On Sunday, July 21st, 2024, political shockwaves were figuratively sent when the 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden, dropped out of the upcoming November presidential election. Biden, who had secured the necessary delegates heading into the Democrat party’s national convention scheduled for August, had faced significant political pressure to end his campaign from progressives who worried that poll numbers showed him as a weakened candidate against the former 45th president and Republican nominee, Donald Trump. However, Biden stated he would not be resigning from the presidency and would finish the remainder of his term.
NBC News reports that Biden expressed anger and frustration in the days leading up to the development. Biden, who has served more than five decades in political office, had no intentions of stepping aside and had even tried to stand against Democrats and media officials who made calls for him to step aside. Succumbing to the political pressure that has mounted since the president’s disastrous debate performance on June 27th, the president formally made the decision surrounded by family members and loyal advisors at his Delaware home. Biden then endorsed Kamala Harris, his Vice President, as his successor. It remains unknown, however, if Harris will be chosen as the party nominee at the convention. The Vice President has claimed she seeks to “earn” the party nomination and also enjoyed an endorsement from the former first lady and Senator Hillary Clinton.
The internet erupted into a firestorm of comedic memes after Biden announced his decision to step down. One post on Twitter made a humorous attempt to claim that Biden was not even fit to write his speech and showed a man sleeping at a desk with another man using his hand to “write” the statement for him. Another showed a woman using a sleeping elderly man in a wheelchair to withdraw money from a bank account, displaying a caption, “Kamala hitting send” (Twitter Statement).
