Joe Biden ends re-election campaign

People. We, the French, pulled a left-wing coalition out of our asses in less than a week and managed to "win" an election. You have months. Hope is permitted.

I don't understand you people in this thread.
Ever since the debate, people have been calling for Joe Biden to step down from the presidential race and give the place to someone else.
Now I read the comments and everyone is criticizing and accusing the Democrats of not knowing what they're doing? Are you for real? They're doing EXACTLY what people have been asking for. They're doing EXACTLY what needs to be done if they want to win.
Fucking hell you guys, make up your fucking mind.
Sincerely,
A Canadian with severe anxiety over your next presidential election.
- Well, to be fair, he should have stepped down a year ago, or at least 3 months ago. I vaguely remember him saying he was going to be a 1 term candidate in 2020.
  Anyway, I respect Biden. I honestly think he was a better president than Obama, Bush, Trump and Clinton. Perhaps the best since Carter or JFK.
  
  I vaguely remember him saying he was going to be a 1 term candidate in 2020.
  You're correct, he did. Everyone forgot that for some reason. Note that this article is from 2019:
  https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/11/biden-single-term-082129
  
  I vaguely remember him saying he was going to be a 1 term candidate in 2020.
  He specifically denied that when asked. To be fair he did say he was a "bridge to a new generation" or something, that's where I think a lot of people are getting this one term commitment thing from.
  https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/joe-biden-denies-mulling-term-pledge-elected-president/story?id=67662497
  
  All the sane countries can do their elections in less than a year, possibly because the stagecoach is no longer the best transportation or communication option. If you guys didn't run it like American Fucking Idol, maybe it wouldn't be this difficult.
  Now I'll go sit in the corner and hope for the best for you guys while waiting to see if my country shits the bed in a year.
  
  Biden definitely learned something from watching the Republicans screw Obama again and again.
  
  I agree.
  
  I'm pretty sure he said he wasn't going to run for a 2nd term on the Smartless podcast
  
  Better president than Obama????? Nah... I miss those days. You just... like.... lived your life. Not worried about the president. He just did things. Improvement of the economy was slow, but there were regulations put in place to prevent the recession from happening again that slowed the growth. I am OK with that. Trump immediately repealed them and Biden never attempted to reinstate anything. So it will happen again.
- Those are not necessarily the same people.
  But there is no good option here. The good option would have been to run a good candidate over a year ago. That time has obviously long since passed.
  
  The US "election cycle" is insane. You don't need to be running a candidate over a year before the election. 3 months is more than enough time to tell people who your candidate is and what they are running on, and you have more than 3 months.
  Yes, it would have been better to announce earlier, but jesus christ he is too fucking old for this shit. Stepping back now is still better than pushing through.
  
  The good option would have been to run a good candidate over a year ago.
  "Eight years ago" is indeed "over a year ago."
  dead horse pummeling sounds
- Many of the people involved in such agitation are not arguing in good faith. They simply want to attack the 'libs' at every opportunity, and reality be damned.
- This was an astroturfing campaign covering our media and also via bots on social media.
  I watched the debate and while he was slower, and mixed up words he actually was aware of US goals and challenges (despite what media tried to imply), trump was more energetic but he was constantly spewing nonsense, and while part of it was lying as usual, part of it was clear that he was actually getting lost.
  I even wrote that in certain that if Biden steps down the same bots will start campaign how Democrats were cheated to discourage them from voting (like it was worth Bernie).
  I'm definitively voting for Kamala now no matter what ridiculous bullshit they will come up on her on September-October (you can be sure there will be some scandal that will turnout to be nothing burger after election). I got fooled (like a lot of people) in 2016 to vote 3rd party and we got trump.
  Republicans are actually a minority they can only win if they discourage enough people from voting. That's why they are against laws that that make voting easier.
  I actually was hoping Biden would run as he has great experience with foreign leaders as well as very successful reaching compromises and passing bills that otherwise wouldn't fly.
  As I say though I will 100% vote for Kamala (or whomever will be the democratic candidate), definitively not the fascist party and in fact anyone on Democrats side looks good.
  
  I got fooled (like a lot of people) in 2016 to vote 3rd party and we got trump.
  So rare to see someone actually say these words outside of pointing the finger at others. Kudos.
  
  Biden was definitely good.
  It's a shame he had to compromise though. But it got things pushed through, like you said.
  He's just too old. Democrats need fresh blood.
  Also, I wonder if that COVID ain't kicking his ass right now. Being so old, it's possible he won't even survive. Who knows.
- One thing I appreciate about Canadian elections is how quickly they happen. An election is called, campaigning is like a month or two and then we find out the new government just hours after casting our votes.
  
  You're a non-global superpower with a total population smaller than California, 90% of which lives 100 miles or less from the US border. It would be bizarre if your elections were as complicated as the United States.
- I’m excited AF… maybe the people you’re reading are republican plants that are just trying to make it feel like chaos.
  The fact that this happened the weekend after the RNC makes me feel it was very well planned.
- Not speaking for the rest of the thread, but...
  Biden should have said he wasn't up for reelección since day 1
  The Democratic Party hasn't known what to do since the 2016 election... at least.
  
  I haven’t known what to do since the 2016 election. The “Fuck your feelings” bunch are clearly in their feels and ignoring documented events in what most of us call “reality “.
  
