Prominent figures, including actor George Clooney and Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), are calling for President Joe Biden to step aside in the upcoming presidential race, advocating for a new Democratic nominee. These calls for change come as Biden concludes a three-day NATO summit, following what many perceived as a lackluster performance in his debate against former President Donald Trump in their first presidential debate.
Biden will host a post-NATO summit press conference Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. ET.
Yahoo Finance senior columnist Rick Newman explains why this press conference will serve as a crucial test for Biden, examining the potential implications of Biden’s performance on voter perception and party support.
Read more about the calls for Biden to step aside from the 2024 presidential race:
Biden-Trump debate sparks Democratic party concerns
Top concerns around a last-minute Biden exit from election
Biden’s 2024 hopes ‘on collision course’ with Democrats’ fears
2024 election may be a ‘bloodbath’ for Dems if Biden runs
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This post was written by Angel Smith
Video Transcript
Turning now to President Biden, facing a key test as he set to close out the NATO summit with a press conference at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time today.
This coming as he just lost support from actor George Clooney, the actor writing in an op ed for The New York Times quote, We are not going to win in November with this president calling on top Democrats to ask Biden to voluntarily step aside.
We also had the Senator Peter Welch, also calling for President Biden to step aside in the race, wrote an op ed for The Washington Post.
This is significant because it’s the first Democratic senator coming out calling for President Biden to step aside in the race.
So where do we go from here?
We want to bring in our very own Rick Newman and Rick.
It’s another day and more pressure, obviously, continuing out to mount here on President Biden to step aside in the race.
Senility watch continues, I guess, is the way I would put it.
Regrettably, So Biden has this press conference today at 5:30 p.m.
This is going to be at the end of the three day NATO summit in Washington DC.
This is the type of event that in North all times most people wouldn’t pay any attention to.
The You know, the NATO member nations did accomplish a few important things at this conference.
For one thing, they said, Ukraine will become a member of NATO at some point.
We don’t know when, but that is a strong statement of support for Ukraine and its war against Russia.
But that’s not what people are going to be watching for.
Obviously, when Biden takes does his press conference at 530.
I mean, the pressure is incredible, given that we’re just a few months before the election here.
So Biden has to prove he has total recall of all the names of the people he talked with this week.
He’s not going to mix up any facts.
He has to show that he can keep his train of thought and he is going to get hammered by the press because, I mean, this is this is now the cognitive test.
I mean, Biden hasn’t done the sort of cognitive test Trump claims to have done, which I don’t think Trump actually did.
But he is now going to face a cognitive test every time he goes on live TV.
So we will see how he does today.
And I guess if Biden has another slip up like he did during the June 27th debate, um, I mean, that could be the thing that finally brings his campaign to an end and gets us to a replacement candidate.
And if he, uh, if he does, really?
Well, um, I’m I’m not sure that puts any doubts to rest.
So, um, a very awkward position for Biden to be in.
I’m curious about the strategy from the side of Democrats here.
I just want to know in a couple of years when Democrats are chatting at the Thanksgiving table about this moment in time, are they going to look at?
This is a moment that the Democratic strategy to not fully support Biden was one that lost the election and gave it over to Trump, or is something that was an effective move to save the Democratic Party this election cycle.
I mean, I love the question, Mattie, you’re sort of trying to step out of the moment and say, What the heck is actually going on here?
I think it depends on the outcome.
If Biden stays in this race and then loses to Trump, he is going to be a sort of a Democratic villain for a long time.
Um, because it’s clear that a lot of Democrats want to see a younger candidate.
And, by the way, there are some very promising younger Democrats.
I mean, there are some governors who are very popular in their home states of Pennsylvania and Michigan, For example, Um, there are people in Biden’s Cabinet who are very capable and and in some sense Biden just won’t get out of the way, uh, and let a younger generation step up.
So if he stays in the race and he loses, um, then Biden’s a villain.
If Biden does step aside, then it depends on whether his replacement wins or loses.
So if he steps aside and and the next Democrat who steps in defeats Donald Trump, it’ll it’ll look like while Biden.
It took some convincing, but he he manned up and he did the right thing.
And then if that person loses, it’ll be like, Oh my God, there’s no Democrat who can save this party, so it really depends.
I mean, we’re really at pivotal moments here on a historic basis during just the next few days and weeks.
Yeah, we got to run, Rick, but it really makes you wonder why we waited to have this conversation.
Now, thank you so much for joining us.
As always.
We appreciate it.