Former President Donald Trump thinks President Biden will stay in the race and says there is little that skittish Democrats can do about it.
“He’s got an ego, and he doesn’t want to quit. He doesn’t want to do that,” Mr. Trump told Sean Hannity on Fox News late Monday. “No one wants to give it up that way.”
Mr. Biden faces calls to step aside after his disastrous debate performance against Mr. Trump at the first presidential debate on June 27 in Atlanta. The situation confirmed some Democrats’ worst fears about Mr. Biden’s age, at 81, and cognitive abilities.
The White House says Mr. Biden was suffering from a cold and jet lag and that people should get over it. Mr. Biden told congressional Democrats he is committed to staying in the race and beating Mr. Trump again, drawing skepticism from some quarters but renewed support from the Congressional Black Caucus and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, among others.
Mr. Trump said Democrats who want Mr. Biden to step down have little recourse since the president won sufficient support in the primary.
“Unless he says, ’I’m getting out,’ there’s nothing they can do to get him out,” Mr. Trump told Mr. Hannity.
The former president said Cabinet members could force Mr. Biden out by invoking the 25th Amendment, a constitutional mechanism in which the vice president and principal officers of executive departments can determine the president is unable to serve.
Mr. Trump said Vice President Kamala Harris would be the most likely person to step in if Mr. Biden decides he can no longer run.
“If he gets out for whatever reason, and I don’t think he wants to get out — but if he gets out, it will be her,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump has laid low while Democrats implode over their concerns about the man at the top of the ticket.
However, the presumptive Republican nominee has a big rally planned for Tuesday evening at his resort, Trump National Doral Miami.
The Democratic National Committee responded to Mr. Trump’s interview with Mr. Hannity, his first major television sitdown since the debate.
“A low-energy Donald Trump has been off the trail for 12 days and nothing has changed,” Biden campaign spokesman James Singer said. “He is still a habitual liar, still a 34-time convicted criminal, still running on his Project 2025 agenda to destroy America, make himself a dictator on day one, rip away our rights, and raise costs on the middle class to give tax cuts to the wealthy and price-gouging corporations – and most importantly, still going to lose this November to Joe Biden.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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