In 200 years, no American presidential campaign has had so many twists and turns in such a short time. In the space of eight days, one candidate nearly lost his life, and the other ended up withdrawing from the race in the face of doubts from many people, even in his own camp. A crazy week thatThe Universal sums it up in a muscular formula: “The bullet fired to kill Trump eight days ago ultimately killed Biden.”
As calls for the US president to step down grew, “reason finally prevailed,” the Mexican daily rejoices. On the other side of the border, the American magazine Rolling Stones hails a “historic decision,” placing Biden in the wake of Lyndon B. Johnson, “the only modern president to voluntarily give up the chance to serve another four years.”
An advert put together “in 48 hours”
It must be said that many indicators were turning red. “The map was expanding in the wrong direction. The party had turned. The money was drying up. The polls in the must-win states were getting worse and worse,” he says. The Washington Post. Long supported by the bigwigs of the Democratic camp, such as Nancy Pelosi, underlines the Corriere della SeraJoe Biden ended up losing most of his defenders. In the last days before his withdrawal, doubts even infiltrated the Biden clan.
In a detailed account, the New York Times recounts in particular this “weekend when Joe Biden decided to withdraw from the competition”. From Saturday July 20 in the afternoon, the presidential pen, Mike Donilon, and Joe Biden’s closest advisor, Steve Ricchetti, “worked on one of the most important and historic letters of Biden’s presidency”, recounts the American daily. The only ones, almost, to have been let in on the secret. “An open secret”, summarizes the Spanish newspaper The World, kept away from his campaign teams and the White House.
For our Italian colleagues from Corriere della Sera, “It is clear that Biden wanted to control the announcement of what must have been one of the most difficult decisions of his life.” Hadn’t the president of the world’s leading economic power assured ABC in early July that he would only step down “if Almighty God” gave him permission? All the more reason to bow to his decision. The informant lists in particular the reactions of Mexican politicians who hail Joe Biden’s “act of integrity and political maturity”.
Kamala Harris, the hope of a new lease of life
Many see this final point written by Joe Biden as the beginning of a phase of prosperity for the Democratic campaign. “By boldly getting rid of Biden, the Democrats will now enjoy the limelight,” the British conservative magazine dryly analyses The Spectator, who elaborates: “The media will be interested in a new group of characters. How will Harris get the nomination? Who will she choose as her running mate? Who will be her campaign manager? […]”Because if nothing has yet been done, as the entire international press has pointed out, the current vice-president is the favourite to resume the presidential race.
“All eyes are on her,” he notes. The World, who believes that “the first woman to accede to the vice-presidency, African-American and of Asian origin, represents the great hope of the Democrats to beat the Republican candidate”. Because if she had “begun a vertiginous fall to sixth place, she is currently at the same level as Joe Biden in voting intentions”, argues the Spanish daily. Reason why, among others, the conservative The Spectator recommends that Republicans “not underestimate Kamala Harris.”
The Urgency of Resizing the Republican Campaign
Especially since their strategy now needs to be reviewed. “Trump “Tries to pivot campaign to attack Kamala Harris,” headlines The Guardian. Because the architecture of the Republican campaign was tailor-made for a confrontation between the outgoing president and the ex. However, as the British daily notes, “the best lines of attack against Biden, on age and mental acuity, cannot be used (against Kamala Harris)”. Worse: “they could be taken up by the Democrats against Trump, given that he will now be the oldest candidate.”
So “the millions of dollars that Trump supporters spent creating attack ads against Biden, including one just last week that focused on Biden’s misstep in last month’s presidential debate over military deaths, were wasted,” he adds. The Guardian. The Spectator, him, points out with a touch of humor that “suddenly, the Republican candidate has become an old fart, while the likely Democratic candidate represents generational change”, so much so that “Trump would have become yesterday’s news”.
Michelle Obama, a dream that may never come true
Could this be a boon for Democrats that would even push some to allow themselves a few fantasies? And why not a candidacy of Michelle Obama for the White House? A hypothesis galvanized by a survey Ipsos/Reuters published in early July placing the ex-First Lady as the only one in a position to beat Donald Trump next November. But “totally unfounded”, he sweeps away The Post, who advises his readers, even if it means dashing certain hopes : “No, the Michelle Obama option does not exist.”
Michelle Obama “never hinted that she would run for public office, never behaved in a way that suggested it” and has even “always denied such rumors,” the Italian daily argues. In 2012, but also in 2016, at the end of her husband’s term. And The Post to exhume a humorous phrase that the forty-fourth President of the United States had: “There are three things that are certain in life. Death, taxes and the fact that Michelle will not run for President of the United States.”
If the Michelle Obama hypothesis came up, it is partly because Kamala Harris, Joe Biden’s natural heir, has not managed to win the hearts of Americans. The Swiss daily The weather highlights in particular “the handicaps” of “this energetic but equally unpopular woman”. The evening, in Belgium, remains cautious: “Kamala Harris, the outgoing vice-president? Possible but not certain. It is the Democratic Party that will decide before the opening of the Democratic convention which is held from August 19 to 22. The choice will then have to be validated by the delegates of the 52 states.”
What does it really matter? Because whoever replaces Joe Biden would have every chance of winning. The prophecy comes from Nikki Haley, Donald Trump’s main rival in the Republican primaries. Last January, the former governor of South Carolina casually said: “The first party to withdraw its 80-year-old candidate will be the one that wins this election.”