  The Democratic Party hasn’t known what to do since the 2016 election…at least
  The Democrats have won nationally in 2018, 2020, arguably 2022, and like 85% of special elections since 2016. What the fuck are you talking about? They’ve been basically non-stop winning elections since 2016.
  
  Biden was perfectly fine and IMO and him and his team do an excellent job at governing l, both domestically as well as with foreign policy (this looks like it was mostly him). He just let go of the pressure.
  I would vote for him (not just against trump, but I genuinely think he was good at his job), but will vote for whomever will be the replacement (because I don't want trump to win).
  
  Agree.
- It's been chaos in the comments for a while now this is just catharsis for a lot of people and reaffirming for some of the naysayers.
  You are gonna see a lot of takes from a lot of terminally online types.
  Now just comes the actual work and it's gonna look chaotic for a while. I hope we get it together.
- Lemmy posters are not a monolith.
  
  I am.
- You're seeing the people who either didn't agree he should step down or agreed but didn't think they'd actually do it.
  
  IMO what is happening are disinformation bots trying to discourage people from voting.
  It was first that you should stay home and not vote, because Democrats put an "old geezer who is not aware what is happening around him", now the same bots will be saying how Democrats were cheated by deciding their candidate without input of the voters, trying to replicate the upset that was over Bernie in 2016.
  IMO I think Biden was excellent at governing, and no one will be as good as him when taking with foreign leaders, as he knew them all and had a good relation with them.
  Having said that I will be voting for whomever Democrats put up (Kamala or anyone). I already got fooled to vote 3rd party in 2016 and won't make the same mistake.
- Ever since the debate, people have been calling for Joe Biden to step down
  Yes, some.
  Now I read the comments and everyone is criticizing and accusing the Democrats of not knowing what they’re doing
  Yes, others.
  Different people speak up on different days. This is especially true in social media where often people won't speak up if they know they're going to get jumped on.
- Ever since the debate, people have been calling for Joe Biden to step down from the presidential race and give the place to someone else. ... Now I read the comments and everyone is criticizing and accusing the Democrats of not knowing what they're doing?
  Lol, you thought those people were arguing in good faith.
  
  It's actually surreal to see more people with sane takes on Lemmy than Reddit, but here we are lol. Good on ya everybody
  
  you thought those people were arguing in good faith
  'are'
- I mean many here openly support Putin too, what can you do
- They're not the same people.
- The fact the the DNC didn't have a contingency plan while running the oldest candidate ever is just insane.
  The DNC has been fumbling for years and years now. Anyone else remember 2016?
- All of this should have been done a couple years ago for presidential hopefuls to gather resources and prepare for the elections. The assumption that Biden was seeking a second term stalled a lot of minor steps needed to build a campaign. Biden stepping down a month before the DNC is gonna be a shit show. Who's gonna run for becoming a candidate? How are they gonna fundraise quickly enough to get the word out? This is a clusterfuck of poorly timed decisions and I only hope the new candidate can gather enough support to win the presidential election. Given the Democratic party's penchant of favoring people from their inner circle, I doubt they'll be well received by the general public to begin with.
  
  Non-issue. Kamala Harris is the heir apparent.
  
  Kamala can have access to Biden's fundraising, and now all the GOP talking points are mute. I think it's actually quite effective if they run Kamala. Also, she will eviscerate Trump in a debate, unlike Biden.
  
  True.
  You know who would've been a good candidate in my opinion?
  Pete Buttigieg.
- Personally the best news I've heard in a while. I think there is a little bit of a knee jerk reaction happening because a lot is on the line and people are scared because it's such an unknown right now. When things settle more and the smoke clears I think everything will be more positive.
- I personally just said last week that I believed only Biden was capable of beating Trump, so I’m feeling pretty sick right now. God, I hope I’m wrong.
  We haaaaaavvvvvve to see this example and set a damn age limit for people to hold such high positions in our country. Old dude may have very well just sent us down an irreversible and utterly destructive path by seeking the office in the first place.
  I know Bernie Sanders is old too, but damn I wish he had won the nomination. We wouldn’t be in this crisis right now. Still though, it’s a gamble electing people who are already waist deep in their grave.
  Man
  What a strange and historic month this has been. We’re all living in a very big moment in history right now, just, all the way around.
  
  I remember talking, to my liberal, Hispanic friend prior to the 2016 election. It was just before the primary and she was complaining that she didn't really like Hilary, but she was straight up afraid of Trump. I said "what about Bernie" and she said, "Isn't he too old?" I lost touch with her after that, and I have no idea how she ended up voting.
  
  I agree. Age limit for senators, state representatives, presidents and supreme court members.
- I think part of the reason it feels like "wtf are you doing?!?" is because we were really saying "Joe needs to step the fuck up or step aside" and then in the last week he's thrown some absolute hard hits at Trump making it look like "holy shit, we got old Joe back!". Then suddenly after appearing to wake up, he goes "nah, I'm good.".
  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he's stepping aside. But it's been a bit of a rollercoaster and not a very consistent message. They kept telling us to shut up and follow Biden and anyone who doesn't is supporting facism and then suddenly, "nah, not Biden, it's cool"? You can't pump a rhetoric machine up and then expect the brakes to stop it instantly.
  
  In Biden's defence he has Covid and that probably is really making him feel his age right about now.
  
  COVID probably ain't doing him any good, honestly.
  
