A growing chorus of lawmakers and pundits are calling on Joe Biden to resign his presidency after he chose on Sunday to drop his reelection bid following a horrible debate performance last month during which he often appeared dazed, confused, and stumbling to answer questions.
Most of the calls are coming from Republicans, who say they are concerned that Biden’s obvious mental decline is a threat to national security. Some are also questioning how long those close to Biden, including his vice president, Kamala Harris, have known about his condition and why they never said anything about it publicly or tried to address it via the 25th Amendment.
In the hours before Biden made his announcement, Sen. J.D. Vance, the Ohio Republican that former President Donald Trump has chosen to be his running mate, took to social media to demand Biden resign the presidency if he were to leave the race.
“If Joe Biden ends his reelection campaign, how can he justify remaining President? Not running for reelection would be a clear admission that President Trump was right all along about Biden not being mentally fit enough to serve as Commander-in-Chief. There is no middle ground,” he tweeted.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also immediately called on Biden to resign.
“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough,” Johnson said.
The House’s No. 3 Republican, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, also called on Biden to step down.
“The Democrat Party is in absolute free fall for their blatantly corrupt and desperate attempt to cover up the fact that Joe Biden is unfit for office,” Stefanik posted to X.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) noted as well: “Then RESIGN your office. If you can’t run a mere political campaign, you can’t be President.”