President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event in Raleigh, North Carolina, June 28, 2024 (AFP)

EA on International Media: Biden-Trump — “Pray for America. Pray for All of Us”

UPDATE, JULY 3:

I joined BBC Radio Ulster on Wednesday afternoon, amid reports from the Biden camp that the US President is considering his future in the campaign.

Listen to Discussion from 1:25.18

I explain how Biden is on “double-secret probation”. He will have to show confidence in a Friday night prime-time interview with ABC TV’s George Stephanopoulos, and at rallies in the swing states of Wisconsin on Friday and Pennsylvania on Sunday.

If he does not do so, he could be replaced — through pressure on him to step aside for the good of America, given the threat of Donald Trump — next week.

UPDATE 1105 GMT:

I spoke with Monocle Radio’s Georgina Godwin on Monday morning about the weekend deliberations — among senior Democrats and among President Joe Biden and his family at the Camp David retreat in Maryland — over whether Biden should be the party’s candidate in the November election.

I explain how the barrier is still support for Biden’s candidacy among his inner circle, especially his wife Jill, and the risk to America if he continues.

Listen from 45:59:

It is possible both to call out Donald Trump over his lies, including from the first to last sentence of Thursday’s debate, and to say that on the evidence of that debate, Joe Biden is a frail President who was unable to knock back those lies — as well as to highlight Trump’s criminal behavior and his threat as a wannabe autocrat.

And if Biden doesn’t step aside?

Then I think we are facing a meltdown not just of Joe Biden’s future, but of the American system.

He gives Trump an open door to the White House, not because people like Trump but because they think Biden is too diminished to do the job.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: I joined Times Radio’s Alexis Conran on Sunday to analyze whether Democrats can — and dare to — replace President Joe Biden for November’s election against the threat of Donald Trump.

I start with the combination of Biden’s frailty and Trump’s criminal behavior, lying, and wannabe autocracy to explain the necessity of replacement.

Pray for America. The bigger problem is not Joe Biden’s frailty. It’s Joe Biden, a frail President, v. a convicted felon/sex abuser/fraudster/coup plotter/serial liar who is the other candidate.

But I note fundamental difficulties: the short time available to pick another nominee and get him/her on the ground running against Trump’s mountain of lies — and, more importantly, Biden’s reluctance to stand aside for the good of the US.

The Democrats don’t have the luxury of waiting until November. They’ve got to make a decision within days.

By the National Convention in August, they need to unify behind a replacement candidate — because you have an uphill battle, building that candidate against the mountain of lies that Trump is telling.

You’ve got to get back the narrative that you’re competent, you’re decent.

We also discuss Trump’s strategist and white nationalist Steve Bannon finally going to prison on Monday — over his refusal to testify to Congress about the Capitol Attack and his role in the events of January 6, 2021 — and how mainstream US media continue to give him a platform for his destructive far-right polemic.