NYT Columnist Nick Kristof Calls on Biden to Drop Out in Shock Column

New York Times columnist Nick Kristof outright called for President Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race following his widely panned debate performance on Thursday night.

Kristof began his argument by lauding Biden as a “good man who capped a long career in public service with a successful presidential term.” The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner then wrote:

But I hope he reviews his debate performance Thursday evening and withdraws from the race, throwing the choice of a Democratic nominee to the convention in August.

One of the perils facing this country, I believe and Biden believes, is the risk of a victory by Donald Trump. And after the debate, it’s hard to avoid the feeling that Biden remaining in the race increases the likelihood that Trump will move into the White House in January.

Biden’s debate performance against Donald Trump resulted in alarm bells going off across the media as MSNBC discussed the math for how Biden could be replaced at the convention and CNN’s Van Jones called the evening “painful” and suggested the Democrats need to find another way forward.

Kristof argued that Biden’s raspy voice and sometimes distant look during the debate not only didn’t squash worries over Biden’s age but “rather, he amplified them.” Kristof added:

In some sense, this may be unfair. This was one debate. A candidate’s physical frailty, hoarse voice and rambling responses may not be good predictors of how that person will govern. But in this election, they probably are good predictors that the candidate will lose in November and not have a chance to govern again.

He went on to argue that the negative “narrative” surrounding Biden’s age will be impossible to correct before the election and offered some possible replacements: “Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Gina Raimondo, the secretary of commerce. And there are many others.”

Kristof concluded by acknowledging it would be a “wrenching choice” for Biden to make, but the “safest course for our nation.”

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