  Seriously, I was seeing banger ads I hadn't seen from him before as recently as last night
- Americans aren't a monolith.
- It's just an anecdote, but I've experienced a lot of people saying "I'd vote for a dead dog over Trump", who for some reason still wouldn't back a democrat that didn't look like and sound like a mummy.
- Yes some of us been paying attention to who is backing him and who wasn't. Some of us had noticed that all the leftists in the party were still behind Joe Biden while all the neoliberals weren't. Some of us have noticed that the president who has protected worker rights and expanded consumer protection and wants to tax the wealthy is getting pushed out by the corporate Democrats.
  
  None of those things matter if he can't campaign effectively to beat his opponent.
  
  Lol. Yeah, leftists have famously supported Genocide Joe unconditionally. /s
  
  I think he's just really sick with COVID and maybe thinks he doesn't stand a chance of recovering so he's stepping down in anticipation of him maybe passing away.
- It's not people wanting a fair process. It's maga. They want a king.
- people have been calling for Joe Biden to step down
  everyone is criticizing and accusing the Democrats of not knowing what they’re doing
  You say 'people' and 'everyone' where you may really mean to say 'republicans' and 'russians'.
  
  I'm sure Dems too, it's roughly half the country. Certainly a big part of them wanted him out.
  
  No. I meant the first posters in this thread.
- I don't think it's the same people wanting him to drop out vs sad that he did drop out. Or they did want him to drop out because he's aging but they are sad that he did because he was a good president.
- Not everyone is posting in good faith. Some are shit stirrers. Some may be paid trolls.
  Also, the people who were saying he should step down might not be the same people today saying it's a bad idea.
- Lemmy, as opposed to reddit, has seemed to be very much on the Keep Biden train for some reason.
  I for one will be happy with any candidate that can do two to three campaign appearances per day for the next four months and doesn't have the Genocide Joe baggage. Everything else is gravy.
  
  Yeah I don't think any other candidate will stop supporting Israel, unfortunately. That's just US policy.
  
  Lemmy is full of wealth social liberals who would rather be conservative if it wasn't for the fascism. So they think things should just stay the same as long as possible for them to feel comfortable in their life. But argue they are progressive cause they have trans friends.
  I'm pretty happy with this change and have been rallying for it for 4 years.
- The comments you saw aren't by the same people or are they?
- There's multiple people on here with multiple opinions, and those opinions are subject to change as new information arises.
- They’re doing EXACTLY what needs to be done if they want to win.
  How would this help them win exactly? I'm not really well tuned with politics
  
  It was becoming more and more apparent that Biden didn't stand a chance of winning, so staying in would've just handed the presidency to Trump. Now that he's dropped out, the Democratic party can at least do something.
  
  Getting someone who's more energetic and can run circles around Trump and his big mouth. Who's got the energy to call his bullshit.
  Someone who's not fucking geriatric.
- I think you're remembering it wrong and comparing different groups of people.
- Holy shit you think you're anxious? Some of us are stuck living here. It's not actually that easy to emigrate to Canada (bet you guys did that for a reason...).
  
  Yeah. We did.
  And I'm sorry. (Not trying to be Canadian polite here. I'm truly sympathizing with you.)
- I don’t understand you people in this thread.
  Goes to show how many of these people were disingenuous and never actually wanted the party to win regardless. Some of those people operate on the far right. Some of them were just Trumpers in disguise, foreign operators, bots, etc. It's a lot of bullshit. I'm looking forward to supporting Kamala though.
- I'm ecstatic of Biden dropping. It's no longer a sure loss for the D's...there's a glimmer of hope for us after all.
- I think people are angry about the timing. It feels like too little, too late. If he had made the decision at the beginning of the year, then sure. But now it’ll be rushed, and people won’t be able to agree on a single candidate. And people are worried that, due to the resulting lack of agreement, a split vote will hand the win to Trump.
  
  I think it is a great time to try to take the news cycle away from Trump. Now just keep dropping big news.
  
  Harris has already announced her candidacy. It will be difficult for anyone else to seriously challenge. Especially if/when Biden endorses her.
  
  Everybody not voting for Trump WILL have to vote for wherever the Democrats pick.
  What choice is there if we don't want Trump to be elected?
- Yeah, I actually feel good about these news. I don't get all the criticism.
- The internet isn’t a place to draw an understanding of politics. The internet isn’t even a place to draw an understanding of the internet.
- They're doomers
- I didn't say any of that. With only four months until the election, I think this is kind of dumb.
  
  It absolutely blows my (Canadian) mind that four months is considered 'short' for a campaign.
  
  Boooooo I support this move!
  
  No. It's all effort to do the right thing. Better late than never.
  
  Dumb to not let Trump win? Cause that is what was going to happen if he stayed in.
- Lemmy isn't a monolith, including the ones in this thread. I've seen as many people calling for him to drop out as those saying he should say. End of the day, none of us have anything valuable to say you should be relying on for insight.
- I am cautiously hopeful for harris. I 100% thi k she can win.
- There's going to be people pushing on both sides pushing either way, some with honest intentions/beliefs, some just bots/bad actors trying to amp up the chaos. It's impossible to tell how this plays out at the point though, but it does have the potential to be a really good thing for the Democratic campaign. Unfortunately, Democrats have a way of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, so I'm not overly optimistic of our chances. I hope they get somebody smart, younger, and charismatic who just completely blows the Right out of the water this election and completely changes the trajectory of this country... but I'm not going to hold my breath. I'll vote for whomever is not Trump, to try to prevent the takeover of literal fascists.
- I think this is a side effect of sharing and discussion these events online, especially in a link aggregator like Lemmy. You can you see inconsistent views presented in multiple threads yet they feel as if you’re interacting with the same group of people.
  Some people are happy about this turn of events while others are not. I expect that you’re seeing differing major opinions from separate groups of people.
- people have been calling for Joe Biden to step down from the presidential race
  Pretty sure that was a DNC campaign to coup biden. Sure people had opinions both ways but what you are talking about was a psyop to turn public opinion.
  Across all socials and teevee, it was laddered and in sync.
- People are scared. Most of the ones calling for Biden to drop out were just parroting popular opinion, with the rest uncertain where him actually dropping will take us. I think your feelings are valid here, though to give people some credit: At least we made the right choice. Immediately after the debate I wasn't sure if Joe dropping out was a good idea. After the Miss Heard Around the World I strongly felt he had no choice.
  Time for Part whatever on this several part series, I guess. BOOTSTRAPS IT IS.
- WOW IT'S ALMOST AS IF ANY LARGE GROUPING OF PEOPLE WILL HAVE MEMBERS THAT DON'T COMPLETELY ALIGN WITH ALL THE GROUP'S VALUES AND GOALS!
- I just worry about who they select as replacement…. Unfortunately Kamala doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell since she’s a non-white female, one of those features is maybe surmountable but both eliminates so many so called “centrists” from casting a blue vote to do their misogyny and bigotry.
  If the democrats nominate Kamala it’s just handing Trump the win since so many of my countrymen are racist or misogynistic
  
  You know constantly bring up that Kamala is black and therefore can't win makes you sound as racist as the racists?
- It's because progressives were tripping over themselves to agree with AOC yesterday. Now that it's been shown how out of touch she is, they are backpedaling to argue Biden should not have dropped out.
- https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/johnson-replacing-biden-ticket-wrong-unlawful/story?id=112129063
  Because it will be contested.
  
  Just like everything else? They also contested the 2020 election but that doesn't mean they actually had the truth or law on their side. I don't know why you're giving any weight to what Mike Johnson says.
  
  The Democratic candidate is chosen at the convention, which hasn't happened yet. What would a legal contest even be based on?
  
  from the article
  Election law expert Richard Hasen wrote that there is "no credence" to the notion that the Democratic Party could not legally replace Biden on the ticket, as he is not the nominee yet -- the nominating process generally takes place during the Democratic National Convention.
  
  Booooo

I'll say just one thing:
Every single one of you assholes who wouldn't shut up about him stepping down since the dude missed the toilet bowl fifty years ago after a particularly wild night out better sure as fuck step up now that Old Joe has stepped down.
A sitting god damned President of the United States has stepped aside less than half a year before reelection. Make no mistake: The man swallowed his pride and ego HARD to make this decision. Let's honor that by creating a wall of votes so god. damned. thick. Riley Reid would gasp.

I know people will say this is bad, a new campaign will be rushed, etc. But I think we all know Biden was an excuse for many not to vote, or worse, to vote for Trump. Withdrawing will be his legacy when we win, not his failing.
Thank you President Biden. You are a hero.
- Biden absolutely did the right thing and, perhaps, the most courageous thing.
  Democrats would have coalesced around him if decided to keep going but we've been begging him to step aside. This is a key difference between Trump "fans" and Biden voters. We're not drawn to him as a personality.
  Once a candidate is selected, I don't care who it is, we must support them because not doing so is voting for an end to democracy.
  The fact that we're here is a travesty.
- People have done more with less campaign time and he will go down as having listened and done what was requested of the people and party I honestly think this says a lot of good stuff about the democratic party and Biden once we get the spin right.
  
  It won't be hard. Kamala is going to be able to put a bullseye on Trump and republican politics like Biden simply wasn't ever able to do. She's going to be able to hyper focus on the deeply unpopular beliefs of the base and it will be hard for Trump or others to really deny it without losing their core supporters.
  Further, because she's relatively unknown there's really not the same baggage as there was with Hillary. Most people don't know who she is and I think that really plays to her favor.
  
  If we win in November, it'll be because Biden made this selfless decision. He'll deserve medals and statues.
- It'll be great to have a woman talking about abortion and making this election a referendum on national abortion access.
  Americans love to vote for something rather than against something.
- Nobody who would consider voting for Trump is going to vote for whoever replaces Biden. Nobody. This is about getting apathetic voters off their butt. Which I hope works, but every part of my being is telling me they're going to pick someone who apathetic voters wouldn't vote for anyway.
  
  Kamala 🙄
- I'm so thankful I live in a country where 4 months is (still) believed to be a ridiculously long amount of time to campaign.
  Good luck America! Please show the rest of the world you're still capable of making sane choices.
- Except for the bank of those who are just Russian agents who will undoubtedly find some new “excuse” why the Democrat candidate is not fit to run.
  
  Expect lots of "cop" comments in regards to Harris from ~~Russians~~ totally real leftists.
  
