The editors called the debate a 'gift' to Democrats after Biden's 'disintegration' was revealed
The New Yorker magazine issued a scathing rebuke of President Biden in its official endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris published Sunday.
The magazine heaped praise on Harris for displaying "the basic values and political skills" to defeat former President Trump in a lengthy endorsement, but not before scolding President Biden for standing in her way.
"It was hardly a secret that Biden has aged, growing markedly less robust, particularly in the past eighteen months or so. If he got through an interview or a (rare) press conference without incident, staff and supporters exhaled and treated it as a victory," the editors wrote.
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President Joe Biden speaks during an event with Vice President Kamala Harris in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, on gun violence in the United States. ((AP Photo/Susan Walsh))
"But, rather than open the gate to a younger generation of Democratic candidates, Biden, his advisers, and the Party leadership stood in the way. They made it plain that a challenger would inevitably be defeated. Meanwhile, through spin and deft scheduling, the White House staff protected the President and hoped for the best. Tens of millions of voters, fearing another Trump Presidency, had little choice but to close their eyes and think of America," the endorsement reads.
The editors wrote that the infamous debate, which led to the end of Biden's re-election bid, broadcast to the world the extent of his "disintegration."
"Viewed more coldly, it was a gift. Had it taken place, say, after the Conventions, it might have been too late to force a reassessment," the article reads.
President Biden on "The View." (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)
"Trump said… ‘I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said, either.’ By Trumpian standards, this was a kindness. It was also the end of the Biden candidacy," the editors continue.
The endorsement also spends a significant portion attacking Trump, calling him a "menacing presence in American life."
"There’s every reason to think that Trump II would be far worse than Trump I," they wrote.
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Harris, they wrote, has "got the ‘vibes,’ as this year’s cliché has it. But the race remains very close.
"In both 2016 and 2020, Trump outperformed the polls. No responsible assessment of the contest has the luxury of focussing only on the imperatives for a Harris Administration and gliding past the ramifications of another Trump Administration," the editors continue.
US President Joe Biden and US Vice President Kamala Harris walk to an event on gun violence in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on September 26, 2024. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
The New Yorker was among the first left-leaning publications to urge Biden to step aside after his disastrous debate performance in June.
"Watching Thursday’s debate, observing Biden wander into senselessness onstage, was an agonizing experience, and it is bound to obliterate forever all those vague and qualified descriptions from White House insiders about good days and bad days," The New Yorker's editor, David Remnick, wrote at the time.
"You watched it, and, on the most basic human level, you could only feel pity for the man and, more, fear for the country."
The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Yael Halon is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to