Biden relented under a ferocious pressure campaign; he didn’t selflessly hand over the nomination on his own terms.
Welcome back to Forgotten Fact Checks, a weekly column produced by National Review’s News Desk. This week, we offer a recap of the glowing praise liberal pundits have offered President Biden over his “selfless” and “patriotic” decision to end his reelection bid, and cover more media misses.
Joe Biden: Great American Hero
President Biden ended his reelection campaign on Sunday, with just 106 days left until Election Day.
While one might think this would upset some Democrats, now that Biden’s stubborn refusal to drop out earlier has thrust the party into uncertainty – nevermind swirling questions about how he can continue to lead the country if he does not have the mental acuity to campaign – Democratic pundits apparently view Biden’s decision to step aside under extreme duress as an act of selfless patriotism.
CNN commentator Van Jones grew emotional talking about Biden’s brave decision to step back, glossing over the fact that the president’s decision represented the culmination of a ferocious weeks-long pressure campaign by Democratic lawmakers and pundits — a campaign that was met with misleading descriptions of the president’s condition and general bluster from the White House, before Biden finally cracked.
“When your arm gets tired you let somebody else finish pitching the game,” Jones said. “That’s what Joe Biden has done. And he’s done that for all of us.”
“The Democrat Party’s [Biden’]s family at the end of the day, this is a family matter,” he added. “You know, Joe Biden’s body may not be as strong as it used to be. His language skills may not be as sharp as they used to be. His heart is as big as ever.”
“It’s kind of like when your grandpa, [when] you got to take the keys,” Jones said. “He’s fighting and he’s fighting and everybody’s so frustrated. And then you finally get the keys back. And then you just cry. Because this is somebody that you love.”
Biden said in a statement on Sunday that it is “in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on my duties as president for the remainder of my term.” Moments later, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him.
“What a man, what a patriot. What an act of selfless devotion to your country,” MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow said on Sunday. “He has been a phenomenal president. He brought us back from Covid. He gave us the best recovery from Covid of any major nation on earth at a time when the world has economically been struggling in the wake of Covid. The Biden economy is literally the envy of the world. He ended the presidency of Donald Trump at one disastrous term, and he did it while being decent and civil and honorable and normal, and occasionally boring at a time when boring was absolutely what we needed.”
Meanwhile, New York Times columnist Ezra Klein hailed Biden as “an actual hero.”
“This is what America First looks like when it’s a lived ethos, rather than a mask for narcissism and ambition,” he wrote in a post on X.
CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen called Biden’s exit from the race “one of the most stunning acts of patriotism of my lifetime.”
Pod Save America co-host Jon Favreau said Biden had made a “courageous and selfless decision.”
“The President did what he’s done for the last four years – he listened to the American people and put the country’s interests ahead of his own,” the former Obama speechwriter added. “The exact opposite of Donald Trump.”
Meanwhile, Pod Save the World co-host Ben Rhodes said, “Just like that, Americans see something transformational: a leader putting his country ahead of any personal interest or ambition. A seismic jolt of energy that raises the bar on all of us to get out there and do whatever it takes to win this election.”
Daily Show host Jon Stewart called Biden a “legend.”
While Democrats are celebrating Biden’s decision, Republicans are questioning how Biden can serve out the remaining six months of his term if he is not mentally fit enough to campaign.
House Speaker Mike Johnson called on Biden to resign immediately and criticized Democrats for overruling primary voters’ wishes.
“At this unprecedented juncture in American history, we must be clear about what just happened,” he said. “The Democrat Party forced the Democrat nominee off the ballot, just over 100 days before the election. Having invalidated the votes of more than 14 million Americans who selected Joe Biden to be the Democrat nominee for president, the self-proclaimed ‘party of democracy’ has proven exactly the opposite.”
“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough,” he added.
Senator Steve Daines (R., Mont.) also called on Biden to resign. “If Joe Biden is no longer capable of running for reelection, he is no longer capable of serving as President. Being President is the hardest job in the world, and I no longer have confidence that Joe Biden can effectively execute his duties as Commander-in-Chief,” he said.
“It is out of concern for our country’s national security that I am formally calling on President Biden to resign from office,” added Daines, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Biden had dismissed the debacle as a “bad episode” and insisted there is “no indication” he has any “serious condition,” but he failed to assuage concerns in subsequent public appearances.
While defending his mental acuity in recent weeks, he continued to make gaffes in interviews and public appearances, at times offering confusing, rambling responses to journalists’ questions. He accidentally introduced Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” during the NATO summit and referred to Harris as “Trump” during a rare solo press conference.
Headline Fail of the Week
NBC News was quick to give Usha Vance, the wife of Republican vice presidential nominee J. D. Vance, a treatment it seemingly reserves only for Republicans: “Usha Vance’s RNC speech against backdrop of ‘mass deportation’ signs draws claims of hypocrisy”
“Making her RNC debut, Usha Chilukuri Vance spoke with pride about her Indian immigrant parents—in front of a convention floor peppered with signs reading “Mass Deportation Now,’” the outlet wrote on X.
However, there’s no hypocrisy here: Usha Vance was raised in San Diego by her parents who both legally immigrated to the U.S. from India.
Media Misses
• The Washington Post deleted a post on X after it came under fire for its framing of a speech the parents of an American hostage in Gaza delivered at the RNC.
“Omer Neutra has been missing since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. When his parents speak publicly, they don’t talk about Israel’s assault on Gaza that has killed over 38,000 Palestinians, according to local officials. Experts have warned of looming famine,” the Post wrote on X.
The paper later offered an apology, saying the post had “mischaracterized the efforts of Neutra’s parents.”
“A previous post referencing the below story was unacceptable and did not meet our editorial standards, and The Post has deleted it. The reporter of the story was not involved in crafting the tweet. We have taken the appropriate action regarding this incident,” the outlet wrote on X.
However, the full story still includes a paragraph expressing a similar sentiment as the deleted tweet. “When the Neutras speak publicly, they don’t talk about the ferocity of Israel’s counterattack, which has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians and left nearly 90,000 injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Swaths of the territory have been pulverized and international experts have warned of looming famine,” the article reads.
• The View co-host Ana Navarro apparently saw former president Donald Trump’s ear injury, which he sustained while surviving an assassination attempt, as a joking matter. While discussing his lengthy RNC speech she said, “It’s too bad the bandage was just over his ear. It should’ve been over his mouth.”
“If Joe Biden had been up there giving that speech, men in white coats would have interrupted him and carted him off and put him in a padded wagon,” Navarro said. “I thought today I would wake up and the TV would be full of like, doctors talking about Donald Trump’s cognitive decline. I thought it would be full of Republicans hanging their heads in shame like Democrats did.”
• MSNBC host Joy Reid believes Biden dealing with a case of Covid is on par with Trump surviving an assassination attempt. She noted that Trump surviving the attempt on his life and then appearing at the RNC days later is being seen as a “sign of strength.” “This current President of the United States is 81 years old and has COVID, should he be fine in a couple of days, doesn’t that convey exactly the same thing? That he’s strong enough – older than Trump – to have gotten something that used to really be fatal to people his age. So, if he does fine out of it and comes back and is able to do rallies, isn’t that exactly the same?,” Reid said.