36 Democratic lawmakers have publicly called for President Joe Biden, who is currently self-isolating at his beach house in Delaware after contracting COVID-19, to bow out of the 2024 race.
Among these lawmakers is Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, who said the president “didn’t seem to recognize him” at the Normandy, France event in a recent op-ed for The Boston Globe.
“Of course, that can happen as anyone ages but, as I watched the disastrous debate a few weeks ago, I have to admit that what I saw in Normandy was part of a deeper problem,” Moulton wrote.
In the three weeks since his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump, the 46th president has shrugged off ever-louder calls from within his own party to make way for a younger candidate to take on Trump in November.
Several influential Democrats, including Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer, reportedly called on Biden to drop out in private.
While the president has repeated in interviews that he is going nowhere, Axios has reported that he could drop out as soon as this weekend.
Key Points
- Calls for Biden to step aside ‘building to a head this weekend’
- Congressman says the president ‘didn’t seem to recognize’ him at D-Day event
- Dozens of former foreign and national security officials call on Biden to drop out
JD Vance roadblocked dozens of US diplomats while he obsessed over their views on gay rights
07:00
Josh Marcus
Before he was Donald Trump’s 2024 running mate, JD Vance was known, at least in the State Department, for grilling nominees with a questionnaire about LGBTQ+ rights, Pride flags, diversity and inclusion, and other so-called “woke” issues,” part of a series of holds he placed on Biden nominees that delayed the confirmation of more than 30 diplomats to senior positions until this April.
“The publics of many of our allies, and those countries we seek to build stronger relationships with, have traditional Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or Hindu moral values,” reads one section of the questionnaire, which was obtained by The Washington Post. “If confirmed, how would you explain to them what the United States’ promoting ‘human rights for LGBTQ people’ would look like in their country?”
Read more:
WATCH: JD Vance accuses Kamala Harris of doing nothing but ‘collect a check’
05:01
Katie Hawkinson
Democrats hold ‘pass the torch’ rally outside White House
04:00
Katie Hawkinson
A group of Democrats held a ‘pass the torch’ rally outside the White House today, calling on President Joe Biden to drop out of the race.
“We only have less than 4 months to figure out how to win this election together,” one speaker said at the rally on Saturday afternoon. “And we can do it — matter of fact, we have to do it.”
Organizers called on attendees to make signs and posts with the slogans “#PassTheTorch” and “#DontRushLosing.”
“Pass the Torch is a newly formed network of activists, organizers, and voters committed to the belief that nothing matters as much as making sure Democrats have a ticket that can beat Donald Trump,” the organizers said.
Democrats rally outside the White House pleading for Biden to drop out of the race:
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 20, 2024
"We only have less than 4 months to figure out how to win this election together."
pic.twitter.com/pePOxRMwFn
Biden’s doctor gives update
03:00
Katie Hawkinson
Joe Biden’s doctor has released an update on the president’s condition after being diagnosed with COVID-19 this week.
“President Biden completed his sixth dose of Paxlovid this morning,” Kevin O’Connor, the president’s physician, wrote on Saturday. “He is still experiencing a loose, nonproductive cough and hoarseness, but his symptoms continue to improve steadily. His pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature remain absolutely normal. His oxygen saturation continues to be excellent on room air. His lungs remain clear.”
“Genomic sequencing has determined that the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) variant which the President has encountered is the KP .2.3 variant,” he continued. “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the KP .2.3 variant accounts for approximately 33.3% of new infections in the United States.”
“The President continues to tolerate treatment well and will continue Paxlovid as planned. He continues to perform all of his presidential duties.”
If Biden were to drop out, who could be Kamala Harris’s running mate?
02:00
Eric Garcia
Here’s The Independent’s list of potential replacements who could fall out of a coconut tree and exist in the context of the campaign that came before them.
Is this the week that finally broke Joe Biden?
01:00
Alex Woodward
Within the last week, Joe Biden has acknowledged that he initially ran as a “transitional” candidate; claimed that no poll has shown any other Democratic candidate winning against Donald Trump; and that he would end his campaign if he was diagnosed with an urgent “medical condition.”
