By Adewale Adewale
Biden, 81, ended his re-election campaign after fellow Democrats lost faith in his mental acuity and ability to beat Trump.
Abed Ayoub, executive director at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), says despite some domestic achievement, Biden’s will rank as “one of the worst” presidents in US history because of his unconditional support for Israel.
“He’ll be remembered for the hundreds of thousands killed, injured and displaced in Gaza,” Ayoub told Al Jazeera.
“There is no way around it. Genocide Joe is what he’s going to be remembered as.”
Biden has approved more than $14bn in additional aid to Israel to fund the country’s offensive in Gaza, which has killed nearly 39,000 people and destroyed large parts of the territory.
The US administration has also vetoed three ceasefire resolutions at the United Nations Security Council.
Shortly after the announcement, Biden’s main challenger and former President, Donald Trump said that “crooked Biden wasn’t fit to run” for president and that Vice President Kamala Harris will be “easier to defeat” in November’s election.
“All those around him, including his Doctor and the Media, knew that he wasn’t capable of being President, and he wasn’t,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network on Sunday.
“We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” he added.
In his first reaction to Biden’s announcement, Trump, in an interview with the CNN network, said he thinks Harris will be easier to defeat in the election.
Publicly, Trump campaign advisers and allies have been telling reporters they are not worried about facing Harris because they can simply tie her to Biden’s record in office, particularly on immigration and inflation.
They say they will try to portray Harris, and any of the other candidates being suggested as alternatives for the Democrats, as being to the left of Biden on various policies.
Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr, said on social media after Biden dropped out that Harris “owns the entire leftwing policy record of Joe Biden”.
“The only difference is that she is even more liberal and less competent than Joe, which is really saying something. She was put in charge of the border and we saw the worst invasion of illegals in our history!!!” he posted on X.
Some Republican Party leaders called for Biden to resign as US president.
“If Joe Biden can’t run for re-election, he is unable and unfit to serve as President of the United States. He must immediately resign,” Elise Stefanik, House Republican Conference chairperson, said in a statement.
Russia to ‘carefully monitor’ situation in US
We also have the first reaction from Moscow.
“The elections are still four months away, and that is a long period of time in which a lot can change,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“We need to be patient and carefully monitor what happens. The priority for us is the special military operation,” he added, referring to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Peskov noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had characterised Biden as a predictable candidate, who Russia would have preferred.
US entrepreneur Reid Hoffman has hailed Biden as “a leader who acts with the best interests of America in mind” after his decision to step aside.
“Not seeking re-election is one of the most selfless acts we’ve seen from a politician in modern American history,” the co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn said on X.
“This is what’s right for our country—and our democratic future.”
Donald Trump’s campaign team has lashed into Vice President Kamala Harris after Biden’s endorsement, saying she would be “even worse” than the outgoing leader.
“Harris will be even worse for the people of our nation than Joe Biden. Harris has been the Enabler in Chief for Crooked Joe this entire time. They own each other’s records, and there is no distance between the two,” the campaign said in a statement.
Barbara Perry, professor of presidential studies at the University of Virginia, says the US president’s decision to drop out of the race is “unbelievable”.
But she added that Democrats can still move on from their former presumptive nominee ahead of their convention in Chicago next month.
“Obviously, there will need to be banners changed and flags changed and settings changed and speeches changed. But there’s almost four weeks time to do that – quicker than I’m sure the organisers would like – but it’s not impossible,” Perry told Al Jazeera.
US based journalist, Kimberly Halkett reported that the former President Barack Obama has not endorsed Kamala.
“As we understand, the former president has not endorsed Kamala Harris.
“This is significant given that not only is he America’s first Black president having the opportunity to endorse potentially the first Black female president, should she be elected, but also Joe Biden was the vice president for Barack Obama for eight years.
“So this is a really a bit of a slap in the face – really a shocking statement, given the fact that history could have been made in this endorsement.
“Meanwhile, it’s been an open secret here in Washington that Barack Obama has been, behind the scenes, really leading the coordinated effort to get Biden to step aside.
“So this is another sort of increment, if you will, in what seems to be a carefully choreographed campaign by Barack Obama regarding what he sees as the future of the Democratic Party and where he wants it to go.
“The fact that there is no clear endorsement for Kamala Harris is newsworthy and significant, and it is certainly going to leave the political class in Washington chattering,” she wrote.
For weeks, the Biden campaign had insisted that the Democratic leader was staying in the race. But after his decision to stand down from re-election, the Democratic Party has been plunged into uncertainty, less than four months ahead of the November election.
Jennifer N Victor, professor of political science at George Mason University in the US, told Al Jazeera that Trump’s modus operandi in politics “has always been to insult his political opponents”.
“I don’t take Trump as the historian in Joe Biden’s presidency,” she said.
Newsletter
We are not gonna make spamming
BACK TO TOP
