New York Times Editorial Board Defends call for President Biden to Drop Out

New York Times editorial board member Maya Gay defended the board's decision to call on President Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, citing concerns about his age and cognitive abilities.

New York Times editorial board member Maya Gay has defended the board's decision to call on President Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, citing concerns about his age and perceived cognitive decline.

In an interview with MSNBC, Gay said that the board believes Biden is "not the same Joe Biden" that he was during the 2020 election campaign.

New York Times Editorial Board Defends call for President Biden to Drop Out

"We also have to be clear and honest with ourselves about what we saw the other night," Gay said, referring to Biden's performance in the recent Democratic presidential debate. "It is not the same Joe Biden that we saw four years ago. I think reasonable people can say we saw this with our eyes."

The editorial board, in an editorial published Friday, had called on Biden to "leave the race," saying that he had become a "shadow of a great public servant."

New York Times Editorial Board Defends call for President Biden to Drop Out

Gay said that the board believes that "the stakes are existential" in the 2024 election and that it is important to have the best possible candidate for the Democratic Party.

"The hope was that that that would be President Joe Biden," she said.

New York Times Editorial Board Defends call for President Biden to Drop Out

Gay said that she understands that some people may find the board's decision to be ageist, but she said that "not everyone ages the same way" and that it is clear that Biden is not as sharp as he once was.

"There is no shame in being 81 years old," she said. "It is actually remarkable. He has been a wonderful president, hugely effective. But it does not appear that he is the same as he was four years ago. That is undeniable."

Gay said that she hopes that Biden will "put country before himself" and step down from the race, allowing a younger candidate to emerge.

"It was not an easy decision, it was not an easy conversation to have," she said.

Several Democratic politicians, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, have been floated as possible replacements for Biden.

The New York Times editorial board's decision to call for Biden to drop out has been joined by other organs of elite opinion, including The Chicago Tribune.

In an editorial published Monday, the Tribune's editorial board wrote that "Biden was an encapsulation of what many Americans have come to know very well as they care for aged parents, partners, friends, grandparents and colleagues: a man now struggling to maintain a line of thought and keep track of complex facts, a man who gets flustered under deadline pressure, a man who has become vulnerable and yet, at the same time, far less self-aware."

The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.