Biden made the announcement with in a post on his X account (see image above) Sunday – no gathering of the troops, no heads hung low as a line of staffers enter the room to address the White House press corps, no video. Just the written word in one-way communication.
Social media, the medium for the announcement, has also made it possible for many to understand the state of the president’s decline. For others, it took a debate with Trump to understand the gravity of the situation.
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"A lot of Republicans are, I think, wisely calling for Biden to simply resign – [and] I think that is the correct move. I'm going to predict that Biden will ultimately withdraw from the presidency because if Kamala Harris is the incumbent running … then it would be much stronger for her and a stronger position for the Democrats going against Donald Trump, a former president, for her to be the current sitting president." Jenna Ellis |
Now many Republicans are asking the obvious question: If Joe Biden can’t continue in the campaign, why can he continue as president until – at least – late next January? Biden reportedly plans to serve out the remainder of his term in office, which ends at noon Eastern Time on Jan. 20, 2025.
“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said on X.
Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York), Sen. Steve Daines (R-Montana) and others joined Johnson in calling for Biden’s immediate resignation.
Calls for proof of life
Some are calling for much more than that. Some are questioning Biden’s ability to craft the message that sent shockwaves across the country on a sleepy Sunday afternoon.
“Why was this not done on video? Where is Joe Biden? I think Americans deserve to have proof of life since at least by this statement that probably wasn’t written by Joe Biden or posted by Joe Biden, I’m wondering if he even knows about it,” Jenna Ellis, a former Trump attorney, said on American Family Radio Monday.
Biden tested positive for COVID last week while attending a campaign event in Las Vegas. He immediately returned to his Delaware home where he was said to be working while recovering. ABC News reported Saturday that Biden is improving “steadily.”
“This is all very weird, and the fact that we haven’t seen Joe Biden after he tested positive for COVID last week, and the fact that we haven’t seen him after this statement, I think it’s correct: Republicans calling for proof of life since he still, as far as we know, occupies the Oval Office,” Ellis said.
Ellis isn’t the only one calling for proof of life.
“Something smells. Why would President Biden announce such a momentous and historic decision on a Sunday afternoon on a social media platform?” Memphis-based radio host Todd Starnes asked.
Problems with the X post
Starnes highlighted what he sees as several problems that raise suspicion:
- The letter posted to X was not written on White House letterhead.
- Biden’s signature appears to have been edited, Starnes believes.
- The signature was underlined, which typically is not something Biden does.
- Staff only learned of Biden’s decision through the X post.
- Cabinet members were notified by Biden’s chief of staff, not Biden himself.
Biden himself has not been seen since he was assisted down the stairs of the president’s official airplane and was helped into the waiting limo last week.
“How do we know Biden wrote that letter, and how do we know that Biden posted the letter on his X page? There wasn’t even an official White House photograph of the moment,” Starnes said.
Comments from Frank Biden, Joe Biden’s youngest brother, add to the confusion, Starnes noted. Frank Biden said to both ABC News and CBS News that “in my humble opinion absolutely” health was a factor in the president’s decision to leave the race. “Selfishly, I will have him back to enjoy whatever time he has left,” Frank Biden told CBS.
Starnes reacted to that: “Is President Biden still alive? Is he awake and alert? Is he in command of his faculties? With respect, we need to see proof of life.”
Who's the real 'threat to democracy'?
Conservative activist Gary Bauer with Campaign for Working Families argues that Biden was forced to abandon his presidential campaign not because of the Democrats' concern for the country, but because party power brokers feared a defeat in the general election.
"I think the pressure was becoming unbearable for Biden," Bauer tells AFN. "Money had been cut off, big donors were refusing to give any more money until this was resolved, all the big power centers of the Democrat Party were leaning on him. I think it just became an impossible task in his weakened condition to continue to defy what he was being told to do."
The move seems to be a contraction for the party that describes Trump as a "threat to democracy." Bauer considers the party pressure on its own incumbent one of the most undemocratic things seen in modern American history.
"Millions of people voted for him in the primaries. There were no debates essentially during that contest. They even kicked people like Robert Kennedy, Jr. out of the party to avoid having to put him on the ballot," he points out.
"So, for the last several years we've been in the middle of a gigantic coverup to keep the American people from knowing how bad Biden's mental limitations were and his physical health.
"It's significant in my view that he has stepped down from the presidential race because they don't think he can beat Trump. But he hasn't stepped away from the presidency – which means that for the next five months, or whatever it ends up being, this is the most dangerous period in modern American history, given the nature of the world right now,” Bauer said.
