A cacophony of voices on the left has called for President Joe Biden to step down as the nominee after a frightening debate performance put his cognitive decline on full display. Because of this, Democrats contend, Biden is unfit to be the nominee. When asked by The Federalist whether that also means Biden is unfit to be president for the next six months, 17 lawmakers failed to answer the question and one pointed to his previous comments denying that Biden should resign as president.
It seems that if Biden is incapable of running in November due to his cognitive decline, he might be incapable of running the country for the next six months. It’s hard to argue that a man not cognitively qualified to be the nominee is somehow qualified to be the president, but that’s apparently the stance some Democrats are taking.
The following Democrat lawmakers did not respond to repeated inquiries from The Federalist as to whether Biden should step down as the president after they called on him to step down as the nominee.
Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett became the first Democrat lawmaker to call for Biden to step down as the nominee.
“Recognizing that, unlike Trump, President Biden’s first commitment has always been to our country, not himself, I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw,” Doggett said. “I respectfully call on him to do so.”
Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig said she doesn’t believe Biden “can effectively campaign and win against Donald Trump.” New Jersey Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill said in a statement Biden needs to step down as the nominee to put “the best interests of democracy first.” Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley said on MSNBC that Biden’s “legacy is set” and that Biden must “step down and let someone else do this.”
Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton called the debate performance a “disaster” and said he had “really tried to quietly influence the president to step aside” before publicly calling for a new nominee. Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva told The New York Times Democrats “have to win this race” and that Biden needs to “get out of this race.”
New York Rep. Pat Ryan said Biden needs to step down because he “is no longer the best candidate to defeat Trump.” Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer said “there is no question in my mind that we will all be better served if the president steps aside as the Democratic nominee and manages a transition under his terms.” Vermont Sen. Peter Welch, in calling for Biden to step down, said “the national conversation is focused on President Biden’s age and capacity. Only he can change it.”
Michigan Rep. Hillary Scholten said Thursday that Biden has to “pass the torch” to a new leader. I inquired with her Washington D.C., congressional office as to the best point of contact and was directed to the press team for her reelection campaign. I insisted this was a question for her congressional communications director and asked for a person to contact but was assured the press email for her campaign would be best. The man I spoke with on the phone, before I hung up, requested I provide my name, phone number, email, and publication.
My email inquiry went unanswered.
Illinois Rep. Brad Schneider, Arizona Rep. Greg Stanton, Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, California Rep. Scott Peters, and Illinois Rep. Eric Sorensen also called for Biden to step down but did not respond to The Federalist by publication time.
The office of Hawaii Rep. Ed Case, who said Thursday that he does “not believe President Biden should continue his candidacy for reelection,” told The Federalist they would “forward this inquiry to the Congressman’s campaign team as this is a political question.”
“House rules require me to redirect your inquiry there,” his communications director Nestor Garcia claimed.
On Friday, Colorado Rep. Brittany Pettersen released a statement urging Biden to “pass the torch.” Reached by phone, her office directed me to send an email, which did not immediately receive a response.
Only Washington Rep. Adam Smith’s team gave a substantive answer to The Federalist’s question: If Smith believes Biden should step down as the nominee, does he also think Biden should step down as president and if not, why?
I was directed to recent interviews Smith has done, including one on CNN where he repeated Democrat talking points but said Biden “has shown he is not capable of delivering that message in an effective way.”
Smith acknowledged “health care concerns” during the interview before reiterating that Biden is “just not able to deliver [Democrats’ message] right now.”
Smith believes that Biden, who often slurs, mumbles, forgets the names of world leaders, and loses his train of thought, is incapable of representing the Democrats’ message to voters. But what about representing America to the world?
CNN’s Jake Tapper also asked Smith whether he thinks Biden should step down from the presidency, and Smith resolutely rejected the notion.
“No, no, no, no,” he said, although he reiterated his belief that Vice President Kamala Harris would be a better nominee.
In a separate interview with the Seattle Times, Smith said he notices Biden’s health is failing, describing the president as “frail” and struggling to communicate.
The responses — or lack thereof — prove one thing: Democrats, for all their screaming about “saving our democracy,” don’t actually care about the fate of the nation, they only care about power. It’s why they silenced concerns about Biden’s health until about 10 minutes ago. Up until the debate, Democrats thought it would be easier to simply keep the American people in the dark about Biden’s health by hiding the president and coordinating a campaign with their media allies to smear any evidence of Biden’s decline as “cheap fakes.”
Democrats insist too much is at stake for Biden to remain the nominee. Evidently, they don’t share the same concern for the risks our country suffers every day Biden remains as president.
