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Republicans demand Biden’s resignation and attack Kamala Harris

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Image source, Getty Images

  • Author, Phil McCausland & Bernd Debusmann
  • Role, BBC News, New York and Washington DC

Many Republicans immediately called on President Joe Biden to resign and leave the White House after he announced on Sunday that he would withdraw from the 2024 presidential campaign.

Republican Party leaders said Biden’s decision to resign confirmed their view that he is mentally unfit to serve as president – an issue that has dogged the Democrat since his disastrous debate last month.

“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for president, he is not fit to serve as president,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, the most powerful Republican in Congress.

“He must resign immediately. November 5 cannot come soon enough,” he added, referring to Election Day.

When Mr Biden announced his exit, he said he would remain in office until the end of his term in January.

The White House reiterated on Sunday, a few hours later, that he would not resign: “He looks forward to completing his term and delivering further historic results for the American people.”

Leading Republicans repeatedly called for resignations on Sunday afternoon and once again attacked Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris would move into the Oval Office if Biden resigns. Biden has proposed her as the next Democratic candidate.

New York Representative and Chair of the Republican Party Conference Elise Stefanik made almost the same statement as Mr Johnson about Mr Biden’s ability to perform his duties as president.

She also concluded her statement with the words: “He must resign immediately.”

Biden’s presidential rival, Donald Trump, said in response to the announcement that the Democratic Party leader was “unfit for office from the start” – but did not call on the president to resign.

Senator Steve Daines of Montana, chairman of the Republican senators’ campaign team, said being president is “the hardest job in the world.”

“And I no longer have confidence that Joe Biden can effectively discharge his duties as Commander in Chief,” he said in a statement.

Another Republican senator, Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, went further and appeared to suggest that Mr Biden should be forced out of office by invoking the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution – a never-used procedure to replace the president if he is unable to perform his duties.

Critics had called for Trump’s constitutional amendment to be used to remove him from office during his term.

Many in the political world had expected Biden to drop out of the race.

His rambling, often incoherent answers in the June 27 debate with Trump shocked the country and left people wondering if he could serve another four years as president. While Biden often showed renewed vigor in speeches and interviews, he was also plagued by major lapses and apparent memory problems.

Democrats in Congress feared that his fickleness would damage their chances of re-election, and major donors began to pressure him to leave office, but they did not pressure him to resign.

The last president to abandon his campaign, Lyndon B. Johnson, also served out the remainder of his term. Like Biden, Johnson had stated that by abandoning the campaign, he would be able to concentrate on his duties as president.

As pressure on Biden has increased in recent weeks, Republicans have become increasingly vocal in their calls for his resignation.

Just hours before the president announced his resignation, Trump’s new running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, said: “Not running for re-election would be a clear admission that President Trump was right all along that Biden is not mentally fit to serve as commander in chief. There is no middle ground.”

“Joe Biden was the worst president in my lifetime and Kamala Harris supported him every step of the way,” he added.

Republicans attack Kamala Harris

Image source, Getty Images

Mr Biden has endorsed Ms Harris to lead the presidential campaign, but the party has yet to officially approve its candidate.

“I am honored to have the President’s endorsement, and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” Ms. Harris said in a statement. “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party – and our nation – to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda.”

Republicans are reportedly preparing to attack Ms Harris’s candidacy, as many considered her the most likely successor.

Trump campaign sources have told US media that they are preparing attack ads and research on the opposition in the event of a confrontation with Trump.

Most of the criticism is directed at the vice president’s leadership role on immigration issues within the administration. Several speakers at the Republican National Convention last week portrayed Ms. Harris as a failed “border czar.”

These attacks occurred again on Sunday.

Spokesman Johnson called her a “completely incompetent border czar” and said she was a “gleeful accomplice” in the “destruction of American sovereignty, security and prosperity.”

“She has known about his incapacity for a long time,” he said, while accusing her of being involved in a political cover-up of Biden’s problems.

Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott, known for his tough stance on immigration policy that has led to legal action, also expressed concerns about Ms Harris running for president.

“I think I need to triple the border wall, put up barbed wire barriers, and deploy the National Guard to the border,” he wrote on social media.

Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s son, said broadly their policies would be no different from Mr Biden’s.

“Kamala Harris has the entire left-wing political record of Joe Biden. The only difference is that she is even more liberal and less competent than Joe, which is saying something,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter.

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