Biden gets more media pressure to step aside in 2024 race

While Biden aides grapple with their response to the president’s anxiety-inducing debate performance behind closed doors, media pundits and editorial boards have publicly joined the chorus urging him to step aside.

Why it matters: President Biden’s poor performance at Thursday’s debate has ignited deep concern from Democrats on Capitol Hill, administration allies and left-leaning media pundits, triggering some to call for him to withdraw from the November election.

Driving the news: Editorial boards and editors from the New York Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The New Yorker have joined well-known cable commentators and columnists in pressing the president to step aside and pave a path to the top of the ticket for another candidate.

• The Washington Post’s editorial board stopped short of pushing the president to drop out of the race, instead pressing him to cancel weekend plans “in favor of some soul-searching.”

What they’re saying: The Times’ board — in an op-ed entitled “To Serve His Country, President Biden Should Leave the Race” — said Biden appeared as “the shadow of a great public servant” at Thursday’s debate, contending there are “Democratic leaders better equipped to present clear, compelling and energetic alternatives to a second Trump presidency.”

• Pieces from the AJC’s board and a New Yorker editor followed, similarly arguing that the best candidate to defeat an unrestrained former President Trump is not the current president.
• The New Yorker named Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore as a slate of potential Biden backups who “could energize Democrats and independents, inspire more younger voters and beat Trump.”

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough’s question of “whether this man we’ve known and loved for a very long time is up to the task of running for president of the United States” presents a particularly damaging dagger to the commander-in-chief, a loyal viewer of “Morning Joe” who often seeks the opinions of the Scarborough, a former Republican congressman, on key issues.

• New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman echoed Scarborough’s tone in a Friday op-ed, writing that watching the man he considers a friend struggle on the debate stage made him weep.

Context: This is not the first time the New York Times editorial board has bypassed backing Biden — in 2020, the board endorsed Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar amid a crowded Democratic field.

• And it’s important to note that an editorial board’s influence may not be far-reaching to voters, as Trump has been the target of several columns slamming his legacy and warning of his second coming.

Yes, but The Philadelphia Inquirer had a different takeaway, shifting the scrutiny from Biden to Trump.

• “The debate about the debate is misplaced,” the paper’s editorial board wrote. “The only person who should withdraw from the race is Trump.”

The big picture: Axios has reported that pundits and pollsters are not the voices that would convince Biden to leave the race. Rather, he relies on a small group of loyal companions who propelled his 2020 bid for the White House.

• Key Biden surrogates have also sought to downplay calls for the president to retire rather than run, using cable TV as a conduit to settle nationwide nerves.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Axios are both owned by Cox Enterprises.

Go deeper: “Good night, Joe”: World reacts bleakly to Biden debate flop