Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and President Joe Biden arrive for an event in the East Room of the White House, May 9, 2024, in Washington.
| Photo Credit: AP

Vice President Kamala Harris is “just as much of a joke as President Joe Biden is”, alleged the Donald Trump Campaign on July 21, immediately after Mr. Biden ended his re-election bid and endorsed his deputy as the Democratic Party nominee for the general elections in November.

In a statement, it claimed that Mr. Biden cannot take himself out of a campaign for President because “he is too mentally incompetent” and yet remains in the White House.

Mr. Biden (81) on July 21 announced that he was withdrawing from the race to be the next President in 2024 and endorsed Ms. Harris, who is of both Indian and African origin, as the Democratic Party’s new nominee.

Also Read | Joe Biden withdraws from U.S. presidential race LIVE updates

His decision to nominate Ms. Harris (59) follows weeks of intense pressure from fellow Democrats after his disastrous presidential debate performance against his Republican rival and former U.S. President Donald Trump last month.

In a statement, the Trump campaign said, “Kamala Harris is just as much of a joke as Biden is. Harris will be even worse for the people of our nation than Joe Biden. Harris has been the Enabler-in-Chief for Crooked Joe this entire time.”

“They own each other’s records, and there is no distance between the two. Harris must defend the failed Biden Administration and her liberal, weak-on-crime record in CA,” it said.

In a joint statement on behalf of the Trump Campaign, Chris LaCivita and Susie Wilesoe alleged that Mr. Biden is a “national security threat in great cognitive decline and a clear and present danger to every man, woman and child in our country”.

“The question then to Kamala Harris is simple: knowing that Joe Biden withdrew from the campaign because of his rapidly deteriorating condition, does Harris believe the people of America are safe and secure with Joe Biden in the White House for six more months?” it posed.

“We are going to win this election on November 5 and save our country. And then, only then, after we win, can we Make America Great Again!” the Trump Campaign said.

It alleged that Mr. Biden was a “complete fraud and a disgrace to our country”.

“Mr. Biden has left our borders wide open, allowing up to 20 million illegal aliens to enter the United States, creating a Biden Migrant Crime Wave and taxing precious resources. Mr. Biden has taken our once-great economy and ruined it, creating record inflation and causing Americans to have to choose between groceries and gas,” the Trump Campaign said.

It alleged that Mr. Biden has been “weak, pathetic, and incompetent as a leader” and that he “allowed” 13 American servicemembers to be killed in Afghanistan, “which set off a chain reaction that caused Mr. Putin to invade Ukraine and Hamas terrorists to attack Israel”.

“World leaders are laughing at us,” the campaign said.

“And during this entire term, Kamala Harris as well as every other Democrat in Washington, sat by and did nothing. They are all just as complicit as Mr. Biden is in the destruction of our once great nation and they must all be thrown out of office,” it added.

Reacting to Mr. Biden ending his reelection bid, Mr. Trump on July 21 claimed that the incumbent President is “certainly not fit to serve”.

“Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve – And never was! He only attained the position of President by lies, Fake News, and not leaving his Basement. All those around him, including his Doctor and the Media, knew that he wasn’t capable of being President, and he wasn’t,” Mr. Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.

Mr. Trump, 78, added, “We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

File picture of U.S. President Joe Biden
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign on Sunday after fellow Democrats lost faith in his mental acuity and ability to beat Donald Trump, leaving the presidential race in uncharted territory. He also announced his endorsement of Vice-President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.

ALSO READ: U.S. presidential elections LIVE updates: Joe Biden drops out of race

Mr. Biden, in a post on X, said he will remain in his role as president and commander-in-chief until his term ends in January 2025 and will address the nation this week.

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Mr. Biden wrote.

By dropping his reelection bid, he clears the way for Vice President Kamala Harris to run at the top of the ticket, the first Black woman to do so in the country’s history.

Endorses Harris

Mr. Biden, 81, in a separate post on X, said that he would support and endorse Ms. Harris to be the Democratic party nominee ahead of the Democratic National Convention.

“My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this,” he wrote.

It was unclear whether other senior Democrats would challenge Ms. Harris for the party’s nomination, who was widely seen as the pick for many party officials — or whether the party itself would choose to open the field for nominations.

Pressure to step down

Mr. Biden’s announcement follows a wave of public and private pressure from Democratic lawmakers and party officials to quit the race after his shockingly poor performance in a televised debate against Republican rival Mr. Trump, who is 78.

Mr. Biden’s failure at times to complete clear sentences took the public spotlight away from Mr. Trump’s performance, in which he made a string of false statements, and trained it instead on questions surrounding Mr. Biden’s fitness for another 4-year term.

Days later he raised fresh concerns in an interview, shrugging off Democrats’ worries and a widening gap in opinion polls, and saying he would be fine losing to Mr. Trump if he knew he’d “gave it my all.”

His gaffes at a NATO summit — invoking Russian President Vladimir Putin’s name when he meant Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and calling Harris “Vice President Trump” — further stoked anxieties.

Only four days before Sunday’s announcement, Mr. Biden was diagnosed with COVID-19 for a third time, forcing him to cut short a campaign trip to Las Vegas. More than one in 10 congressional Democrats had called publicly for him to quit the race.

Mr. Biden’s historic move — the first sitting president to give up his party’s nomination for re-election since President Lyndon Johnson in March 1968 — leaves his replacement with less than four months to wage a campaign.