Biden should resign if he can’t run for president, Rubio says

MILWAUKEE — Amid continuing discussion of whether President Joe Biden is able to run for president, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said today that if Biden cannot continue as the 2024 Democratic nominee, then he should step down from the presidency as well.

“The question is, if he’s not going to be their nominee because he’s not up to it, how can he be our president?” Rubio told reporters after the final Florida delegation breakfast of the Republican National Convention. “If there’s something wrong with you that doesn’t allow you to run for president, how can you still be there as president?”

Rubio added that not doing so would be “really bad for our country.”

Rubio said he’s worried about who’s actually running the country now. “Who’s making decisions right now?” he said. “If he’s not the person in charge, then who is?”

Biden sailed through the Democratic presidential primary process without top-tier opposition, but most viewers of the June 27 presidential debate agreed that his age, 81, showed. Biden acknowledged as much, but he has so far resisted advice from top Democrats to yield the nomination.

In his remarks to reporters, Rubio accused officials, aides and advisers surrounding Biden of misleading the country.

“They’re all responsible because it was a conspiracy of lies that they deliberately hid his deterioration from the American public until they could no longer do it,” Rubio said. “I think they need to answer the questions. They knew this about Joe Biden. They all did. They didn’t say anything until it was revealed in the debates.”

Rubio added that if Biden leaves the ticket, it’s inevitable that Vice President Kamala Harris would be the nominee, because “they put her there (on the ticket), and if you put her there, you’re telling people she’s qualified and good enough to be president.”

On another issue, Rubio also acknowledged that one factor in the selection of Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as Trump’s running mate over himself stemmed from the constitutional challenges to having two candidates from the same state running on the same ticket.

Vance “didn’t have the residency problem,” Rubio said, adding that he has known Vance since 2017, some five years before the Ohioan was elected to the Senate, and that he believes Vance will be a “tremendous asset.”

“Everyday Americans are going to say, ‘I know him’ or someone like him,” Rubio said.