And, as if in response, prominent Democratic Party leaders told him to hang up his re-election campaign; poll after poll indicated there is no way he can win; and then he got Covid- 19.
There have been daily “is this the end?” moments for Biden’s campaign since his first 2024 debate against his Republican rival, Donald Trump, on June 27, each one eclipsed by the one that followed. Every time, the president has insisted that he will remain the nominee.
Read on:
Meet the White House doctor who greets Joe Biden every morning
Sunday 21 July 2024 00:00
Sheila Flynn
As the entirety of America – and the rest of the world – seeks to amateurishly assess the health of 81-year-old President Joe Biden, two salient questions loom: Where, and who, is the Commander-in-Chief’s doctor?
The answer is Kevin O’Connor, a jovial 58-year-old military physician who’s been treating the Biden family for years. And he holds tremendous power — Biden reiterated this week that he’d reevaluate running “if I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, You got this problem and that problem.”
Read more:
Watch: JD Vance accuses Kamala Harris of doing nothing but ‘collect a check’
Saturday 20 July 2024 23:00
Katie Hawkinson
Trump gives first rally since assassination attempt
Saturday 20 July 2024 22:26
Katie Hawkinson
Donald Trump is speaking at his first rally since last Saturday, when Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at his Butler, Pennsylvania campaign event.
Watch live from The Independent:
AOC says many who want Joe Biden to drop out of race also want to remove Kamala Harris
Saturday 20 July 2024 22:08
Gustaf Kilander
New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went on Instagram Live early on Friday morning to share her thoughts on Joe Biden’s floundering re-election campaign - and warning that many of those who want the President to drop out of the race, also want Vice President Kamala Harris off the ticket too.
“If you think that there is consensus among the people who want Joe Biden to leave ... that they will support, Vice President Harris, you would be mistaken,” she told viewers.
Read more:
Trump campaign is preparing to go to battle with Kamala Harris in 2024 campaign if Biden leaves: report
Saturday 20 July 2024 21:30
Josh Marcus
The Trump campaign is reportedly already planning for a potential battle with Kamala Harris if Joe Biden decides to drop out of the 2024 race.
That’s included drawing up attack ads, poll-testing Harris’s vulnerabilities on various issues, and compiling opposition research, two individuals briefed on the matter told The New York Times.
The Trump camp’s thinking is that if Biden drops out, Harris will be the most likely replacement, given that the Democrats wouldn’t want to alienate the Black voters in their base by sidelining the nation’s first Black vice-president, the individuals told the paper.
Read on:
Democrats hold ‘pass the torch’ rally outside White House
Saturday 20 July 2024 21:04
Katie Hawkinson
A group of Democrats held a ‘pass the torch’ rally outside the White House today, calling on President Joe Biden to drop out of the race.
“We only have less than 4 months to figure out how to win this election together,” one speaker said at the rally on Saturday afternoon. “And we can do it — matter of fact, we have to do it.”
Organizers called on attendees to make signs and posts with the slogans “#PassTheTorch” and “#DontRushLosing.”
“Pass the Torch is a newly formed network of activists, organizers, and voters committed to the belief that nothing matters as much as making sure Democrats have a ticket that can beat Donald Trump,” the organizers said.
Democrats rally outside the White House pleading for Biden to drop out of the race:
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 20, 2024
"We only have less than 4 months to figure out how to win this election together."
pic.twitter.com/pePOxRMwFn
Former physician to Donald Trump shares update on condition post-shooting
Saturday 20 July 2024 20:52
Katie Hawkinson
Representative Ronny Jackosn, a Texas Republican who formerly served as Donald Trump’s physician, shared a letter on the former president’s injured ear.
“The bullet passed, coming less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head, and struck the top of his right ear,” Jackson wrote. “The bullet track produced a 2 cm wide wound that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of the ear.”
“Based on the highly vascular nature of the ear, there is still intermittent bleeding requiring a dressing to be in place,” he continued. “Given the broad and blunt nature of the wound itself, no sutured were required.”
“It is an absolute miracle he wasn’t killed.”
