Joe Biden sunset as new Donald Trump dawns

Joe Biden is expected to abandon his bid for re-election within days amid collapsing support from Democrat leaders while Donald Trump has accepted his party’s presidential nomination with a rare message of unity and a promise to govern for all Americans.

Donald Trump with wife Melania at the convention. Picture: AFP

Joe Biden is expected to abandon his bid for re-election within days amid collapsing support from Democrat leaders while Donald Trump has accepted his party’s presidential nomination with a rare message of unity and a promise to govern for all Americans.

In another day of drama and upheaval in US politics, Mr Biden’s hopes of continuing as his party’s candidate has been all but destroyed by a broad revolt against his candidacy by senior Democrats, including Barack Obama.

Mr Obama, the most influential figure in the Democratic Party, now believes the path to victory for the 81-year-old President has greatly diminished.

News that Mr Obama has lost faith in the man he appointed as vice-president was a crushing blow to Mr Biden after reports former house Speaker Nancy ­Pelosi, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and house minority leader Hakeem Jeffries had told the President they didn’t ­believe he could win and that he could lose both houses of congress.

By contrast, Mr Trump’s campaign, so nearly derailed last week by an assassin’s bullet, is riding high after he accepted the Republican nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee with a speech that ­focused on unity and optimism rather than division and grievance.

The former president in a marathon and sometimes rambling 92-minute address that capped the four-day convention promised a “new era of safety, prosperity and freedom, for citizens of every race colour and creed” in what was the most unifying speech he has delivered of his political career.

“I’m running for president for all of America not half of America,” he told the adoring crowd, mentioning Mr Biden only twice, eschewing his usual volley of personal attacks.

Former first lady Melania Trump made a surprise appearance at the final night of the convention, which featured an eclectic line-up of speakers, ­including wrestler Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Fighting Championship boss Dana White, and conservative commentator Tucker Carlson.

Mr Trump gave a detailed ­account of his near-assassination by shooter Thomas Crooks, saying he survived because he “had God on my side”.

“I’m not supposed to be here tonight,” Mr Trump said, prompting the crowd to chant “yes you are, yes you are”.

The former president made a series of promises he couldn’t possibly all keep in office, including lowering inflation, slashing interest rates and the fiscal deficit, lifting wages, delivering world peace, and even putting the US on the path to curing cancer and ­Alzheimer’s.

“A growing spectre of conflict hangs over Taiwan, Korea, Philippines; our planet is teetering on edge of World War III, and this will be a war like no other,” he warned, boasting of his supposed good relations with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and how he can “top wars with a teleprompter”.

“It’s nice to get along with ­people who have a lot of nuclear weapons … I think he misses me if you want to know,” he said of the North Korean dictator.

In a speech that focused almost solely on himself and the “greatest movement in history of our country, MAGA”, Mr Trump praised his freshly minted vice-presidential running mate, 39-year-old senator JD Vance, whose much shorter speech a night early underwhelmed by comparison.

“JD you’ll be doing this for a long time, enjoy the ride,” he joked.

As his speech wore on he ­returned to his familiar campaign themes, decrying the surge in unauthorised immigration across the southern border that he argues has caused a surge in crime, and which have sapped public support for Democrats.

“Two things on day one: drill baby drill, and close our borders,” he said, referring to his plans to slash immigration and boost American energy independence.

Mr Trump wrapped up his talk a few minutes after 11pm local time before hundreds of red, white and blue balloons rained on the audience as the extended Trump family ascended the stage and Puccini’s Nessun Dorma boomed throughout the packed arena.

In the latest Democratic defection, it was revealed that congressman Jamie Raskin, a key member of the house committee that investigated the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, had written to Mr Biden saying there was “no shame in taking a well-deserved bow”.

Ominously for Mr Biden, no significant Democrat has come to his defence publicly since the ­reports that senior Democrats had lost faith.

Mr Biden, who is recovering from Covid at his home in ­Rehoboth, Delaware, and who has consistently said he intends to run, has not commented publicly on the Democrat revolt.

But US media reports that the President, who initially pushed back privately against the Democrat leaders, has now begun to ­accept the notion that he might not be able to win the election and may have to abandon his bid.

Mr Biden has said that he would consider stepping aside if party leaders told him that he had no chance of winning.

Ms Pelosi, who told Mr Biden that she believed he would lose the election and both houses of congress, has now reportedly told ­allies that she believes Mr Biden can be persuaded soon to leave the race.

CNN reported that “many senior-ranking White House and campaign officials” now privately believe that Mr Biden must quickly announce his departure from the race.

Mr Biden’s hopes of holding on have been further undermined by a slew of polls that show him losing ground to Mr Trump across the battleground states and by new polls that show his Vice-President Kamala Harris would be more competitive against Mr Trump.

If Mr Biden should quit the race in the coming days, Democrats must decide whether to have a rapid-fire contest between potential successors such as California Governor Gavin Newsom and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmar, or to effectively anoint Ms Harris.

If Democrats could not decide on a new candidate, they would be chosen in an open convention at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in middle of next month.

According to an average of bookies’ odds collated by RealClearPolitics, the President’s chance of being re-elected plunged to under 8 per cent overnight from 18 per cent a day earlier amid a deluge of dire polls that showed the Democrats were on track to lose in the November election.

Mr Biden’s Covid diagnosis takes him out of the public eye just when he wants to portray his ­vitality to Americans at the same time as Mr Trump is bathing in idolatry attention after the Republican National Committee in Milwaukee.