President Biden addressed the nation Wednesday from the Oval Office for the first time since announcing over the weekend that he was withdrawing from the 2024 race and passing the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris.
Fox News chief political analyst Brit Hume reacted to the roughly 11-minute address, saying he doesn’t quite buy Biden’s reasoning for dropping out of the presidential race.
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“To hear the president tell it, he was fine with running for re-election, thought he could win the race and serve for four more years until sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning, when it dawned on him, apparently, that it was time for a new generation of leaders,” Hume said.
US President Joe Biden delivers a prime-time address to the nation in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. Photographer: Evan Vucci/AP Photo/Bloomberg (Getty Images)
Politico reported that Biden told his senior aides early Saturday his campaign was moving “full steam ahead” despite growing calls from members of his party to step aside after a disastrous performance at the CNN Presidential Debate in Atlanta.
However, later that evening, the president appeared to change his mind about the direction of his re-election bid after speaking with two of his closest aides.
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A letter was posted to Biden’s social media account on X, formerly Twitter, Sunday afternoon announcing his decision to “stand down” from the 2024 race.
President Biden takes zero questions from reporters during his bilateral meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. (Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In his fourth address to the nation, the 46th president said the only way to move forward is to “pass the torch to a new generation.”
Biden reflected on his administration’s successes throughout the past three years but argued he wouldn’t be seeking re-election because the “defense of democracy” is “more important than any title.”
“There was enough mention of democracy and the sacredness of it to suggest that it was more than a little political motivation in his speech, since democracy and the salvation of it has been such a theme of his and Kamala Harris’s election program,” Hume told Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. “But it was quite a conversion overnight, it seems, if you believe it. I’m not sure I do.”
“I think when we all look back on this in the fullness of time and perhaps with a better explanation of exactly the decision-making process the president went through, it will be seen as inevitable once that debate happened that he would have to step aside and that someone else would have to come forward,” he continued.
President Joe Biden was mocked on social media for appearing confused during the Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Ceremony this weekend. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Former White House press secretary and “The Five” co-host Dana Perino said she wanted to “love” Biden’s speech and feel reassured that he has the capability to lead the nation through the remainder of his term, but ultimately felt like it was a “mini State of the Union.”
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“It was like something he could have given in January of 2025. It rang hollow for me,” she noted. “It did not answer any of those questions, and I do not think that it helps Kamala Harris as she tries to make some sort of a break with him as she tries to get this nomination and try to beat Donald Trump.”