A prominent Washington Post columnist has joined the growing number of voices urging President Joe Biden to abandon his bid for re-election.
In the bluntly titled op-ed “President Biden should not run again in 2024,” David Ignatius argues that Biden has served his purpose, which was to stop former President Donald Trump from winning the 2020 election, and should forego his candidacy.
After heaping heavy praise on the first-term president for what some believe to be policy successes, Ignatius wrote:
But I don’t think Biden and Vice President Harris should run for reelection. It’s painful to say that, given my admiration for much of what they have accomplished. But if he and Harris campaign together in 2024, I think Biden risks undoing his greatest achievement — which was stopping Trump.
Biden wrote his political testament in his inaugural address: “When our days are through, our children and our children’s children will say of us: They gave their best, they did their duty, they healed a broken land.” Mr. President, maybe this is that moment when duty has been served.
Biden would carry two big liabilities into a 2024 campaign. He would be 82 when he began a second term. According to a recent Associated Press-NORC poll, 77 percent of the public, including 69 percent of Democrats, think he’s too old to be effective for four more years. Biden’s age isn’t just a Fox News trope; it’s been the subject of dinner-table conversations across America this summer.
Ignatius also addressed the problem of Vice President Kamala Harris, who remains deeply unpopular with the entire electorate, stepping in at the head of a Democratic ticket:
Because of their concerns about Biden’s age, voters would sensibly focus on his presumptive running mate, Harris. She is less popular than Biden, with a 39.5 percent approval rating, according to polling website FiveThirtyEight. Harris has many laudable qualities, but the simple fact is that she has failed to gain traction in the country or even within her own party.
Biden could encourage a more open vice-presidential selection process that could produce a stronger running mate. There are many good alternatives, starting with now-Mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass, whom I wish Biden had chosen in the first place, or Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. But breaking up the ticket would be a free-for-all that could alienate Black women, a key constituency. Biden might end up more vulnerable.
The column posted in a notoriously establishment-friendly publication is re-fueling speculation that there is a battle taking place within the Democratic Party between two factions: those who want Biden gone, and a recalcitrant presidential team circling the wagons to keep him in.
Ignatius’ op-ed was published the same day that host Joe Scarborough revealed on MSNBC that every Democrat he has spoken to off-air says that Biden is too old to run for president again.
“Everybody, we talk to, every political discussion, all it talks a lot about Trump, but when it comes to Joe Biden, people say, ‘Man, he’s too old to run. He’s not really going to run,’” Scarborough said.
“When I say every discussion, I don’t mean 99 percent of the discussions. Every discussion,” he added. “We often will complain about Republicans who will say one thing about Donald Trump off the air and another on air. Well, let me just say, Democrats, off the air, will say ‘Joe Biden’s too old. Why is he running?’ On the air? They won’t say that.”
A Democratic strategist recently told Timcast during an interview that she is unaware of any serious effort taking place to force Biden out, or that Biden could be replaced by someone like California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
But, comments from Scarborough and Ignatius leave many considering that forces are indeed at work behind the scenes plotting a way to oust Biden.
Between The Washington Post column by David Ignatius today and Scarborough suddenly revealing all these alleged conversations with Democrat lawmakers saying that Biden is too old to run again, it's abundantly clear that the marching orders have gone out. https://t.co/5VhPGVYsoV
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) September 13, 2023
Ignatius has a storied 40+ year career as a journalist, novelist, and analyst. His coverage of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been so rosy that a 42-year veteran of the agency referred to Ignatius as “the mainstream media’s apologist for the Central Intelligence Agency.”
Some now suggest that Ignatius is being used to send a message, letting the Biden team know the establishment (primarily the intelligence agencies and corporate press) stand squarely against him and his bid for re-election.
“David Ignatius at the Washington Post IS the intelligence apparatus,” Tony Segura, a former contractor at the CIA and National Security Agency (NSA), wrote in a post on social media platform X.
“When he speaks, it might as well be the CIA. I was given a heads up regarding this piece over a month ago and that it would be released immediately after Labor Day,” he continued. “Joe is past his expiration date. I have credible information that Joe will resign before the end of this term for medical reasons. I’m also told that Barack Obama will also be making a public statement telling Joe to step aside.”
David Ignatius at the Washington Post IS the intelligence apparatus.
When he speaks, it might as well be the CIA. I was given a heads up regarding this piece over a month ago and that it would be released immediately after Labor Day. Joe is past his expiration date. I have… pic.twitter.com/GVkVAOXpOl
— Tony Seruga (@TonySeruga) September 13, 2023
