President Biden directly explained his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race this week. “While being president is a great honour, my primary duty to the country is to ensure we defeat Trump,” Biden said in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, scheduled to air on Sunday.
“Although it’s a great honour to be president, I have an obligation to the country to do what I — the most important thing you can do. And that is — we must, we must, we must defeat Trump,” Biden said.
Reflecting on his initial candidacy, Biden remarked, “When I ran the first time, I thought of myself as being a transition president,” and admitted he struggled to articulate his age.
Initially, Biden had been adamant about remaining in the race, stating that only “Lord Almighty” would drive him to withdraw. However, mounting pressure from Democratic House and Senate members and warnings from major donors about withholding future contributions led to his decision to step down. After announcing his withdrawal, Biden endorsed Vice President Harris, who rapidly secured backing from influential party figures.
In the same interview, Biden expressed concerns about potential violence following the election. He noted, “All the stuff about if we lose, there’ll be a bloodbath, it’s stolen — look what they’re trying to do now in the local election districts where people count the votes, putting people in place in states where they’re going to count the votes.” He added, “You can’t love your country only when you win.”