Watch live: Donald Trump and VP pick JD Vance campaign together for first time
Saturday 20 July 2024 20:43
Katie Hawkinson
Biden’s doctor gives update
Saturday 20 July 2024 19:15
Katie Hawkinson
Joe Biden’s doctor has released an update on the president’s condition after being diagnosed with COVID-19 this week.
“President Biden completed his sixth dose of Paxlovid this morning,” Kevin O’Connor, the president’s physician, wrote on Saturday. “He is still experiencing a loose, nonproductive cough and hoarseness, but his symptoms continue to improve steadily. His pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature remain absolutely normal. His oxygen saturation continues to be excellent on room air. His lungs remain clear.”
“Genomic sequencing has determined that the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) variant which the President has encountered is the KP .2.3 variant,” he continued. “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the KP .2.3 variant accounts for approximately 33.3% of new infections in the United States.”
“The President continues to tolerate treatment well and will continue Paxlovid as planned. He continues to perform all of his presidential duties.”
36 Democratic lawmakers call for Biden to step aside
Saturday 20 July 2024 18:45
Katie Hawkinson
36 Democratic lawmakers have called on President Joe Biden to bow out of the 2024 race as of Saturday afternoon.
See The Independent’s full list here:
Democrat says he called for Biden to quit race after president failed to recognize him
Saturday 20 July 2024 18:15
Katie Hawkinson
Representative Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat, said he called for Joe Biden to drop out of the race saying the president had appeared to not recognize him.
Moulton was with the president at a D-Day event in Normandy, France last month. There, Biden “didn’t seem to recognize” him, the lawmaker wrote in a Friday op-ed for The Boston Globe.
“Of course, that can happen as anyone ages, but as I watched the disastrous debate a few weeks ago, I have to admit that what I saw in Normandy was part of a deeper problem,” Moulton wrote.
Read on:
Republicans are quietly pushing to defund transgender healthcare even for adults
Saturday 20 July 2024 17:45
Io Dodds, Eric Garcia
Hundreds of thousands of transgender people could lose access to medical treatment or be forced to detransition under a little-known Republican effort to defund trans healthcare for both adults and children.
Since Republicans took control of the House of Representatives last January, GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill have quietly added a wave of amendments to “must-pass” government funding bills that would ban federal money from being used for gender transition procedures such as hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery.
These riders vary widely in their scope and effect. Some target government health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Others would revoke insurance coverage for transgender government employees. Still others would bar federal funding for any institution that “promotes transgenderism.”
Read more:
Meet the White House doctor who greets Joe Biden every morning
Saturday 20 July 2024 17:18
Sheila Flynn
As the entirety of America – and the rest of the world – seeks to amateurishly assess the health of 81-year-old President Joe Biden, two salient questions loom: Where, and who, is the Commander-in-Chief’s doctor?
The answer is Kevin O’Connor, a jovial 58-year-old military physician who’s been treating the Biden family for years. And he holds tremendous power — Biden reiterated this week that he’d reevaluate running “if I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, You got this problem and that problem.”
Read more:
VP to speak at Provincetown, Massachusetts event
Saturday 20 July 2024 16:45
Katie Hawkinson
Vice President Kamala Harris is set to speak at an event in Provincetown, Massachusetts this afternoon.
Her remarks come as President Joe Biden faces mounting pressure to step down from the 2024 Democratic ticket.
Biden chews over mounting calls for him to quit 2024 race as Pelosi said to be seeking to avoid Harris coronation
Saturday 20 July 2024 16:16
Katie Hawkinson
As President Joe Biden faces mounting pressure to drop out of the 2024 presidential race while isolating in Delaware with COVID-19, Nancy Pelosi is reportedly looking to prevent the vice president from automatically taking the nomination.
The California representative hopes to avoid Kamala Harris automatically becoming the Democratic candidate if Biden drops out, Politico and The New York Times report. Earlier this week, reports emerged that the influential Democrat told Biden privately he can’t beat Donald Trump in November.
Pelosi is not against a Harris-led ticket, according to the Times. Instead, Pelosi is advocating for an open nomination process at next month’s Democratic National Convention, arguing that Harris — or any other potential candidate — would be strengthened by earning the title, the Times reports.
