Jon Stewart Questions Biden's Refusal To Step Down

Comedian Jon Stewart is the latest person to speak out on whether President Joe Biden should stay on for the 2024 election.

The Daily Show host analyzed Biden's defiance amid calls for him not to seek the Democratic nomination and make a second run for the White House. The calls for Biden to step aside came after his bumbling performance at the first presidential debate against Donald Trump on June 27.

Biden wrote a letter to congressional Democrats, following the calls for him to drop his nomination, telling them, "the question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it's time for it to end."

"We have 42 days to the Democratic Convention and 119 days to the general election," Biden wrote. "Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us. It's time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump."

But Stewart was not convinced by Biden's words.

"For a campaign based on honesty and decency, the spin about the debate appears to be blatant bull****, and the redemption tour hasn't gone that much better," Stewart said on Monday's episode. "We're told that the threat of Trump is so great and the stakes are so high that even bringing up these absolutely legitimate concerns about the president's ability to do the most vigorous job in the world for the next four years is enabling fascism. Yet even the president doesn't seem particularly alarmed."

He then showed a clip of an interview Biden did with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos who asked him how he would react if he sought the nomination and Trump won the election.

"As long as I gave it my all and did as good of a job as I know I can do, that's what this is about," Biden told him.

Stewart reacted by yelling: "That's not what this is about. There are no participation trophies in endgame democracy."

"Authoritarianism and Donald Trump aren't the only threats our democracy faces," he said. "An arthritic status quo, unable or unwilling to respond in any way to the concerns of voters who just received new and urgent information about their candidate also erodes confidence and faith in the system of government borders. Honestly, 'get on board or shut the f*** up' is not a particularly compelling pro-democracy bumper sticker."

Stewart affirmed to his audience that he was not saying that Biden should step aside, but suggested that other Democrats challenge him for the nomination at the Party's convention next month.

"But can we stress test this candidacy?" Stewart asked. "Can we open up the conversation? Do you understand the opportunity here? Do you have any idea how thirsty Americans are for any hint of inspiration or leadership, and a release from this choice of a megalomaniac and a suffocating gerontocracy?

"[At the convention] anybody who wants to [could] give their sales pitch of how they can make democracy more responsive to the people it is supposed to serve.

"The winner could move on to the next round and face Biden…[or] feel free to ignore any obvious weaknesses in your team's existential fight for freedom and democracy and then just white-knuckle this thing till November."