Donald Trump’s vicious attacks on Joe Biden and his legacy have sparked Republican reaction to the president’s decision to drop out of the 2024 race.
“Crooked Joe Biden is not fit to run for president and certainly not fit to hold office — and never has been!” Republican candidate Trump said in an article published on “Truth Social” as he reiterated his views on 2020. A favorite insult of those who defeated him in the 2006 election, and regurgitated a familiar set of unsubstantiated grievances.
“He only got the presidency through lies, fake news and not leaving his basement. Everyone around him, including his doctors and the media, knew he was incapable of being president, and he didn’t.
“Now look what he’s done to our country, millions of people crossing our borders with absolutely no checks and scrutiny, many of them coming from prisons, mental hospitals, and terrorists in record numbers. We will be grateful for his president. He has suffered huge losses during his tenure, but we will soon undo the damage he caused.
Trump’s new running mate J.D. Vance called Biden “the worst president of my lifetime” in a tweet and tried to tie Vice President Kamala Harris to his “scam policies.”
“Kamala Harris has been by his side every step of the way. She took on all of these failures, and she lied about Biden’s mental capacity for nearly four years — leaving the country saddled with an incompetent president. The president does this job,” he said.
“President Trump and I are ready to save America, no matter who is at the top of the Democratic ticket. Come on.
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley and co-chair Laura Trump, the daughter-in-law of the former president, issued a statement saying that the Democratic Party is in “decline and chaos.”
“As the Democratic Party collapses, President Trump is rallying the American people behind his winning agenda,” they said.
Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives and a loyal supporter of Trump, issued a statement calling on Biden to also resign as president and suspend his re-election campaign.
“If Joe Biden is unfit to run for president, he is not fit to be president. He must resign immediately. November 5 cannot come soon enough,” Johnson said.
He also sought to portray Biden’s decision to withdraw as a coup by Democrats, a position that has become a hot topic among Republicans and the Trump campaign in recent days.
“We have to be clear about what just happened. With just over 100 days until the election, Democrats forced the Democratic nominee to withdraw from the ballot,” Johnson said.
The self-proclaimed “Democrats” who have invalidated the votes of more than 14 million Americans who chose Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee have proven the opposite.
“The party’s prospects are also not improving under Vice President Kamala Harris, a co-founder of the Biden administration’s disastrous policy failures.”
Many other senior Republicans joined in the condemnation Sunday.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called him a “Washington Democrat” in a statement but largely refrained from directly criticizing Biden.
“Democrats have been busy in recent weeks trying to subvert the will of the American people as expressed in primaries across the country,” he said.
“Washington Democrats have failed to prove they are better than the president in delivering the secure borders, safe streets and stable prices that working families deserve. We cannot afford another four years of failure.
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National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chairman Richard Hudson called Biden’s withdrawal a “historic scandal” in a statement posted on the X website.
He also questioned Biden’s ability to serve out his term.
“If the president is not mentally fit to run, then he is not mentally fit to have the nuclear codes,” he said. “Judgment Day is coming in November.”
Attacking Democrats for “ousting” leaders is a familiar theme among other leading Republicans, although Biden said the decision and its timing were his alone.
“Democratic leaders have just proven they have a complete lack of respect for their own voters. After preaching democracy to everyone else, they just forced Joe Biden out of the race, destroying the primary choice of 14 million voters,” House Majority Leader Steve Steve Scalise tweeted.
Meanwhile, Republican House Conference Chair Elise Stefanik also posted conspiracy theories on X.
“Behind-the-scenes donors, Democratic Party elites and the stenographers of the mainstream media conspired to successfully oust candidates who received the necessary votes, in a direct attack on democracy,” she said.
Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a leading critic of Biden in the Senate, accused the Democrats of “rigging their own election.”
“Resign your office. If you can’t run a pure political campaign, you can’t be president,” Hawley said.
Not all Republicans were so quick to condemn news of Biden’s withdrawal. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a frequent Trump critic, had some kind words for the president in his own statement.
“I have known President Biden since he entered the United States Senate in 1995 and served with him on the Senate Judiciary Committee,” he said.
“Fran and I wish President Biden and the First Lady the best for the remainder of their term and in the years to come.”
Learn more about Joe Biden’s exit from the 2024 election:
