‘Ballsiest Move in Modern American Politics’: Atlantic Writer Fantasizes About How Biden Should Drop Out
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Tom Nichols, a staff writer with The Atlantic, dreamt up a scenario on social media on Thursday in which President Joe Biden stole former President Donald Trump’s GOP convention thunder later in the day by announcing he would drop out of the race.
Sharing a gif on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Nichols posted a link to a morning Axios report that claimed it is believed by Democratic Party leaders that Biden could drop his bid for a second term by the end of the week.
“If Biden dropped this news early this evening and completely destroyed the GOP convention, it would be the ballsiest move in modern American politics and mess up Trump’s big moment,” Nichols commented.
If Biden dropped this news early this evening and completely destroyed the GOP convention, it would be the ballsiest move in modern American politics and mess up Trump’s big moment.
Behind the Curtain: Top Dems now believe Biden will exit https://t.co/fvKaD6YCUx pic.twitter.com/NgM0N0e6Vb
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 18, 2024
The report claimed:
Several top Democrats privately tell us the rising pressure of party congressional leaders and close friends will persuade President Biden to decide to drop out of the presidential race, as soon as this weekend.
Axios’ reporting was later disputed by Biden campaign spokesman TJ Ducklo:
Joe Biden is his party’s nominee. He’s the President of the United States. He’s running for reelection. Baseless conjecture from anonymous sources isn’t a scoop. Tonight a convicted felon will talk about how he’ll make people’s lives worse if he gains power. Let’s focus. https://t.co/RZBb9k6g9d
— TJ Ducklo (@TDucklo) July 18, 2024
Trump is scheduled to accept the Republican Party’s nomination for a third consecutive election Wednesday evening, just days after the former president was shot through the ear in an assassination attempt last weekend in Pennsylvania.
The shooting, coupled with Biden’s poor debate performance last month in Atlanta, has seemingly given Trump the momentum heading into the final stretch before November.
As CNN’s Van Jones said in a response to the state of the 2024 race on Wednesday, “If you pull back and look at this thing – strength versus weakness – a bullet couldn’t stop Trump, a virus just stopped Biden. You’ve got the nominees of this party getting their butts kissed. Biden’s getting his butt kicked by his own party. The Democrats are coming apart. The Republicans are coming together, that’s what’s happened. And at some point, this party has to look at the reality of that.”
The statement was made as calls mounted for Biden to step aside and just hours after it was announced he would be off the campaign trail after he tested positive for Covid-19.
