate, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist wrote that Biden “does not have to run for reelection” and that the Democratic Party should conduct a new “open process in the search for a Democratic presidential nominee.”

Nicolas Kristof: In a column published just hours after the debate ended, Kristof, a New York Times columnist, wrote that Biden’s debate performance “reinforced the narrative” that he was too old to serve as president, and urged the president to announce his retirement before the convention, giving his delegates the opportunity to select another Democratic candidate, such as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown or Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

Paul Krugman: “The best president of my lifetime must step down,” headlined a third New York Times columnist, with Krugman acknowledging that “perhaps some Biden loyalists will view this as a betrayal, given how much I have supported his policies, but I fear we must acknowledge the reality.”

David Remnick: The New Yorker editor wrote that Biden seemed to be “wandering into absurdity on stage” and that remaining on the list “would be an act not only of self-delusion but of national endangerment.”

David Ignace: Reiterating a view he expressed in a September column that Biden should not run, the Washington Post foreign affairs columnist wrote in a post-debate piece that Biden has been isolated by his inner circle of aides and confidants, including his wife, Jill Biden, who have rejected calls for his withdrawal and “have been protective — to a fault.”

Marc Leibovich: The Atlantic reporter and former national correspondent for The New York Times Magazine titled his Friday column “Time To Go, Joe,” calling the debate a “disaster” and writing that Biden “looked old, seemed old and yes, is in fact very, very old.”

Joe Scarborough: Declaring that he “loves” Biden, the host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” (a show Biden apparently follows closely) gently suggested on Friday’s episode that the president should withdraw from the race, asking the rhetorical question, “If he were a CEO and he had a performance like that, would corporate America keep him?”

Chandler West: The former White House director of photography from January 2021 to May 2022, West, wrote on Instagram that “it’s time for Joe to go,” Axios reported, citing screenshots of West’s story in which he said White House aides have privately said for months that Biden is “not as strong as he was just a few years ago,” and a subsequent text message from West to Axios predicting that the debate “won’t be the last” bad day for Biden.

James Carville: Biden “should not be” the nominee, the longtime Democratic political consultant told Politico, after he said the Biden campaign used his name in a post-debate fundraising text without his permission, and also told Axios he believes Biden will end his campaign before Election Day, paraphrasing a quote from economist Herb Stein, “What cannot continue … will not continue.”

André Yang: Biden’s former opponent for the 2020 Democratic nomination wrote in his blog Saturday that he was “wrong” to have confidence that Biden’s team could prepare him for Thursday’s debate, describing Biden as “old and dragging” when he saw him in February, while writing that Biden is “running an unwinnable race” and “hurting the country” by pursuing his candidacy.

Uyghur Cenk: Less than 30 minutes into the debate, the host and founder of the left-leaning political podcast The Young Turks, who also briefly ran for the Democratic nomination this year, tweeted that the show would “start talking about who should replace Biden. Because at this point, it’s obvious that it absolutely HAS to happen.”