Congressional Democrats painted President Biden as being like “George Washington” because he dropped out of the 2024 race – days after party leaders were pressuring the 81-year-old commander-in-chief to drop his bid.
The Democratic machine’s three-week, high-pressure campaign to push the president out as donors threatened to stop their donations if he didn’t step down succeeded on Sunday. Key Democratic allies like actor George Clooney and dozens of Congressional Democrats penned letters that insiders tell The Post sealed Biden’s fate.
In the days after his drop, Biden has been hailed for “preserving democracy” and heralded for his “selflessness” for suspending his campaign – with Democratic lawmakers even comparing him to Washington, the first US who stepped down after two terms before term limits had been established.
Biden is “going to go down in history as one of the best presidents America has ever had,” House Democratic Caucus vice chair Ted Lieu told reporters Tuesday – representing a sharp turn against party rhetoric against the president just days earlier.
“His selfless act this weekend reminds me of what George Washington did when he voluntarily gave up reelection and put country first,” the California rep went on.
House Democratic Caucus chair Pete Aguilar argued in the presser that “future generations, men and women, will remember that Joseph Robinette Biden served as the beacon of hope throughout the world to ensure that we put patriotism first.”
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) — who ran against Biden in the primary on argument that he was too old to serve — also made the Washington comparison while talking about a “Hamilton” scene.
“Remember the scene in Hamilton when he tries to dissuade Washington from giving-up power?” Phillips said on X before Biden dropped.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who Biden endorsed to replace him as the Democratic nominee, said Monday in her first address that Biden’s “legacy of accomplishment over the past three years is unmatched in modern history.”
What to know about President Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race:
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called Biden an “American hero” – just weeks after he said Democratic governors had “his back.”
Some Democrats who called on Biden to step down from his bid immediately praised his decision as “one of the greatest presidents of our time.”
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Rep. Adam Schiff, the most prominent Congressional Democrat to come forward in a public statement denouncing Biden, first said he had “serious concerns” about the president’s ability to beat Trump.
After Biden chose to revoke his bid, Schiff celebrated him as putting “the country first.”
The latest on President Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race:
Republicans have sounded off in response to Democrats attempting to make Biden a hero after their pressure campaign.
“This notion that the media is trying to peddle that [Biden] is like George Washington refusing power for the good of the country—he had no choice! They were knifing him in the back!” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Jesse Watters on Monday. “The New York Times was going after him, the big donors were going after him.”
GOP nominee Donald Trump said: “I can’t believe it! They’re turning Crooked Joe Biden, the Worst President in the History of the United States, into a ‘Hero’ – He was pushed out of power like a dog, and look what the Radical Left is able to do.”
Other top Republicans reminded voters that Biden being pushed out will lead to Democratic National Convention delegates deciding on the nominee, not the voters.
Trump’s VP pick Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) called Harris a “threat to democracy” because she’s likely to be voted in as the nominee without any voter input.
“We have to be clear about exactly what happened here … over 48 hours ago, just over 100 days before an election, Democrat Party bosses forced Joe Biden off the ballot,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters Tuesday.
Harris has not faced any Democratic challengers to her nominee aspirations and is likely to get enough delegates to cinch the Democratic nomination, despite Biden getting them first during the primary.
