As President Joe Biden headed for the campaign sidelines Wednesday night, a video appeared to show him needing help to enter a presidential vehicle.
Biden flew to Dover, Delaware, aboard Air Force One on Wednesday after revealing that he had contracted COVID-19. The president said he would isolate in his Rehoboth Beach home.
At a time when his physical and mental fitness have drawn extra scrutiny, the New York Post noted that the 81-year-old president moved “slowly” and gingerly” as he walked down the steps from Air Force One.
Once he made it to the tarmac, Biden’s struggles were not yet over, a video clip seemed to show.
ABC News’ live broadcast of the president getting into a vehicle indicated that did not go smoothly.
“It appears he might be getting a little help just getting into the car there, hard to make out through the rain what exactly is going on there, but it does look like certainly the president’s feeling the effects of early in the stages of COVID,” the commentator said.
Biden appears to need assistance getting into his vehicle after getting off Air Force 1. https://t.co/HdvHmPpeCb pic.twitter.com/4cGcNjQvQE
— jordan (@JordanUhl) July 18, 2024
As Biden faded into the Delaware darkness, speculation flared anew that his days as his party’s presidential candidate might be numbered.
Is Biden capable of leading the United States?
According to Axios, the 81-year-old president is close to giving in to the message being delivered over and over by Democrat after Democrat that he should withdraw from the campaign.
“The private message, distilled to its bluntest form: The top leaders of his party, his friends and key donors believe he can’t win, can’t change public perceptions of his age and acuity, and can’t deliver congressional majorities,” the outlet reported Thursday, saying Biden’s reversal of his pledge to remain in the campaign could come this weekend.
“His choice is to be one of history’s heroes, or to be sure of the fact that there’ll never be a Biden presidential library,” Axios quoted what it said was a friend of Biden’s whose name was not used as saying.
“I pray that he does the right thing. He’s headed that way,” the person said.
President Biden may decide to drop out of the presidential race as soon as this weekend, according to several top Democrats who believe the rising pressure will persuade the 81-year-old. https://t.co/Czmy98XMvQ
— Axios (@axios) July 18, 2024
Axios said Democrats fear post-Republican National Convention polls will show Democrats heading for an across-the-board defeat with Biden at the top of the ticket.
In an excerpt of an interview with BET News that was released Wednesday, before the announcement of Biden having COVID was made, the president indicated there might be an exit strategy linked to his health.
“If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, you got this problem and that problem,” he said, according to The New York Times.
