Joe Biden drops out of 2024 presidential race | The Excerpt
On Monday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: Paste BN White House Correspondent Joey Garrison discusses President Joe Biden's decision to end his bid for reelection. How's the Trump campaign responding after Biden's decision? Is America ready for a President Kamala Harris? Paste BN Health Reporter Karen Weintraub breaks down new findings into the worldwide risk of animal-to-human disease spread.
Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
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Taylor Wilson:
Good morning, I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Monday, July 22nd, 2024. This is The Excerpt. Today, Biden has dropped out of the presidential election, plus we discuss what's next and who might take over atop the ticket. And we talk about how the risk of animal to human disease spread is still high.
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President Joe Biden is ending his bid for reelection. He made the announcement yesterday in a letter addressed to Americans saying, quote, "It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and my country for me to stand down and to focus solely on my duties as president for the rest of my term," unquote. Biden made the move amid intense pressure from Democratic leaders sounding the alarm that his path to beat former President Donald Trump in November had vanished.
That pressure came after a disastrous debate performance last month against Trump raised scrutiny over the president's mental fitness. The president's historic withdrawal throws the 2024 race already hit by a shocking attempt on Trump's life into uncertain territory with Vice President Kamala Harris seen as the Democrat most likely to take Biden's place atop the party's ticket. Biden quickly endorsed Harris as the Democratic nominee in a separate statement on X. She responded that she's honored to have Biden's endorsement and that her intention is to earn and win the nomination. For more on Biden's historic decision, I spoke with Paste BN White House correspondent Joey Garrison. Joey, thanks for making the time on this historic day.
Joey Garrison:
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
So let's just start with this Joey, how did President Joe Biden make this decision, what was the final tipping point, and who influenced him the most here?
Joey Garrison:
President Biden, who's been self-isolating in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he has a vacation home, with COVID, he announced this in a letter addressed to Americans that came out Sunday afternoon, really with no warning, just put it out there, said he had decided it was in the best interest of both the country and his party for him to obviously finish out his term, but not run for re-elections. It comes after we've seen just three weeks of growing frustration and resistance from top Democrats to Biden's re-election bid, concerns they've put out there of whether he even has a shot to beat former President Trump. All this, of course, got started with the disastrous debate performance he had on June 27th. What really ratcheted up the pressure was former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as Chuck Schumer, and Hakeem Jeffries, having direct conversations with Biden, giving them their bleak assessment on his chances. You had 35 congressional Democrats who came out against his bid, and really the force of Democrats and the party donors, voters as well, just became so great that Biden, who had remained defiant throughout these three weeks, finally had to give in.
Taylor Wilson:
So Vice President Kamala Harris is seen as the Democrat most likely to take Biden's place atop the ticket. What's the functional process going to be like here, Joey, and what are you hearing about who will take over?
Joey Garrison:
Well, DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison issued a statement on Sunday saying that they were going to follow the bylaws of the DNC to lay out a process for the nomination that'll be moving forward. He didn't exactly stipulate what that will look like. Biden came out and immediately endorsed Harris. A lot of other Democrats did as well, making her clearly the front-runner. But there has also been a camp of Democrats who say, look, Kamala Harris hasn't had very good poll numbers herself throughout her three and a half years in the White House. We need to go look outside this administration for our party's standard-bearer. And those talks center mostly on Democrats' crop of governors, whether that's Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan, Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania. Those of course are two states Democrats have to win in order to win the election. So some people have discussed their possibility of being the nominees.
Where this goes from here, the DNC Convention is set for August 19th to the 22nd in Chicago. But Democrats have said that they plan on nominating somebody two weeks before then, before August 7th by a virtual roll call vote in order to meet various deadline requirements and states for their names to appear on the ballot. So this process is a fast one. Don't be fooled by the date of that convention. Democrats will probably know who their nominee is going to be in the next couple of weeks.
Taylor Wilson:
And the $240 million question here, Joey, who gets Biden's campaign money?