Read on:
Congressman calls for Biden to drop out of race, says the president ‘didn’t seem to recognize’ him at D-Day event
Saturday 20 July 2024 15:37
Katie Hawkinson
Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts says President Joe Biden “didn’t seem to recognize” him at a D-Day event in Normandy, France last month.
“Of course, that can happen as anyone ages but, as I watched the disastrous debate a few weeks ago, I have to admit that what I saw in Normandy was part of a deeper problem,” Moulton wrote in a Friday op-ed for The Boston Globe.
“It was a crushing realization, and not because a person I care about had a rough night but because everything is riding on Biden’s ability to beat Donald Trump in November,” Moulton continued.
Moulton joined 29 other Democratic lawmakers who have publically called for Biden to make way for a younger candidate.
If Biden were to drop out, who could be Kamala Harris’s running mate?
Saturday 20 July 2024 13:15
Oliver O'Connell
Here’s The Independent’s list of potential replacements who could fall out of a coconut tree and exist in the context of the campaign that came before them.
Dozens of former foreign and national security officials call on Biden to drop out
Saturday 20 July 2024 12:45
Oliver O'Connell
NBC News reports that more than four dozen former foreign and national security officials for the US government wrote to Joe Biden on Friday, calling on him to drop out of the presidential race.
“We write as former US officials who have strongly supported your presidency and your initiatives to strengthen US foreign and national security policy,” they wrote.
“We have welcomed the measures you have taken to promote US alliances in Europe, Asia, and the Americas; to manage relations with great powers; and to address global issues such as climate change. These initiatives have been built on your decades-long record of support for responsible US international engagement.”
“We strongly believe that now is the time to pass the mantle of leadership, and we respectfully urge you to do so,” they added.
Among those who signed the letter are Richard Clarke, former national coordinator for security and counterterrorism, and Anthony Lake, national security adviser to President Bill Clinton.
How would replacing Biden actually work?
Saturday 20 July 2024 12:15
Eric Garcia & Gustaf Kilander
A number of Democrats now think President Joe Biden will bow out of the 2024 election race, possibly as soon as this weekend, according to a report.
Biden, who tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, is self-isolating at his beach house in Rehoboth, Delaware.
While he remains publicly committed to staying in the race, Axios reports that in private, the president has resigned himself to increasing pressure from lawmakers calling on him to drop out amid bad polling and mounting scrutiny of his age and mental acuity.
But how might replacing an incumbent candidate actually work?
Trump loses to younger Democrat in swing states according to first major poll since shooting
Saturday 20 July 2024 11:15
Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump was already leading President Joe Biden in several swing states but after the assassination attempt, a new poll shows the former president gaining even more ground – unless a younger Democrat replaces Biden.
A survey conducted by Emerson College Polling found that Trump holds a three-point lead or more over the president in seven key swing states – and most of those are an increase from polling conducted in March.
In Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin Trump is leading by three points, in Georgia by five, in Pennsylvania by six, in North Carolina by nine and in Arizona by 10.
The numbers are a bad sign for Biden who is already facing doubts about his ability to campaign and win the November election. Members of his own party have asked him to step aside and make room for a different, younger, candidate.
And the poll from Emerson supports that idea.
Ariana Baio and Alicja Hagopian look at the numbers.
Is this the week that finally broke Joe Biden?
Saturday 20 July 2024 10:15
Oliver O'Connell
Within the last week, Joe Biden acknowledged that he initially ran as a “transitional” candidate, claimed that no poll has shown any other Democratic candidate winning against Donald Trump, and that he would end his campaign if he was diagnosed with an urgent “medical condition.”
And, as if in response, prominent Democratic Party leaders told him to hang up his re-election campaign, poll after poll indicated there is no way he can win, and then he got COVID-19.
There have been daily “is this the end?” moments for Biden’s campaign since his first 2024 debate against his Republican rival on June 27, each one eclipsed by the one that followed, and every time the president has insisted that he will remain the nominee.
Alex Woodward reports.