  Fwiw, I am harshly critical of most elected dems but I have never considered not voting. I think I and many people hold our allies (for lack of better term) to higher standards and get angrier when they fuck up. So I think a lot of these posts are just that. Harsh criticism of a candidate =/= not voting for them. People are strategic about voting pragmatically, they’re just also very frustrated with the dem establishment’s behavior.
- Giving up power is way more respectable than trying to hold onto power. Something Biden's opponent, now Harris's opponent isn't good at.
  There's a lot of people that are old and don't follow politics all that closely. Biden's story of having to accept that he's gotten too old to do the things he wants to do is a story they can relate to. The guy they can relate to most is endorsing Harris. It's not like he's gone. He can still make speeches about how the GOP wants to cut Social Security and his friend Kamala won't do that.
- But, when democrats lose due to this move.... ????
  I would have preferred him to stay on course. While I don't care what sex they are or color or whatever, a fuckload of garbage twats in this country sure as fuck do. Biden was also likeable in public appearances. I have fuck all idea what Harris is like, and 5y of time vs like 4 months to win public opinion, oof it will be an absolute blitz. And I consider myself rather knowledgeable and up-to-date on US politics. I have friends that have no idea what's going on at any given time, or why.
  I need to research her now and become familiar, but I see this as a big negative for chances, not positive. Anxiety spiked hard about what's to come.
  Anyone in Canada looking for a roommate..?
  
  While I don't care what sex they are or color or whatever, a fuckload of garbage twats in this country sure as fuck do
  This is my least favorite argument I keep seeing for why Biden shouldn't drop out. The racist shit-heels you're referring to were always going to vote for Trump regardless of who the Democratic candidate is. There is no reason for Democrats to try and appeal to racists, and even if there were it would be immoral to do so. Sacrificing your values to win is no true victory.
  You're losing your nerve, and while that's understandable, it's self-sabotage.
  
  If*

The biggest hot-topic issue this election should have been abortion (and by extension, SCOTUS). But the discussion got side-tracked by all this talk of old age. The debate just reinforced the narrative and concern with Biden. They would have hammered him over and over, with Trump bragging about how quickly he recovered from an injury.
Now, we have:
A sittingVP with actual Whitehouse experience, who can take credit for all the economic policies under Biden. Also, a former Senator.
A prosecutor and former Attorney General vs a convicted felon.
The age issue disappears (in fact, it now becomes a liability against Trump).
A woman vs the guy who bragged about killing Roe v. Wade.
Future of SCOTUS.
If she just keeps talking about those topics non-stop, she'll do fine.
The only thing better would have been if Biden had resigned to let people see her in the actual role, but this works. She picks a mid-westerner as VP who can stand up to Vance and it's a whole new ballgame.
I'm actually stoked about this race again.

Well guys... Have you seen Trump's mental decline since he last ran?! How old is he now?
Surely nobody would be dumb enough to vote someone that old into office now... That is... What we have been saying? Right guys?

That’s why I’m never gonna cancel my USA subscription. Your shows always have a crazy twist right before the season finale.
Jokes aside: Not a single person who even considers voting for Trump is worth any hassle. Their vote is a coin flip on fucking acid. The dems should try to animate the lazy nonvoting pricks.

For all of y'all anxiety-pilled people: this is great news. Biden was stuck in negative momentum because his health issues had been exposed and were not going to stop resulting in terrible headlines, which is a problem whoever comes next is not going to have, unless the delegates are somehow stupid enough to pull another dinosaur from below the rug.
More interestingly: now that Biden has pulled out because he's patently too old, as it was a concern for plenty of voters, this is a golden opportunity to put the focus on the other candidate whose age is a somewhat less obvious but still noticeable issue.

Jesus, I hope they can piece a campaign together in the few remaining months
- It would be an awful lot easier than trying to salvage Biden’s image as it stands. If they do it right this should be super easy, but if they drag their heels on the changes necessary then it might be a lot harder.
  This is BIG opportunity to rebrand and show what really matters to the party.
  
  This is the perfect opportunity to do that! But I have absolutely zero faith in them actually doing that.
  But maybe I’ve become jaded in my age with politics. Maybe they won’t just choose the worst possible option.
  
  But this is the DNC...
  
  Was Bidens image really that bad outside of these internet circles?
  
  Yeah it was going to be impossible to properly move forward from this. There would be too much media coverage and division and lingering questions.
  Now though, we have a real opportunity to unify, and make several arguments to voters -- Democrats listened and picked a younger candidate. We can also flip the script on candidate age now
  
  Have you met the DNC?
- If, and that’s a big if, they choose to field a moderately likeable replacement, there’s a chance they can actually re-energize the campaign and voters and get a big boost with a fresh face. That’s a big if though.
  
  They'll probably pick Clinton to run again and she'll still probably be making references to Pokémon Go to pull in the youth vote.
- Yes they can. This is the right choice. Democrats will be more energized than ever now. Hopeful they keep it open to the delegates to vote at the convention after a few people step forward.
- Other countries have whole campaign seasons that are shorter. We’ve just gotten used to multi-year campaigns and never-ending reelection efforts. It wasn’t always like this, and I don’t think it’s good for us long-term.
- Other countries have pulled out elections in two weeks. The us may not have that experience though. The campaign however had been directed at his opponent's well known incompetence and malice. That may be the advantage of divisive politics.
- They have the media bomb of "no incumbent" leading the headlines. This is one of the only media maneuvers that would change the conversation from "That Trump overcame assassination and adversity!" At this point a major shift was needed.
  The year and a half back log of memes against Biden that right wing contractors have saved up are now worthless. The right will have 3 months to make a cohesive media smear campaign (which they can do against the right candidate) but it will require lots of downtime as the high paid think tanks make astroturf.
  
