On Sunday, July 21st, President Joe Biden posted a letter to the X social media site announcing the abandonment of his 2024 campaign for re-election.  Biden said he believed it was in the best interest of the Democratic Party and of the country that he stand down, and threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris. 

The announcement comes after weeks of hand-wringing about the president’s age and capacity, after a poor showing at a nationally televised debate.  Biden becomes not the first, but certainly the latest – both in terms of most recent and the latest in the election cycle – sitting president to withdraw from the race.   With less than a month before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the party finds itself scrambling to produce a replacement candidate to oppose Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump. 

Allison Prasch is an Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Politics, and Culture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Communication Arts. She is the author of The World is Our Stage: The Global Rhetorical Presidency and the Cold War. Professor Prasch visited the WORT studios to offer Monday Buzz host Brian Standing her perspectives on the latest developments.

Photo and web posting by WORT producer Nicholas Wootton

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