Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, responded Sunday to news that President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
In addition, several Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, called on Biden to resign on Sunday. Johnson also said the Democratic Party “forced the Democrat nominee off the ballot, just over 100 days before the election.” In their statements, he and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also said Democrats were ignoring the will of the Democratic voters.
Donald Trump reacts to Biden stepping down, and to Harris endorsement
The Trump campaign released a statement Sunday to news of Biden stepping aside, as well as to Biden’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris.
After criticizing Biden over his handling of the border, the economy and foreign policy, the campaign’s statement pivoted to Harris.
“And during this entire term, Kamala Harris — as well as every other Democrat in Washington, sat by and did NOTHING. They are all just as complicit as Biden is in the destruction of our once-great Nation, and they must all be thrown out of office,” the statement said.
“Kamala Harris is just as much of joke as Biden is. Harris will be even WORSE for the people of our Nation than Joe Biden. Harris has been the Enabler in Chief for Crooked Joe this entire time. They own each other’s records, and there is no distance between the two. Harris must defend the failed Biden Administration AND her liberal, weak-on-crime record in CA,” it continued.
The campaign also said Biden is a “national security threat in great cognitive decline and a clear and present danger to every man, woman, and child in our country.
“The question then to Kamala Harris is simple: knowing that Joe Biden withdrew from the campaign because of his rapidly deteriorating condition, does Harris believe the people of America are safe and secure with Joe Biden in the White House for six more months?”
Trump responded directly to Biden’s decision to drop out in two posts on Truth Social.
“Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve - And never was! He only attained the position of President by lies, Fake News, and not leaving his Basement,” the statement said. “All those around him, including his Doctor and the Media, knew that he wasn’t capable of being President, and he wasn’t - And now, look what he’s done to our Country, with millions of people coming across our Border, totally unchecked and unvetted, many from prisons, mental institutions, and record numbers of terrorists. We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
In a second statement, he said: “Crooked Joe Biden is the Worst President, by far, in the History of our Nation. He has done everything possible to destroy our Country, from our Southern Border, to Energy Dominance, National Security, International Standing, and so much more. He was annihilated in an Earth Shattering Debate, and now the Corrupt and Radical Democrats are throwing him overboard. He was not fit to serve from the very beginning, but the people around him lied to America about his Complete and Total Mental, Physical, and Cognitive Demise. Whoever the Left puts up now will just be more of the same. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
JD Vance responds to Biden dropping out, attacks Harris
In a response to the news Biden was dropping out of the race, Sen. JD Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president, in a social media post, called Biden “the worst President in my lifetime and Kamala Harris has been right there with him every step of the way.”
“Over the last four years she co-signed Biden’s open border and green scam policies that drove up the cost of housing and groceries,” he said. “She owns all of these failures, and she lied for nearly four years about Biden’s mental capacity — saddling the nation with a president who can’t do the job. President Trump and I are ready to save America, whoever’s at the top of the Democrat ticket. Bring it on.”
In his letter announcing he would drop out, Biden said he would serve out the rest of his term. But Vance and several other Republicans called on Biden to leave office now.
“If Joe Biden ends his reelection campaign, how can he justify remaining President? Not running for reelection would be a clear admission that President Trump was right all along about Biden not being mentally fit enough to serve as Commander-in-Chief,” he wrote in a post on X, before Biden officially announced he was leaving the race.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Sen. Mike Lee call on Biden to resign
Johnson said the Democratic Party “invalidated the votes of more than 14 million Americans who selected Joe Biden to be the Democrat nominee for president,” adding “the self-proclaimed ‘party of democracy’ has proven exactly the opposite.”
“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough,” he said in his statement.
Johnson also attacked Vice President Kamala Harris, who Biden endorsed to run in his stead. She will still have to win a majority of delegates at the Democratic National Convention before she can become the official nominee.
“The party’s prospects are no better now with Vice President Kamala Harris, who co-owns the disastrous policy failures of the Biden Administration. As second in command and a completely inept border czar, Harris has been a gleeful accomplice — not only in the destruction of American sovereignty, security, and prosperity, but also in the largest political coverup in U.S. history,” he said.
Sen. Mike Lee also called on Biden to resign, saying in a post on X, “If he were stepping down from both the presidency and his candidacy, he could more credibly argue that he’s doing this because of health and age. But stepping down from one and not the other feels like cheating.”
“They keep him in office as long as they can, while hiding his condition from the public,” he continued. “Then, after winning an (essentially) uncontested primary, the switch to another candidate they deem most capable of delivering a win in November.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell says Democrats are upending ‘the expressed will of the American people’
In a statement released Sunday, McConnell said, “For four years, the American people have faced historic inflation at home, chaos at the border, and weak leadership on the world stage. Our nation is less prosperous and less secure than it was in January, 2021. We cannot afford four more years of failure.
“Unfortunately, the Democratic Party has been busy in recent weeks trying to upend the expressed will of the American people in primary elections across the country. Washington Democrats have not proven themselves any more capable than the President of delivering the secure borders, safe streets, and stable prices that working families deserve. They are selling open borders, higher prices, climate radicalism, and soft-on-crime policies, and the American people are not buying.”