Joe Biden’s departure: a political earthquake | The Take

Joe Biden has exited the 2024 US presidential race, yielding to mounting pressure after a poor debate showing and growing Democratic unease over his performance. We look back at Biden's long political journey and the implications of his sudden departure for Democrats' prospects in November.

In this episode: 

Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter, Wall Street Journal

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Alexandra Locke, Sonia Bhagat, Ashish Malhotra, and Sarí el-Khalili, with Khaled Soltan, Duha Mosaad, Tamara Khandaker, Mohammed Zain Shafi Khan, Veronique Eshaya, and our host Malika Bilal.

The Take production team is Amy Walters, Ashish Malhotra, Catherine Nouhan, Chloe K. Li, David Enders, Duha Mosaad, Khaled Soltan, Manahil Naveed, Marcos Bartolomé, Mohammed Zain Shafi Khan, Sarí el-Khalili, Sonia Bhagat, Tamara Khandaker, and Veronique Eshaya.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Joe Plourde mixed this episode. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik. Munera Al Dosari and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

[daveh]

Americans should DEMAND better Politicians!

[davidmayhew]

We could see it coming like a slow train.

[MrAzman]

May he be charged together with nentanyahu for genocide and crimes in Palestine

[ChrisAlbertH]

The only earthquake came from the thunderous applause at seeing him go.

[wardaddyindustries]

Why is, woman, black, Indian qualifications for the highest office in the land?
America has gone through many changes. This is not our best change. We've always been a rowdy crowd, but our traditions of hard work, family, pride in belonging, and the cowboys respect is earned not given.

Thank you for your coverage.

[Jose-hsvk]

In the next debate Kalama is going to ask a very simple and straight forward question: Mr. Trump, when you were the president of the United States you had the majority in both the Congress and the Senate and yet you did not build the wall that Mexico was supposed to pay – were you lying to your supporters like you always do?

[KeliK]

It was about time. I applaud him for having the guts to let it go. He is exiting through the big gate with honors.

[praveenjha]

Hi so best live news around the world❤❤❤❤❤

[geraldmantel]

This "expert" analysis has inspired me to seek political office, I will start by appearing on Jeopardy and then go from there ...

[jeromedevotta]

another puppet leaves the joker arena to make space for another puppet
who are the puppeteers?
u know WHO?

[georgesos]

My father is 93 and watches biden laughing out loud, saying "how old is this guy?120?"..
It would be better for Americans to have my father as

[Retalak]

Why is YouTube spreading misinformation about this being related to the 2020 election 😂

[fahmad]

The dearth of leadership is astounding

[samuelrosander]

This whole thing speaks to a hard truth that people know but don't have an interest in addressing beyond complaints with zero action: the form of government known as "republic" is NOT representative of the common folk, but is representative of the ruling class. The political parties may stoke tensions, but their interaction with the people they claim to represent is entirely top-down (including in the faux "socialist/communist" republics). They aren't designed to represent the people, which is why "representative democracy" is a sham; the ruling class is represented in the same level of "democracy" that they've always been represented in with every other form of government, meaning that the official rulers listen to them and debate amongst each other for how to best fulfill their agenda. Republics are designed to grant deniability to that reality by allowing the people to vote for who the official rulers will be while having no say in what they do once elected. And no legal right to make them do anything.

The answer is to democratize from the very lowest levels of the small community to the most encompassing levels of state, nation, continent, etc. If people are to be represented, then they must represent themselves within their communities, between communities, and on up. The caricatures will have people believe that it would be total chaos, but that's because the ruling class has been training society to believe it without evidence, unconditionally and uncritically. Even many leftists (Maoists are among the worst) reject the very concept of democracy in favor of "better" top-down approaches, following the very same logic of the class interests that they claim to oppose: people need to be ruled over, and we can't allow the "wrong" people to do it. Rather than buy into the common narrative people should be looking at real examples of democracy in practice, thinking about how democracy COULD be made to work, etc. Examples like the Zapatistas and Rojava provide enough of a glimpse into what's possible, and Elenor Ostrom's work on the influence of socialization on normal behaviors and democracy provide evidence-based theoretical backing (in opposition to the "Prisoner's Dilemma" used to justify the "Tragedy of the Commons" nonsense).

We must democratize if we want things to improve. Demanding "better" politicians won't change the power dynamics, won't change the fact that the ruling class is not us, etc. Every election people talk about wanting "better, " but they always settle for "the second worst" out of two main options rather than any of the obviously better alternatives. That happens because people are disenfranchised from their governance. Enfranchise them and it starts being about what they WANT and how to achieve it rather than fighting against what they DON'T want.

[GrandmaRose]

A reporter for the Wall Street Journal? Really? That right wing rag? Do better Al Jazeera.

[dramerslunge]

Was about TIME THIS old man didnt do absolutely nothing for america.

[ma]

I don't believe anything until I see Joe Biden, alive, saying he resigned.

[mdabubakkar]

Al Jazeera news request Bangladesh news lazim

[ProSePlaintiff]

Why didn't the democrats picked Jeb Bush/Kamala Harris ticket?

[MuhammadZaheerali-sb]

Please inform your embassy as soon as possible or any other institute for helping me here in Pakistani punjab