Joey Garrison:
Well that's one that's going to be sorted out. I think election lawyers would be able to say that this money could be transferred to Kamala Harris with her as the nominee. She of course was the VP under the Biden-Harris re-election bid. Harris, late Sunday afternoon, actually went ahead and made her filing official with the Federal Election Commission. And that money is vital. I can't stress that enough. Democrats have to be able to tap into that money or else they're just not going to be able to compete financially against Trump who has about the same amount of money.
Taylor Wilson:
Joey, just in terms of the response there in Washington, I mean, how are Democrats responding broadly and how are Republicans?
Joey Garrison:
Well, I mean, this is an extraordinary move. Just stepping back here and thinking about this historically, this is the first incumbent who has passed on the re-election bid since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968. LBJ had his own fights going on with the Democratic Party over the Vietnam War that kind of forced him to bow out. Democrats are saying, "Hey, look, Biden is making the tough decision that Republicans won't with Trump in terms of backing away, seeing the writing on the wall and passing the torch now to a younger generation."
Now, Republicans are, and keep an eye on this to be a theme in this, they're saying, "Hey, if Biden isn't able to, with his age and his middle capacity, continue to campaign for a second term, he has no business being in the White House right now to begin with." And they, I think, are going to campaign against Harris, assuming she's the nominee, saying, "Hey, Kamala Harris was complicit in this effort to cover up that President Biden couldn't perform his duties." I think that's something that they might be putting out there in television ads, certainly in talking points. And so those have been the different reactions right now that we have seen.
Taylor Wilson:
I want to hear a little bit more about that last point, Joey, there are some growing calls for Biden to resign from office now even before the end of his term. What are you hearing about this? How strong is this push, and are you hearing anything from his administration about whether that's even a viable possibility?
Joey Garrison:
No, he's not going to drop out before his term ends. And the White House quickly dismissed that idea, even Biden and his statement rejected that he's going to fulfill his term. I mean, it might not stop House Republicans for perhaps ginning up a impeachment process. I have no idea. I don't know if that would be a politically smart thing for them to do right now, given that he's a couple months away from leaving anyways. But it's definitely something that you've seen. And House Speaker Johnson, Republican speaker, had a statement that Biden should step down, and other Republicans have made similar arguments, but I don't think that there could be an effort that actually pushes him out. But I do think it's a good political attack for Republicans to be making.
Taylor Wilson:
Paste BN White House correspondent Joey Garrison, thank you for the insight on this historic day.
Joey Garrison:
Hey, thanks Taylor.
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Taylor Wilson:
Former president and current GOP nominee Donald Trump was quick to respond yesterday following Biden's decision. He told CNN in a phone interview just minutes after Biden announced he was withdrawing from the presidential race, quote, "He is the worst president in the history of our country," unquote. He also said he expects to run against Vice President Kamala Harris and predicted he would win. The Trump campaign is retooling to face another Democratic opponent, most likely Harris. Trump aides declined yesterday to detail strategy in the hours after Biden's withdrawal announcement.
But in recent days, they have confirmed the general idea, attack both Harris and Biden. There have been ads linking Harris to border security. She was put in charge of the migration issue during the Biden presidency, and the Trump campaign has signaled they will argue that Biden should resign, and the Democrats as a party should be held accountable for all that has happened. Democrats though point out that Harris, a former prosecutor, can more easily exploit Trump's legal troubles from his conviction in the New York hush money case, to a civil judgment finding him liable for sexual abuse. And opponents signaled they will use another issue against Trump, age. With Biden out of the race, the 78-year-old Trump is the oldest major party nominee in US history.
Weeks before President Joe Biden stepped aside, Vice President Kamala Harris had emerged as the most logical replacement to top the ticket following Biden's debate disaster, allies outlined reasons why she would be the natural successor. She could seamlessly inherit the campaign's massive war chest. Her law enforcement background is best suited to prosecute the political case against Republican Donald Trump. Polling shows she can win. And having been the nation's first multiracial and woman vice president could galvanize a new generation of younger progressives.
But from the start, there's been a hesitancy to fully embrace Harris, with some Democrats openly overlooking her. When a group of 24 former House Democrats sent Biden a letter last week lobbying for an open convention in August, it made no mention of her. Earlier this month when asked to assure black women the party's backbone, that the US would not take a step backward in the election on issues they care about, including economic and reproductive freedom, her message was far from reassuring. She told the moderator at Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans, quote, "Here's the thing about elections, the people who make decisions at that level often will pay attention to either who's writing the checks or who votes. That's a cold hard reality," unquote.
