Business

JD Vance Wants Biden To ‘Resign Now’

July 21, 2024

Topline

Former President Donald Trump’s newly chosen running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, said President Joe Biden should “resign now” — comments that mark a notable departure from his running mate, who has stuck by a group of Republicans urging Biden to stay in the race as many Democrats press him to drop out.

Former President Donald Trump’s new running mate JD Vance argued President Joe Biden should not only … [+] drop out of the race, but resign from office.

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Key Facts

Vance, a former Trump critic-turned-key-ally, argued people who want Biden to drop out of the race who have not called on him to resign are “engaged in an absurd level of cynicism,” writing in a post on X: “If you can’t run, you can’t serve.”

While three dozen congressional Democrats have increasingly called on Biden to step down, none of them have argued Biden should resign before the end of his term in January, while Republicans have been split on whether Biden should step down from his campaign, with some—including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis—calling on Biden to stay in the race.

Trump on Saturday argued Biden should “RUN A FAIR AND OPEN CAMPAIGN” in a post on Truth Social, while blaming Biden for Trump’s federal indictments—Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence Biden has been behind the work of state and federal prosecutors who have indicted Trump in his four criminal court cases.

Trump’s campaign has said it hopes Biden will not drop out, having developed an entire campaign strategy built around exploiting his weaknesses, according to The Atlantic.

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Tangent

Some Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have suggested Biden cabinet officials invoke the 25th Amendment to oust Biden from office, a process that would require a majority of Biden’s 15 principal cabinet officers to declare Biden is “unable to discharge the powers and duties” of the presidency. The amendment was passed after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. This year, a group of House Republicans suggested using the amendment in February following the release of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s scathing report that found that while Biden did not “willfully” retain classified White House documents, he exhibited poor memory. After the report was released, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri called for using the amendment. And Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas filed a resolution requesting Harris invoke the measure after CNN’s debate late last month, while several pundits also suggested it and “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart joked: “A lot of people have resting 25th Amendment face.”

Key Background

Vance, a Marine veteran and former venture capitalist, was named Trump’s running mate last week after carving a political career on the rise of his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” and his connections with tech billionaires, including entrepreneur David Sacks and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, a GOP mega-donor. While his selection was seen as a means for Trump to solidify himself as a populist candidate, Vance and Trump have not always agreed on key issues, including abortion, with Trump arguing the matter should be decided at the state level and Vance pushing for a 19th Century law to ban the procedure outright. Choosing Vance as a vice president also marks a major turnaround for the one-time self-proclaimed “never Trump guy,” who once compared Trump to Hitler—Trump and Vance have more recently become political allies, with Trump endorsing Vance in his 2022 Senate run.

What To Watch For

If Biden decides to drop out, Democrats would be left with just under one month before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where delegates will officially select the campaign nominee, though the process of choosing that nominee should Biden exit the race remains up in the air. Some Democrats have pitched an open convention, a process that hasn’t been used since 1968, in which delegates select a nominee on the floor of the convention. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., meanwhile floated the idea of a mini primary to get the pulse of Democrats on who they want to run against Trump.

Who Could Replace Biden?

Top among the potential Democratic alternatives is Vice President Kamala Harris, who has polled above Biden in a hypothetical match-up with Trump, though she has repeatedly stuck by Biden and has not said publicly she plans to replace him.

Big Number

37. That’s how many congressional Democrats have called on Biden to drop out of the race in the wake of his disastrous debate performance, a 90-minute affair that resurrected mounting concerns over his advanced age and mental acuity, as well as his ability to defeat Trump in November. Several of those Democrats—including Rep. Mark Takano of California, Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota and Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont—have urged Biden to “pass the torch” to Harris, while Biden has also faced pushback from pundits, the editorial boards of multiple major newspapers and some billionaire mega-donors (Biden shot back at donors’ opposition, saying he doesn’t “care what the billionaires think”).