After Biden withdrawal: Democrats rally behind Harris

With Biden's withdrawal, the US election campaign is picking up speed a good three months before election day. The camp surrounding the newly crowned Republican candidate, Donald Trump, reacted angrily to Biden's withdrawal. At the same time, Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance are also using Biden's public admission to question his suitability as the incumbent president.

Demonstrative unity for Harris

After Biden had pledged his full support to his running mate, a number of other party greats also quickly came out in her favor - including above all Governors Gavin Newsom (California), Josh Shapiro (Pennsylvania) and Roy Cooper (North Carolina), who had also been touted as possible candidates.

From the left wing of the party, Harris received support from MP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The Vice President also has no need to fear competition from the influential Governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, following her withdrawal. Former President Barack Obama, on the other hand, spoke only of his confidence that "an outstanding candidate" would be found. He did not say a word about Harris in his statement.

Whether Harris can beat Trump remains to be seen. Many Democrats are hoping that Harris can at least prevent the Republicans from taking control of both chambers of the US parliament in the end. This is because all seats in the House of Representatives and around a third of the seats in the Senate will be up for grabs in the election in the fall.

Trump fumes and questions Biden's suitability for office

Trump expressed his anger after Biden's withdrawal and made several consecutive posts on his online platform Truth Social. His team had invested time and money in "the fight against the fraudulent Joe Biden". "Now we have to start all over again," Trump wrote.

"Corrupt Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and he is certainly not fit to hold the office - and never has been!" he wrote. In another post, he caustic: "It's a new day and Joe Biden doesn't remember that he dropped out of the race yesterday!"

The 78-year-old was officially chosen as his party's candidate at the Republican Party convention in Milwaukee last week, as was Vance as his running mate. After the assassination attempt on him, Trump presented himself at the party conference as a politician who had been changed by the shooting and who now wanted to unite the deeply divided country.

Trump is 18 years and four months older than Harris. With Biden's withdrawal, Trump is the oldest presidential candidate in US history.

The crisis of recent weeks

Since Biden's disastrous performance in a televised duel against Trump, criticism of his age had been growing. During the exchange of blows, the most powerful man in the world regularly floundered. He lost his train of thought, stared into space with his mouth open and was often unable to finish his sentences properly.

Biden himself initially tried to talk his way out of it. He attributed his weak performance to fatigue as a result of strenuous trips abroad. At various appearances, he defiantly assured the audience that he would not withdraw. But further slip-ups followed. In the end, the pressure from within his own ranks became too great.

In recent days, Biden had withdrawn to his private home in Rehoboth, Delaware, after contracting coronavirus and did not make any public appointments. During his forced break, he decided to bow to pressure from his party colleagues.

Respect for Biden

Leading Democrats and heads of state and government from around the world paid tribute to Biden for this significant step.

The leading Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, praised Biden as a great president and a remarkable person. "His decision was certainly not easy, but he has once again put his country, his party and our future first," the senator wrote in a statement. Today shows that Biden is "a true patriot and a great American".

First Lady Jill Biden (73) commented on her husband's withdrawal with two hearts on Platform X.

An election year like no other

Even before this greatest possible complication, this US election year was one that stood out on all levels, especially with regard to the Republican candidate. With Trump, a convicted felon is running for the highest office in the land. He was the first ex-president of the USA to be found guilty in criminal proceedings - for concealing a hush money payment to a porn actress. So far, this has not damaged the 78-year-old's election campaign. There are other criminal proceedings against him - however, these cases are unlikely to go to trial before election day.

There was an escalation in the election campaign just over a week ago when a gunman opened fire at a Trump event in Pennsylvania. Trump was injured in the ear in the attack, one spectator was killed and two others were wounded.

The recent 2020 US election year had already been chaotic. Trump did not accept his election defeat against Biden at the time, but instead used drastic means to try to reverse the election result. His campaign culminated in a violent attack by his supporters on the US Capitol, in which several people were killed.