Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House

Joe Biden, the 46th President of the United States, serves as the focus around which Democratic Party’s internal crisis in the 2024 election revolves. At the outset of the campaign season, Biden is portrayed as a political veteran—deeply experienced, respected for his bipartisanship, and valued for his decency. However, his age and apparent cognitive decline cast a pall over his reelection bid. Though he had pledged in 2020 to be a bridge to the next generation, Biden ultimately chose to run for a second term, reversing that commitment. This decision—rooted in a combination of legacy preservation, personal pride, and a conviction (which the authors portray as hubristic) that he alone could defeat Trump once again—undermined trust within the Democratic base and sparked a leadership crisis when his performance at the first debate proved disastrous.

Biden’s significance in the narrative lies in his transformation from symbol of stability in the face of rising fascism to symbol of institutional denial of the crises facing the US. When his weaknesses became publicly evident, the party was thrown into chaos. Biden’s delayed withdrawal from the race and his ambivalence in fully endorsing Kamala Harris undermined the cohesion of the Democratic Party.