Over the past couple of weeks, my newsletter has been dominated by one burning topic:
President Joe Biden and his political future.
His frail performance in the June 27 presidential debate against Donald Trump and a few instances since then have led to an incredible moment. And it has sparked one of the most astonishing questions in the history of presidential politics.
Should the current president of the United States drop out of the race just four months away from the election?
As this story has gained steam, I’ve had plenty of reaction from readers of The Poynter Report, spanning across the political spectrum. Two types of responses, however, have stood out.
One is, who is driving this conversation about Biden stepping away?
And, two, why aren’t more people — i.e. those in the media — asking that Donald Trump, and not Joe Biden, withdraw from the race for the good of the country?
Let’s tackle the second question first. The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote an editorial on June 29 headlined “To serve his country, Donald Trump should leave the race.” Other than that, and perhaps a few comments made by some cable and network news commentators, that’s been about it for the most part.
In her latest column for Guardian US, longtime media journalist Margaret Sullivan wrote that, of course, coverage of Biden is important. However, Sullivan adds, “The media coverage is overkill — not only too much in quantity and too breathless in tone, but also taking up so much oxygen that a story even more important is shoved to the back burner. That bigger story, of course, is the former president’s appalling unfitness for office, not only because he tried to overturn a legitimate election and is a felon, out on bail and awaiting sentencing, but because of things he has said and done in very recent weeks.”
That includes throwing more lies on a pile of lies that Trump has been stacking for years.
No argument here. Trump’s record and the ramifications for his return to the White House are the bigger story. It should be discussed and analyzed in detail.
However, to get to the question of why aren’t more media outlets asking that Trump leave the race, there’s a simple answer.
It isn’t going to happen. It’s an unrealistic proposal. Trump is not going to leave the race, and his party doesn’t want him to. Barring something unforeseen and despite whatever threat he might pose, Trump will be the Republican nominee come November.
It might feel right and honorable for a news outlet or commentator to point out the danger of Trump and opine about why he shouldn’t be a candidate for president. But because there should be no serious expectation that he actually would step down, such calls often come off as grandstanding — particularly if there were no such calls before the debate. To seriously ask him to do so is a waste of time. It’s really just another way of saying Trump isn’t fit for office, and you don’t have to ask him to walk away to make that point.
In addition, asking Trump to step aside does something even more potentially dangerous: It puts Trump on the same plain as Biden. Simply asking the same question of Trump that many are asking of Biden creates a false equivalency. It suggests that Trump’s threats and menace are in the same ballpark as Biden’s vitality and acumen. It suggests that Trump and Biden pose similar hazards, and even those who desperately want Biden to walk away wouldn’t and shouldn't mean to suggest that.
Maybe that’s why more haven’t done so.
Again, one can, and should, make their points about Trump without getting tangled up in asking him to do something he would never do — leave the race.
When it comes to who is asking and urging and begging Biden to not run for president, there’s no question that it starts where most political stories start: inside the Washington Beltway and spreading up to New York City.
Biden had barely walked off the debate stage when The New York Times editorial board said he should leave the race. Only certain CNN commentators, immediately after the debate, beat the Times to the punch.
That opened the floodgates. Other news outlets, as well as plenty of Democratic lawmakers, followed.
On Monday, the Times editorial board published another piece, this one stronger than the first. In its second editorial (which was rather lengthy for an editorial), the Times again wrote that Biden should not run and that Democratic leaders need to step up and convince him of that.
The latest editorial, to its credit, did talk at length about the dangers of a Trump presidency, writing, “Mr. Trump is manifestly unfit to serve as president, and there is reason to believe a majority of the American people still can be rallied against his candidacy.”
But it focused on forcing Biden out, saying, “President Biden clearly understands the stakes. But he seems to have lost track of his own role in this national drama. As the situation has become more dire, he has come to regard himself as indispensable. He does not seem to understand that he is now the problem — and that the best hope for Democrats to retain the White House is for him to step aside.”
In one particularly damning remark, the Times editorial board wrote that Democratic leaders “need to tell him that he is embarrassing himself and endangering his legacy.”
This follows news stories in the Times about Biden and his health, including one about an expert in Parkinson’s disease visiting the White House eight times in eight months.
That led to a contentious press conference with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre battling the media — from many outlets — over Biden’s health.
In her column, Sullivan wrote, “Of course, the problem certainly is not just the New York Times, despite its agenda-setting influence. It’s also TV news, both network and cable. And, to a lesser extent, it’s other major US publications.”
Sullivan is correct. It’s not just the Times. Pick any national and/or political website and you don’t have to scroll too far to get to a Biden headline. Turn on just about any news broadcast and you won’t have to wait too long to hear a story about Biden and his future.
