Politics

Biden’s ‘Medical Condition’ Comment Sets Off Frenzy Of Speculation

President Biden Speaks At The White House On Health Care Costs

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Robert McGreevy Reporter
Font Size:

President Joe Biden’s admission that a potential medical condition or advice from his doctors could convince him to bow out of the election prompted a fury of wild speculation about what he’s going to do next.

Biden made the comments in an interview with BET’s Ed Gordon, saying he’d drop out if “there had some (sic) medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if the doctors came to me and said, ‘you got this problem, that problem.'”

Pundits and commentators took to Twitter to speculate that the admission was part of a plan to get Biden to bow out of the race.

“This seems pretty significant,” Aaron Astor, a history professor at Maryville College, tweeted. “I don’t know if a medical condition has already been diagnosed and not publicized or if no medical condition has been diagnosed yet. But him saying this at all suggests a path to exit the race may be coming.”

“He’s quitting,” actor James Woods wrote in response to the news.

“Is the coup moving into a final stage?” Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk asked.

Becket Adams, a columnist and program director of the National Journalism Center (NJC), speculated Biden could use the announcement to bow out gracefully.

“That’s the offramp that allows him to bail while setting up an “I could have won if not for X” narrative,” Adams tweeted. “It gives him a dignified exit and a chance to shape his legacy into something not entirely pitiful. More Lou Gehrig than King George III.”


Democratic leadership appears to be angling to push back their nomination of Biden as the party’s official presidential candidate during a planned virtual roll call, The Associated Press (AP) reported Wednesday.

In May, the party announced plans to nominate Biden early, before the Aug. 19 Democratic National Convention, to comply with certifications laws in Ohio, a state where the certification deadline was 60 days ahead of the election, according to AP. Ohio later moved the deadline to Sept. 1 for this election cycle.

Despite the change, Biden underlings and DNC officials are still maintaining the party must adhere to the original deadline “to ensure Republican lawmakers can’t mount legal challenges to keep the president off the ballot,” according to the AP. (RELATED: Dems Previously Rushed To Defend Biden’s Mental Fitness. But What About After His Disastrous Debate?)

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer reportedly encouraged the Democratic National Convention (DNC) to delay plans to hold the virtual vote to renominate Biden, according to AP.


The vote could have taken place as soon as Sunday, sources told the outlet.

The Democratic National Convention’s rules committee will meet virtually Friday and discuss plans surrounding the virtual roll call, AP reported. They won’t hold the roll call before Aug. 1, but reportedly remain committed to holding the vote before Aug. 7, DNC co-chairs Bishop Leah D. Daughtry and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz wrote in a letter obtained by the AP.

“We will not be implementing a rushed virtual voting process,” Daughtry and Walz wrote. “Though we will begin our important consideration of how a virtual voting process would work.”

However, despite saying they’ll hold the vote before Aug. 7, Walz reportedly called Biden campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon, pushing for the delay, according to ABC News.