On Tuesday afternoon, President Biden made his first public appearance after making his surprise announcement over the weekend that he would be dropping out of the presidential race. Biden hadn’t been seen for several days after testing positive for COVID-19, having been isolated at his Rehoboth, Delaware beach house.
Appearing for the first time since the bombshell announcement, Biden was seen exiting a limousine during his travels while returning to the White House from the period of isolation in his Delaware home. However, when the president was asked about dropping out of the race, he appeared confused and started laughing at the question.
The footage shows Biden exiting the vehicle near a runway where reporters are standing by. One member of the press questions the president, “Why did you drop out Mr. President?” Biden looks at the reporter appearing confused before mouthing something inaudible. “Why did you drop out of the election?” the reporter asked again. Upon the follow-up question, Biden smiles before breaking into laughter as he walks away.
Following Biden’s reaction to the question, users on social media have offered a variety of different speculations, suggesting that Biden was forced out of the race. One user wrote a hypothetical quote, stating, “‘They threatened to remove me via the 25th amendment.'” Another user assessed Biden’s apparent confusion, writing, “He genuinely doesn’t know; also, because he didn’t ‘drop out,’ he clearly was pushed out!” Another echoed the same sentiment, commenting, “Does he know he dropped out yet?”
President Biden sent shockwaves through American politics last weekend when he announced on Sunday afternoon that he would not be accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination to appear on the ballot as its presidential candidate. Furthermore, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, placing his complete confidence in her ability to lead the nation.
Biden wrote on X, “My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
However, The American Tribune recently reported on comments from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez who claimed that there is no consensus among the Democratic Party that Kamala should be the presidential nominee. “And I’m gonna say what a lot of these folks aren’t saying. I’m just gonna say it if you think that there is consensus among the people who want Joe Biden to leave, that Kamala, that they will support Kamala Vice President Harris, you would be mistaken,” she said.
“And I’m going to say that, because if they’re going to come out and say all their little things on background, off, off the record, but they’re not going to be fully honest, I’m going to be honest for them. I’m in these rooms. I see what they say in conversations. A lot of them are not just interested in removing the president. They are interested in removing the whole ticket,” she continued.
Watch the clip of Biden being questioned about dropping out below:
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.
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