  The fact that Republican troll farms have to now spend time coming up with new material puts a small smile on my face.
  They will move swiftly though, while the Democrats are used to being sluggish, so vigilance is in order.
- Plenty of other countries' electoral campaigns advance far faster than Americans expect theirs to move, and US media is talking about politics all the damn time. If the Dems don't do a massive screw up somehow, I think they'll find out that switching the candidate will be far easier than they were expecting.
  
  I'm afraid that cancer may have already metastasized.
- Biden was going to lose to Trump and was dragging other Democrats down with him in the polls. What more did you need?
  
  I don’t see it that way at all. This seems like a great way to increase their votes. It’s not like they are going to lose voters who were going to vote Biden to begin with.
  
  They've 100% thought through this. Harris takes over the Biden / Harris campaign war chest, and if Biden drops out now, the party can go into the align around Harris before the convention. And now we have 3+ months to get people hyped about not voting for an old white dude.
- Lol... From a foreigner this is hilarious. Some of you still want to support the guy that tried disrupt the governmental process... He called the frigging election investigator FFS. You can listen to him tell her how 'her job is the most important in The country rn.. and talk at length about how fraud will be found.
  People that want trump want a king. Plain and simple.
- That cuts both ways. The GOP also has to pivot from "Biden is too old!" to "Trump is NOT too old" in the few remaining months.
- Boooo the campaign will be better than what they had in store for biden.
- Djjdjjdjxdd
- It's the same campaign, still has half the ticket on it.
- Mike Johnson has literally already made it clear that in these circumstances he intends to CONTEST the new candidate being allowed on ballots.
  We live in the fucking stupidest ass timeline.
  The time for dropping Biden was before the fucking primaries and now we're walking right the fuck into a Republican trap.
  Fuck me, someone just kill me now so Trump can't institutionally fucking murder me.
  Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/johnson-replacing-biden-ticket-wrong-unlawful/story?id=112129063
  Democrats are fuckin morons who want to lose.
  
  Mike Johnson is (as usual) full of shit. The DNC is still a month away and not a single state ballot deadline has passed.
  
  .
  
  No one can "make biden run". If he died tomorrow we are suppose to vote for a literal corpse? Boooo
  
  Biden isn't even the nominee yet that's one of the reasons it was important this happened before the DNC. Before the nomination this is no official presidential candidate, ol' Mikey Poo-Bear is yaking out of his ass. Mike even said "some legal impediments in at least a few of these jurisdictions", he's just posturing for attention. No more threatening than a bantam rooster when you walk in his coup.
  
  Johnson is just threatening. He has no power over nominees.
  
  from the article
  Election law expert Richard Hasen wrote that there is "no credence" to the notion that the Democratic Party could not legally replace Biden on the ticket, as he is not the nominee yet -- the nominating process generally takes place during the Democratic National Convention.

Oh boy, I can't wait for armchair pundits who were calling for Joe to step down to now turn around and start to nitpick Harris as if that wasn't going to be the obvious successor.
I'm 100% behind Harris or anyone who gets the Dem nom. Trump must be stopped.
This is still a battle for America's soul. Are we going to accept the first female president or the first convicted felon president? I sure hope the left turns out for this one, even if they aren't super stoked about it, because we might never recover from another Trump disaster.

This decision really raises my opinion of Biden so much. God damn do I love that man, he is truly a great person who dedicated his life to serve his country, literally. He honestly had a great term given the circumstances, and the only thing he probably should have done differently is to not run for reelection to begin with. But he seemed to genuinely believe he could win and stave off Trump. Now that that seemed impossible, he makes a very courageous decision that a lot of people probably wouldn't have made and puts the country ahead of his ego. Lots of respect from me, and I hope this reinvigorates the democratic base and makes the future brighter for all of us.

FINALLY...
Bad for the orange one, because the other side will get the whole media attention now.
- We can hope. If the media attention is "Democrats are in shambles 3 months before the election" it might not go so well. And Trump will definitely be making a lot of noise about that.
  
  I feel like the Democrats appeared more in shambles with him refusing to drop out. The party was all over the place on their support for him and he was just being a stubborn old man. Now they'll hopefully all be able to come together and rally behind a single candidate.
  
  I hope the Dems will quickly rally behind a new candidate and show more of the bad side of rump in the political debate, not just Bidens age. I think this is a huge chance
- Biggest news this month

I hope the Dems know what they're doing.
- Morgan Freeman: "They do not"
- Biden wasn't doing what needed to be done to come back from the debate. This wasn't a move out of desperation. It was out of necessity.
  I hope they have a plan too.
  
  He's 81 and has COVID
- Make the democrats mistakes less existential by introducing competition into the electoral process with Ranked Choice voting.
  More political parties, more chances to beat trump, more people voting.
- Nobody knows what they're doing. This is all unprecedented stuff.
- They do. They're doing what the people asked.
- Realistically.. from a foreigner . They shouldn't ...really... Have to...
  Anybody that votes for trump wants a king. Plain and simple.
  Provided America has a functional education system, the Dems should easily be able to coast against someone that actively tried to retain power in the ways that he did. You can listen to the cals yaknow.

I respect the decision and it means he goes out on top. It must have been a difficult decision, but he was one of the better presidents (I see an historian pol ranking him 14th best) and I believe history will remember him even better. I wish Joe Biden all the best in retirement.
Now comes the hard part. How do we avoid him having to say “I told you so”? How do we avoid repeating the disaster of the worst ranked President in history?

