US President Joe Biden was reportedly coming closer to dropping out of the White House race Thursday as allies including Barack Obama were said to have expressed concerns that he can no longer win the 2024 election.
The 81-year-old Democrat was holed up at his beach house with Covid as multiple US media reports said he was considering the future of his reelection bid amid mounting opposition within his party.
The New York Times cited several people close to Biden as saying they believe he has begun to accept that he may lose in November to Republican rival Donald Trump and may have to drop out, with one quoted as saying: “Reality is setting in.”
It quoted the person as saying it would not be a surprise if Biden soon endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as the Democratic candidate.
Former president Obama meanwhile had reportedly told allies that Biden should “seriously consider the viability of his candidacy,” the Washington Post reported. His office did not comment.
The Axios news outlet separately quoted party figures as saying that Biden could drop out as soon as this weekend, while broadcaster NBC quoted a person close to Biden as saying: “We’re close to the end.
“Biden’s candidacy has been in peril for three weeks since a disastrous television debate against Trump.
His campaign however denied the reports and insisted he was staying in.
“He’s running for reelection. Baseless conjecture from anonymous sources isn’t a scoop,” campaign official T.J. Ducklo said on X.
Harris made no comment on the crisis in a speech in the battleground state of North Carolina but praised the president, saying the “contrast between Joe Biden and Donald Trump it’s like night and day.
“She also lashed out Trump’s new running mate J.D. Vance and said it was the “most existential, consequential and important election of our lifetime.”
While rival Trump prepares for his star turn at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee later Thursday, Biden finds himself in both personal and political isolation.
His personal doctor, Kevin O’Connor, said Thursday that Biden was still experiencing mild Covid symptoms and was taking the drug Paxlovid, but that his vital signs remain normal.
“He will continue to conduct the business of the American people,” O’Connor said in a letter released by the White House.
His Covid diagnosis came at the worst possible time for his campaign, forcing him to cut short a trip to Las Vegas and isolate at his holiday home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Biden told reporters on Wednesday that he was “doing well” but was later seen looking frail as he slowly descended the steps of Air Force One. (France24)