EDITORIAL: The Democrats must present the American people with a viable candidate
Saturday 20 July 2024 09:15
Oliver O'Connell
It is not for The Independent to advise the American people on how to vote – but we are entitled to express an opinion on the implications of the United States presidential election for the rest of the world.
That is why we say we are surprised that leading figures in the Democratic Party have failed to engage in the basics of succession planning. The sort of exercise that would have seemed obvious to a small engineering company in Scranton as its founder approached his 80th birthday seems to have eluded the great minds of the governing party of the US.
When Joe Biden was elected president four years ago, at the age of 77, it would not have been disrespectful or morbid for his party’s leaders to have said: “He is in good shape, but we must be ready.”
Continue reading...
Read Trump’s 93-minute address to Republican party delegates
Saturday 20 July 2024 08:15
Oliver O'Connell
Just kidding.
Here’s John Bowden with the highlights.
AOC says many who want Joe Biden to drop out of race also want to remove Kamala
Saturday 20 July 2024 07:15
Oliver O'Connell
New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went on Instagram Live early on Friday morning to share her thoughts on Joe Biden’s floundering re-election campaign - and warning that many of those who want the President to drop out of the race, also want Vice President Kamala Harris off the ticket too.
“If you think that there is consensus among the people who want Joe Biden to leave ... that they will support, Vice President Harris, you would be mistaken,” she told viewers.
Gustaf Kilander watched her comments.
As more lawmakers call for Biden to step down, which celebrities have done likewise?
Saturday 20 July 2024 06:15
Oliver O'Connell
President Joe Biden continues to lose crucial support from his colleagues, big-name celebrities and donors.
Last month, Biden’s shaky performance at the first presidential debate against the Republican nominee, former president Donald Trump, led to questions about his capability to run for reelection.
Despite several major voices urging Biden to step aside, the incumbent president is insistent about his ability to run and win again.
Inga Parkel reports.
As family discusses ‘possible’ plan to drop out, Biden feels angry and betrayed by top Democrats
Saturday 20 July 2024 04:15
Oliver O'Connell
Feeling angry and betrayed after numerous Democrats have called on him to step aside as the party’s presidential nominee, Joe Biden and his family may be coming to grips with the notion that he will have to leave the race.
Two sources familiar with the situation told NBC News that there are raw feelings at play as the Democratic National Convention is due to start in about a month’s time. The president feels he has been left hung out to dry by party leaders who privately say there’s no path to winning in November for the president. Meanwhile, his family has begun mapping out what his exit would look like if he were to call it quits, NBC News reported.
Gustaf Kilander reports.
Six wild moments from Trump’s record-breaking RNC speech
Saturday 20 July 2024 03:15
Madeline Sherratt
It was the final night of the Republican National Convention last night in Milwaukee and Donald Trump delivered a mammoth 90-minute speech with his survival of an assassination attempt heavily featured.
Republicans were seen experiencing emotional outbursts during the former president’s monologue, with members of the audience dripping with sweat and visibly crying.
He told the audience: “I’m not supposed to be here” which attracted cries of “You are!” in response from the crowd.
The end of his speech was marked by the formal acceptance of his party’s nomination – a campaign trail that was accelerated rather than marred by the assassination attempt against him five days earlier.
Here are some of the more eyebrow-raising moments from his speech:
Republicans already shaping message around Kamala Harris
Saturday 20 July 2024 02:15
Oliver O'Connell
Throughout the four days in Milwaukee at their convention, Republicans seemed to sense that Joe Biden might be on the out and that Kamala Harris might replace him at the top of the ticket. And they were already preparing the talking points.
Eric Garcia reports.
Firefighters pay tribute to chief killed by Trump shooter at funeral
Saturday 20 July 2024 01:15
Oliver O'Connell
Hundreds of people in the small town of Cabot, Pennsylvania gathered on Friday to pay tribute to Corey Comperatore, the retired volunteer fire chief who was shot and killed by a gunman at a Trump rally last weekend.
Firefighters honored Comperatore, loading his casket – draped with an American flag – onto a firetruck to be driven from Cabot Methodist Church.
Members of the community lined the streets waving American flags and holding posters, mourning the loss of a local hero.
Ariana Baio reports.
