President Joe Biden outlined plans for his final six months in office while addressing the nation on Wednesday in his first prime-time televised speech since announcing his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential election.
Biden had been under intensifying pressure to drop out of the race from members of his own party following a disastrous performance during his June 27 debate with former President Donald Trump. The president on Sunday announced that he would no longer be seeking the Democratic nomination, endorsing the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris a short time later on the same day.
During his address on Wednesday night, Biden said that he dropped out of the race to “pass the torch to a new generation,” regardless of his own “personal ambition” to win and serve out a second term. The president said that the likely election between Harris and Trump would be a choice “between moving forward or backward.”
“It’s been the honor of my life to serve as your president,” Biden said. “I draw strength and I find joy in working for the American people. But this sacred task of perfecting our union—it’s not about me, it’s about you, your futures … Nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy, that includes personal ambition.”
“I’ve decided that the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation,” he continued. That’s the best way to unite our nation … There is a time and a place for long years of experience in public life, but there’s also a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices. Yes, younger voices. And that time and place is now.”
The president then outlined plans for the final months of his term as president, indicating that he has no intention of stepping down.
“Over the next six months I’ll be focused on doing my job as president,” Biden said. “That means I’ll continue to lower costs for hardworking families and grow our economy. I’ll keep defending our personal freedoms and our civil rights, from the right to vote to the right to choose.
“I’ll keep calling out hate and extremism,” he continued. “Making clear that there is no place, no place in America for political violence. Or any violence, ever. Period. I’m going to keep speaking out to protect our kids from gun violence, or planet from climate crisis.”
Biden went on to say that he would “keep fighting for my cancer moonshot” to “end cancer as we know it” and to call for “critical” Supreme Court reform during his final months. He also said that he would be working on several foreign policy goals, including bringing “peace and security” to the Middle East and ending Israel’s war in Gaza.
“I’ll keep working to make sure America remains strong, secure and the leader of the free world,” he added. “We’ll keep rallying a coalition of proud nations to stop [Russian President Vladimir] Putin from taking over Ukraine and doing more damage. We’ll keep NATO stronger, and make it more powerful and more united than any time in our history.”
Trump responded to the speech by claiming in a post to Truth Social that Biden, who spoke with relative clarity during the roughly 11-minute address, had been “barely understandable.”
“Crooked Joe Biden’s Oval Office speech was barely understandable, and sooo bad!” Trump wrote.
“CROOKED JOE BIDEN AND LYIN’ KAMALA HARRIS ARE A GREAT EMBARRASSMENT TO AMERICA — THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A TIME LIKE THIS!” he added in an another post.
Newsweek reached out for comment to the White House via email on Wednesday night.
Republican critics of Biden have been calling for the president to resign from office in the days since he announced he would no longer be facing Trump, claiming without any clear evidence that he had resigned due to failing health and that Harris and his staff had been involved in efforts to conceal his condition.
In a statement posted to social media on Sunday, Biden said that it was “the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President” but exiting the race was “in the best interest” of the Democratic Party and the country. The president also teased the Wednesday address.
“While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden said. “I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision.”
In a separate statement issued around 30 minutes later, Biden said that he was giving his “full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year,” urging Democrats to “come together and beat Trump.”
Harris, who has already secured the delegates required to become the nominee, has also received endorsements from many key players in Democratic politics, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and most of the Democratic lawmakers and governors who have been floated as her potential running mate.
While polling data on a Trump-Harris contest is still limited and the state of the election will likely not be clear for weeks, early surveys have suggested that the vice president replacing Biden at the top of ticket has improved the chances of Democrats defeating Trump, although the former president is still a slight favorite in some newer polls.
Update 07/24/24, 9:07 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include related Truth Social posts from Trump.
Update 07/24/24, 9:38 a.m. ET: The headline was changed.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