Harris previously served as a US senator from California and the Attorney General there, and she's faced a number of political tests in California similar to what the country faces now. But some wonder whether a country divided by cultural issues around race, gender, and family is ready for a woman of color to sit in the Oval Office. Aimy Steele, founder and CEO of the New North Carolina Project, which is dedicated to expanding voter engagement and access in that state said, quote, "Black women are judged more harshly by the right, by the left, by everyone," unquote. Steele said beyond race and gender, there are other parts of Harris's life that she believes liberal allies will fail to accept or defend, including that she is a professional woman who went unmarried most of her life, and put her career first without having biological children.
Still, Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America who served as a national security adviser to Harris and the Senate told Paste BN, quote, "Misogyny, racism and other forms of bigotry are going to exist in this country. And yes, they may even be exacerbated by having a woman of color at the top of the ticket, but that has absolutely not a reason to cower or to allow the fear of that hate to impede progress in this country, and that's actually been driving Kamala Harris her whole career," unquote. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.
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In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the risk of animal to human disease spread is still high. That's according to a new report from Harvard Law School and New York University. I spoke with Paste BN Health Reporter Karen Weintraub to learn more. Hello Karen.
Karen Weintraub:
Hello.
Taylor Wilson:
So Karen, let's just start here. What are zoonotic diseases?
Karen Weintraub:
They are diseases that jump from animals to people. So things that you are unfortunately quite familiar with. HIV/AIDS, the COVID pandemic, bird flu, monkeypox, smallpox. Almost every weird gross disease you can think of probably had its origins in animals.
Taylor Wilson:
So what did this report find, Karen, about whether we're doing enough to prevent the next animal-borne virus from becoming a pandemic?
Karen Weintraub:
Yeah, it found that we are not nearly doing enough, that there are a lot of human-animal interactions around the world, they looked at 15 different countries. And there are plenty of opportunities, shall we say, for viruses to jump from animals to people, lots of interactions, and we're not doing that much to stop them. So we can catch diseases from animals. When we compromise the environment, that happens more often. We can give animals viruses also. We all live in the same world and that everything we do affects everything.
So a simple look down the table of contents, just in the US, some of the, I thought, kind of crazy things that this report mentions the exotic pet trade, swap meats, dog breeders, some of the areas where there are risks, big game farming, fur farming, bat guano harvesting, camel farming, coyote and fox urine production, who knew that went on in US? Guinea pig farming, ostrich and emu farming, turtle farming, roadside zoos, petting zoos, all of these places where animals and humans are coming into close contact with each other. Again, even in the United States, we think about these as being far off problems, but really, they are much closer to home than we'd like to admit.
Taylor Wilson:
Yeah, I mean, it seems like this is all about prevention. So what's the real solution here?
Karen Weintraub:
The real solution, according to these researchers, is more regulation, more eyes on the process, more activities, moments to interact, moments to stop the viruses from jumping from animals to people. Other people I spoke with also said that we should do things like surveil, check out the animals for bugs that might be living on them before they could jump to people, and changed some practices. One researcher I spoke with went to a slaughterhouse in Saudi Arabia and found that the difference in the slaughterhouses that used power washing versus the ones that didn't, they were much fewer bacteria viruses transmitted in the ones that power washed their meat from one animal to the next. So even simple procedures like that can make a big difference in what viruses get transmitted.
Taylor Wilson:
What industries push back against prevention efforts and what will it take to get them on board?
Karen Weintraub:
I mean, no industry really wants more regulation from government, clearly. And the industry I spoke with here, the mink industry says that they're doing a lot, they're a very responsible industry, they're doing a lot to make sure that their product is not putting the public at risk. If industry is responsible, that's great. If they are taking responsibility, that's terrific. The real risk is when industry doesn't do that and puts the rest of us at risk.
Taylor Wilson:
Karen Weintraub covers health for Paste BN. Thank you Karen.
Karen Weintraub:
Thank you.
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Taylor Wilson:
And thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson. Back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from Paste BN.