Former Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio called out President Joe Biden for partaking in simple public events following his Thursday debate.
Biden’s debate performance against former president Donald Trump led Americans to worry about his age and fitness, and the president has since faced calls to drop out of the race.
Ryan, on “CNN News Central,” said events like Biden’s short teleprompter speech on and his upcoming interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos are not sufficient to reassure voters about his competence.
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“I’m worried that, what’s today, Wednesday? The debate was Thursday and all we saw was a five-minute press conference, very muted, when the Constitution was just flipped on its head,” Ryan said. “Nothing that’s been happening is encouraging. And so we all love George Stephanopoulos and that’s great. But like, it’s got to be a lot more than that. It’s got to be a barn storm, it’s got to be town halls in hostile environments, probably like Fox News, and show us you could make the case.”
“And real quick, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Cuban missile crisis with President Kennedy, 13 days, the top brass in the country, joint chiefs of staff bullying him, trying to push him around to go into World War Three and he had the mental capabilities, the intestinal fortitude, the energy to be able to push back and prevent World War Three,” the former presidential candidate added. “That’s what happens for presidents and people sitting on bar stools in Ohio or coffee shops, they didn’t see someone who could do that on Thursday night. And it’s sad and it’s heartbreaking, but there‘s too much at stake for any one personality, one person to prevent us from beating Donald Trump and having an elevated aspirational message that I think someone like Kamala could give to hit the reset button.”
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Ryan wrote a Monday opinion piece for Newsweek calling for Vice President Kamala Harris to take Biden’s spot as the presumptive Democratic nominee.
“In short, she is ready for the job,” he wrote. “And, more importantly, she deserves a chance to go to the American people and show us her mettle,” he wrote. “Those who say that a Harris candidacy is a greater risk than the Joe Biden we saw the other night and will continue to see are not living in reality. It is not just utterly preposterous for the haters to say that, it is insulting.”
First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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