This whole Biden stepping down vs Trump saga is a metaphor for the American baby boomer generation's approaches to their own reckoning of their old age and their reluctance to pass down the torch to another generation.

My money is still on Harris to be the final candidate. Get ready.
- I am all for a women president, but Harris is just a Hilary repeat ... Please dont.
  AOC would be amazing but I know shes "too progressive"for the boomers... What ever the fuck that means
  
  Why is she Hillary repeat?
  
  I do not like Hillary and I do not like Harris. I don't however agree with harris being a Hilary repeat, I think she has a way better shot than Biden did
  
  Have you actually listened to her on the issues or do you just know what the media has been spouting? I was surprised to hear her very articulate and reasonable stances from her directly rather than through a progressive media filter. There's a mismatch.
  
  I like AOC's passion but a lot of people believe she's too progressive. She's young and can probably be more beneficial to her constituents and the party where she is for a few more years.
  Harris should have a good shot, just for name recognition, her stance on abortion, and being part of the incumbent administration. Maybe she's a more likable candidate then she was four years ago. The Democrats will have to give her a chance.
  
  Too progressive = union busting?
  
  Progressives aren't going to get a candidate we like this year. And you know what, that's ok. I wasn't going to vote for Genocide Joe, but I'll do everything in my power to put in office Harris, Newsom, Whitmer, or whoever else milquetoast neolib gets the establishment nod, if only to prevent Trump from taking office.
  
  AOC is legally too young to run still.
- Having the first US woman president would be cool and have a ~~first~~ woman vice-president as well, why not?
  E: Whoops, you already had a first vp, Sorry, Americans.
  
  yeah it would be cool but we're talking about the American voter
  
  Haven't you just had the first woman vice-president?
  
  Running a woman for president is risky because of boomers, but the majority of them are voting Trump anyway. Running two women on the ticket I think would be a mistake. There are a lot of progressives that are still misogynist. As much as I'd love to see Harris/AOC I think they need to pick a man for VP.
- They kind have to... IMO... You know, the whole DEI thing.
- She’ll get absolutely demoed by Trump. I can’t wait for Dems to have to vote for a racist cop though, peak irony.
  
  One of the things Harris really has going for her is the fact that she would absolutely demolish Trump in a debate. She would not let him off the hook for his lies and would be able to counter his BS with reality.
  Which is why Trump will never agree to debate her.
  If Harris does become first name on the ticket, they better put Jesus Himself Christ as her running mate.
  
  Anyone will get demoed (?) by drumpf and the GOP.
  They'll probably claim whoever gets the nomination wasn't born in the US, is part of a satanic paedophilic cabal, etc etc etc.
  So that bit doesn't matter. Get someone who ideally inspires the swing states and hesitant voters.
  Then there'll be a violent uprising with the support of the supreme court, but again there's nothing you can do to prevent that now.

Now that Biden doesn't care about reelection, what kind of "Official acts" might he do?

Well, the Trump team has been panicking in anticipation of this happening. They have already started launching law suits trying to stop it. The biggest scare they had was Biden's age and that may have just vaporised?

I'm not gonna pretend that I love Harris, but this does make me energized enough to try and convince others to vote for her.
I think the hard part is going to be getting Trump to agree to debate her, but she should be able to kick his ass and hit him hard on the issues that matter for this election, as opposed to doddling on a stage arguing about golf.

Fuck.
- It's really a good move. At this point any person under 70 could mop the floor with trump, he's still the worst possible candidate from any position, and the GOP has had zero time to poison whoever gets the nomination.
  
  Yup. Kamala is also not a bad pick because republicans are almost certainly going to start with racism/sexism as their first attacks "Oh, she's DEI". Given trump has been trying to court the black/Latino vote, this will play against him.
  Further, Kamala will be able to excellently push him on abortion. Biden really sucked at advocating for women's rights even though that's been a winner pretty much every time it's been the focus of a campaign (there's a reason Rs have backed away from mentioning it).
  It'll still be close and there's still a lot of unknowns. However, I for one think this is the right move.
  
  And now we apply the same logic to Trumps mental decline and very old age!!
  Right ..?? Right!?
- Yeah, fuck. I just lost $60 on a bet over this
  
  $60 well lost for a better candidate.
  
  Better then losing your country.
- FUCK YES!!! Finally the stubborn old man did what we knew he needed to do all along.
- Biden had zero, and I mean ZERO chance of winning. This was the only real choice.
  
  He definitely didn't have zero chance, nobody knows what his chances would have been. This is all uncharted waters.
- yeah!
- Fuck yes you mean! I'm joking, I can see how this is scary and it is risky to an extent( although way less than Biden staying in imo). Here is what I would consider about this though as a positive:
  I think this will at least partially reinvigorate the voting population
  I don't know this of course but personally I haven't been excited about pretty much anything happening in politics in a while. I am actually excited and they haven't even picked a new nominee yet. Harris would be my least popular pick but if they pick her I will be way more happy/motivated about voting. I hope this pumps some blood into voter turnout.
- Fuck
  Yeah!
- https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/johnson-replacing-biden-ticket-wrong-unlawful/story?id=112129063
  
  No one gives a fuck what that fascist loser thinks.
  
  from the article
  Election law expert Richard Hasen wrote that there is "no credence" to the notion that the Democratic Party could not legally replace Biden on the ticket, as he is not the nominee yet -- the nominating process generally takes place during the Democratic National Convention.

