It is “clear” that US President Joe Biden “has to” drop out of the upcoming election, according to US law lecturer Larry Donnelly.
Following a debate between Mr Biden and Republican nominee Donald Trump, there are concerns the current President is not fit to run again.
While he has vowed he is staying in the race, Mr Biden's shaky performance has sounded alarm bells that he may not be fit to square up against Mr Trump.
Irish-American law lecturer at the University of Galway Larry Donnelly said Mr Biden has not done enough to quell fears.
He noted Mr Biden’s comment that he did not rewatch the ill-fated debate was particularly concerning.
“That to me is extraordinary, when you screw up that badly, to not watch it back and say, okay, where did I go wrong,” he told The Anton Savage Show.
“If you don't watch that back and say, ‘How can I never ever repeat those mistakes again?’, that to me bespeaks a certain arrogance.”
Mr Donnelly said the “issues around capacity and age” will “continue to plague” Mr Biden – right up to the Presidential race in November.
“It's manifestly clear to me at this stage that he has to go,” he said.
Mr Biden is consistently “defensive” about his age – something previous presidents such as Ronald Reagan “diffused with humour”.
Let me say this as clearly as I can:
I’m the sitting President of the United States.
I’m the nominee of the Democratic party.
I’m staying in the race.— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 5, 2024
“I'm told by people who know the President that he has an obsession with proving his detractors wrong,” he said.
“While that might be even an admirable facet of somebody's persona in other contexts here, I think that stubbornness is going to be his undoing.
“He also said that God Almighty would be the only person who could talk him out of this race - I think that will be deeply disturbing to a lot of Democrats.”
Replacing Biden?
Mr Biden cannot drop out without a replacement, however – and Mr Donnelly said the options aren’t great.
“Kamala Harris would be the most expedient choice,” he said.
“However, she is not the most electable of those candidates who could go forward and replace Joe Biden.”
Vice-President Harris’ ties to immigration policy and the Black Lives Matter movement – both of which are “hugely unpopular” in the US, according to Mr Donnelly – will make her a difficult sell as President.
Mr Donnelly guessed the “chorus” against Mr Biden will get “louder and louder” until Mr Biden must step down.
He said the Democrats should have addressed this issue much sooner.
“The fact that this has been allowed to go on as long as it has is a profound shame for them and a real indictment of the inner workings of the Democratic National Committee,” he said.
The US Presidential election will take place on November 5th.
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