Close Biden friend at New York Times says president must drop out, debate made him 'weep'

Some of President Biden's longest and staunchest allies, including liberal columnist Thomas Friedman, are now calling on Biden to allow another Democrat to run for president after his performance at the CNN Presidential Debate on Thursday night. 

Friedman, a close friend of the president's, wrote that the debate was one of the most "heartbreaking" events he has witnessed in American politics. 

"Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, has no business running for re-election," Friedman wrote. 

MEDIA FIGURES SHOCKED AT BIDEN'S 'BAD' DEBATE PERFORMANCE: 'TOTAL AND COMPLETE DISASTER'

Columnist Thomas Friedman, a close friend of President Biden, is calling on him to step down and allow another candidate to run for president after his widely panned performance at the CNN Presidential Debate. (Getty Images)

Friedman said that the debate between Biden and former President Trump made him "weep."

"To give America the greatest shot possible of deterring the Trump threat in November, the president has to come forward and declare that he will not be running for re-election and is releasing all of his delegates for the Democratic National Convention," he wrote. 

He claimed that he'd given Biden the "benefit of the doubt" before because of their prior interactions in one-on-one meetings. The president has been a longtime reader of the veteran reporter and opinion writer and looks to him for guidance on Middle East issues.

"I had been ready to give Biden the benefit of the doubt up to now, because during the times I engaged with him one on one, I found him up to the job," Friedman wrote. "He clearly is not any longer."

Friedman argued that Vice President Kamala Harris has a right to compete for the top spot but wrote that "voters deserve an open process" to find a replacement candidate for Biden, opening up the possibilities for Democratic Party leaders to compete before the Democratic convention on Aug. 19. 

"A younger Joe Biden could have been that leader, but time has finally caught up with him," Friedman wrote. "And that was painfully and inescapably obvious on Thursday."

BIDEN'S 'DISASTER' DEBATE PERFORMANCE SPARKS MEDIA MELTDOWN, CALLS FOR HIM TO WITHDRAW FROM 2024 RACE

President Biden is facing a potential political crisis after his halting debate performance on Thursday. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Friedman is one of many influential voices in the media that are now calling on Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.

The New York Times opinion page was riddled with panicked responses to Biden's performance, which was marked by a rasping voice, halting, sometimes unintelligible responses, and a seeming inability to pin down Trump on his record despite getting opportunities on issues in the president's wheelhouse. 

Fellow liberal Times columnist Nicholas Kristof also advised Biden to get out of the race.

The Times wasn't alone.

"If Biden truly believes Democracy is on the line, he should step aside and let another Democrat step in to take on Trump. Put the country first," Alyssa Farah Griffin of "The View" said. 

"Joe Biden should save his legacy by ending his candidacy," Vox correspondent Eric Levitz wrote.

The Biden and Trump campaigns did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report. 

Jeffrey Clark is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. He has previously served as a speechwriter for a cabinet secretary and as a Fulbright teacher in South Korea. Jeffrey graduated from the University of Iowa in 2019 with a degree in English and History. 

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