Michael Moore said President Joe Biden remaining the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee was "elder abuse" and called for his withdrawal from the race.
Moore joined a growing number of Democrats and other outspoken liberals calling for Biden to bow out of the 2024 presidential race after his lackluster performance during his debate with former President Donald Trump late last month. The filmmaker said the Democratic Party was "out of control" and made his call for Biden's exit in an article posted to his Substack on Independence Day.
“This was not a cold. This was a human being in utter collapse,” Moore wrote in response to some pundits playing damage control for Biden's debate performance. “Not just political collapse, or performance collapse, but rather a full frontal lobe meltdown where at any moment you had to wonder… was it possible that the sweet and fragile existence we call ‘life’ was about to short-circuit, or worse, lose power (to Trump)?” Dem leaders want us to believe we didn’t see what we saw at the debate. But my eyes don’t lie. Neither do yours. This isn't about whether Biden's fit to serve 4 more yrs—but rather should he serve 4 more days? What happened on that stage was heartbreaking. https://t.co/JTYETNCaVi
— Michael Moore (@MMFlint) July 5, 2024
“This is not about whether he’s fit to serve another four years — this is about whether he should serve another four days in the toughest job in the world,” Moore added. “That’s the question we should be asking.”
The filmmaker went on to offer an apology for his suggestion, indicating he was attempting to protect Biden from the "cruelest form of elder abuse" he'd ever seen.
“Biden was not well. Biden did not possess the faculties he needed. Something was wrong,” he continued. “Did nobody see this in the days leading up to the collapse? Did not a single person raise their voice to ask, ‘Maybe we shouldn’t do this to him?’ But they did do it to him. And the repercussions that we, the world, and the generations after us will have to suffer through are not even part of the discussion this week. It’s all about making sure he stays in the race — and nothing about the risk to his life he is facing as they push him to soldier onward.”
Moore then suggest Biden be allowed to "go home" and "rest" for the "good of the country."
The filmmaker concluded his article by asserting Vice President Kamala Harris was effectively the incumbent president.
"There will be no real convention fight, and nearly every American who had planned to vote for Biden will vote for Harris," he added.