Trump gets attention for nearly getting assassinated.
Biden: Hold my Metamucil

It was like pulling teeth for awhile, but Joe Biden deserves to be recognized for his humility. That's not common in politicians at that level.

lemmy is the only social media worth anything goddamn
- Bro I went below Bidens twitter post and it was so bad. How can anyone seriously clown on Biden. I highly think of his decision and think that this really is what it means to serve the country. Better late than never!

I'm nervous. Biden was a flawed candidate, but he already beat Trump once and had the incumbent advantage. Harris was a very unpopular candidate in 2020, and it's unknown if any other candidate will do better against Trump. But since Biden chose to do this, there's no doubt he made the right decision for him.

Biden did several classy things during some real fuckin difficult times. I can't imagine how tough this decision was. I really hope we as a country can galvanize solid opposition and keep Trump/Vance's asses out. Let's be grateful for the good Biden has done, and if Kamala is the next up that gets the nomination, support the hell out of her.

Wait wait, let me guess, now all of the sudden we're not literally fascists for thinking that it would be best if Biden stepped down. A sincere fuck you too everyone who commented accordingly for the last month.

for everyone sake: phew. i feel sorry for him, he obviously lacks energy and needs to not be trying to run america and fight trump.

Spend some more time with the family, Joe. Thanks for grabbing the wheel, there. We'll take it from here.

I kind of expected them to announce another candidate, not just that their only candidate wouldn't be. Do they have to elect a candidate now? For how long will only one party have a candidate?
Edit: Just read that they'll choose the candidate in late August. So for a whole month there will be only Republican campaigning in the media, unless the Democrats can make their process interesting enough to catch the media's attention.
Another edit: Seems they're moving much quicker than that after all.
- Biden has already endorsed Harris, at least on Twitter. I think that part is over. They already have to nominate someone early due to some deadlines, so the actual nomination will happen in the next week or two. It's Harris. We should all accept it.
  
  Goddamn this timeline sucks hairy balls (not to be confused with me cuz ain't nobody sucking me). I didn't like her as a VP pick and I don't like the idea of her as President but she's still 1000 times better than Cheetodick.
  I'd love to see them nominate Bernie or AOC for VP. That's how they'll get the 18-24 year olds to come out to vote.
- The media loves conflict, and this is going to be a juicy one. If anyhting, this sucks the wind out of Trump's campaign.
  Its still going to be "dems in disarray" non stop until they pick someone, but it mutes that chucklefuck up.

Definitely should have happened 6 months ago, but better late than never - something about planting a tree.
This also robs the GOP of the hE's ToO oLd argument, which is one of their only effective attacks.

So well played!....let them spend millions and millions on a campaign against Joe, then as soon as Dumbnald was picked, Joe bugs out and in his place....first black woman multiracial presidential candidate. Vs. crazy rapist felon, who would win?
C'mon republicans! Your move! 😉. Maybe bring back the girl who can see Alaska from her house because she lives in Alaska and not ruzzia.

Kamala 2024! Let's go!

The campaign to pressure Harris to step aside starts now.
I'm joking, I think. I can't tell any more.

Biden is our democratic palisade to the January 6th coup on the United States of America.
Whatever else Biden did, Biden stopped the flood. That is the Biden legacy to me.

I was not turning out for Joe. Even if its Harris im voting now. Id prefer it not be Harris, but a much younger president, starting a first term of hopefully 2, we're definitely taking back some Court seats.

After the Schumer leak, this had to happen.
It has to be Kamala and anyone thinking otherwise is dumb.
And I don't know if Kamala can win. I don't know if she could do better than Joe would do. But I know she'll do better than what would happen if Joe had a second debate like the first debate.
If nothing else, this keeps it close.

Netanyahu will try to fuck things up in Gaza as much as possible because he 100% prefers Trump to Harris.
But now Biden is president and not running. Dark Brandon might just be unleashed like never before.

Holy shit.

Now watch all the “I’m a leftist” people using Genocide Joe pivot over to some other talking point as soon as Putin gives them marching orders via Fox News.

Dems now have a non-zero chance of winning 2024.

He’s just endorsed Harris.

IT'S JOEVER

I respect him for this decision. Hopefully this will work out.

honestly you have a chance to do better here now

...whatever. What's done is done.
What's the best option going forward, and how do the common rabble like myself best support the newest not-Trump?

Jon Stewart / Katie Porter ticket would get my vote 1000%

Amazing news! Now find someone good with a pulse!

I'm seriously looking forward to the HBO drama about the first election campaign, Jan 6th, the Biden presidency, and then the second campaign in twenty years. It's gonna go so hard.

The DNC NEVER listens to what the People Want so I don't know how to Feel about this.

I hope for a next president who understands that they shouldn’t use twitter.
- As long as the public reads Twitter to the degree they do, the President's team is gonna have a Twitter communications strategy.

I'm going to bet the combination of his weak debate, as well as what happened to Trump, pushed this.
Absolutely some nutter is looking for some payback.
- Well it is a huge opportunity to steer media coverage away from Trump, which will likely be the most effective tactic at the moment

Just FYI so you don't get 'gotchaed', Trump isn't the oldest nominee ever. Neither was Biden. Record is still held by Peter Cooper from the reconstruction era who was 84 when nominated.

Not entirely unexpected