A number of Republican lawmakers are calling on President Biden to immediately resign from the presidency, arguing that his decision to end his reelection campaign because he is unfit to campaign means he is also unfit to serve out the rest of his term.
Biden posted a statement on X announcing his decision to exit the race following a pressure campaign by Democratic lawmakers and pundits to get him to drop out in the wake of his disastrous presidential-debate performance last month. 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 it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe 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,” Biden said.
In a statement released moments later, Biden endorsed Harris to replace him.
“My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this,” Biden said in a separate post on X.
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.
National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Richard Hudson called the situation a “scandal of historic proportions.”
“Our president is incapacitated, Democrats knew, and they lied to the American people to cover it up,” he said in a statement. “Voters will neither forgive nor forget the ultimate betrayal of their trust. Judgement day is coming in November, when Americans will hand down Democrats’ ultimate punishment: Donald Trump in the White House and larger House Republican majority.”
Hudson said House Democrats will now be forced to answer whether Biden is fit to serve the rest of his term. “If he is mentally unfit to campaign, he is mentally unfit to have the nuclear codes,” he said.
House majority whip Tom Emmer made a similar argument: “If the Democrat party has deemed Joe Biden unfit to run for re-election, he’s certainly unfit to control our nuclear codes. Biden must step down from office immediately.”
Representative Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), the chair of the House GOP conference, argued Biden is “unable and unfit” to serve out his final six months in office and urged him to “immediately resign.”
Former president Donald Trump, meanwhile, celebrated Biden’s exit from the presidential race on Sunday, telling CNN that he believes Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden endorsed as his replacement, will be easier to defeat than Biden would have been.
“Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve – And never was!” Trump later added in a post on Truth Social. “He only attained the position of President by lies, Fake News, and not leaving his Basement. All those around him, including his Doctor and the Media, knew that he wasn’t capable of being President, and he wasn’t – And now, look what he’s done to our Country, with millions of people coming across our Border, totally unchecked and unvetted, many from prisons, mental institutions, and record numbers of terrorists.”
“We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” he said.
Biden had defended his mental acuity in recent weeks but 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.