President Joe Biden said Wednesday that abandoning his re-election campaign and endorsing his Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee is the best way to unite the country and save democracy, despite his ambition to win a second term.
Biden’s announcement on Sunday that he would end his presidential bid followed a disastrous debate with Donald Trump in June, which added weight to questions about his ability to defeat the Republican nominee or serve another four years if he succeeds.
In his address to the nation from the Oval Office, the 81-year-old president said he believes he deserves to be re-elected based on his merits during his first term.
“But nothing, nothing can stand in the way of saving our democracy. This includes personal ambitions. So I decided that the best way forward was to pass the torch to a new generation. This is the best way to unite our country,” he said.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said Biden’s speech was “barely comprehensible and very bad.”
In the three days since Biden’s decision, Harris has gained broad support across the entire Democratic Party and revitalized her campaign. Harris, the first black and Asian-American vice president, will become the first woman elected president if she wins on November 5.
Biden praised Harris as a strong leader who would be an effective president.
“She is experienced, tough, capable. She was an incredible partner and leader of our country. Now the choice is up to you, the American people,” he declared.
Hours earlier, Trump tried to cushion some of that momentum with an aggressive speech at a campaign rally, the first since a Harris appearance changed the course of the race.
“She is a radical leftist who will destroy our country if she is ever elected,” he said.
Trump routinely uses insults in confrontations with his opponents and has made it clear he plans to ignore advice to take a softer line.
“I won’t be nice!” he said to his enthusiastic supporters in Charlotte, in the state of North Carolina, one of the key states where electoral preferences can turn either way.
The combative tone of his speech was a strong signal that he had three months of naked campaign ahead of him.
In her first campaign rally since endorsing Biden, Harris showed her willingness to stand up to Trump on Tuesday, comparing her past as a prosecutor to his record as a convicted felon.
“Do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion and the rule of law or a country of chaos, fear and hatred?,” she asked during a speech in Milwaukee.
At a Trump rally, the former president attacked Harris as a driving force in the Biden administration who should be held accountable for its policies on immigration and other issues.
“As empress of the border, Kamala opened our borders allowing 20 million illegal aliens to enter our country from all over the world,” Trump said after a triumphant week in which his party rallied around his presidential candidacy following a failed assassination attempt two weekends ago.
“I will abolish any open border policy of the Biden-Harris administration, we will seal the border and stop the invasion of Kamala Harris without delay,” he said.
Biden has tasked Harris with working with Central American countries to stem the tide of migration, but she has not been given responsibility for border security or named “border empress.” She also said she opposes open borders, Reuters reports.
