Top Democrats threatened to \u201cgo after\u201d the US president unless he quit the race, the Republican contender has claimed<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former US President Barack Obama \u201ccan\u2019t stand\u201d President Joe Biden and was instrumental in killing his reelection campaign, Republican candidate Donald Trump has alleged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden announced on Sunday that he was dropping out of the race for the White House and endorsing his vice president, Kamala Harris, to run in his stead. In the runup to the announcement, Obama was reportedly one of several top Democrats privately urging<\/a> Biden to end his campaign, out of concern that the visibly infirm 81-year-old could not defeat former president Trump in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cObama can\u2019t stand him, and he can\u2019t stand Obama,\u201d Trump told the New York Post on Tuesday. \u201cObama had a part because he said he wasn\u2019t going to support him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNancy Pelosi dumped him,\u201d Trump continued, referring to the former House Speaker taking to cable news to cast doubts on Biden\u2019s ability to serve. \u201cThey all dumped him, and they said, \u2018Either you get out nice or we\u2019re going to go after you.\u2019 And that\u2019s what happened. And he had no choice. There\u2019s no question about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden announced his departure from the race via a social media post, made while he was cloistered away at his Delaware home recovering from Covid-19. This reportedly shocked some of the president\u2019s aides, who told Politico that they had no inkling he would leave the race until they saw the posts on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden has not spoken to the public since the announcement, and slurred his words during a phoned-in message delivered to Harris\u2019 campaign headquarters on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe was pushed out of power like a dog,\u201d Trump said of Biden on Wednesday, in a post to his Truth Social platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prior to Biden\u2019s announcement, most polls showed Trump leading the 81-year-old by between one and nine points. A Reuters\/Ipsos poll<\/a> published on Tuesday showed Harris beating Trump by 44% to 42%, although analysts have cautioned that this initial \u201cbump\u201d in support will likely subside in the coming weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe\u2019s the same as Biden but much more radical,\u201d Trump said of Harris. \u201cShe wants open borders. She wants things that nobody wants\u2026so I think she should be easier than Biden, because he was slightly more mainstream, but not much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obama did not join Biden in endorsing Harris. In a statement on Sunday praising Biden for stepping aside, the former president did not mention Harris, and called on Democrats to \u201ccreate a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges\u201d at the party\u2019s convention in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Harris has already won the support of enough Democratic delegates to secure the party\u2019s nomination. Should she get the nod, she will be the first presidential candidate in 56 years to run for the White House without ever competing in a primary election. Harris dropped out of the race for the presidency in 2019 with her polling numbers between 1% and 2%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n