New York Times editorial board member Maya Gay defended the board's decision to call on President Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, citing his diminished cognitive abilities.
New York Times editorial board member Maya Gay has defended the board's decision to call on President Biden to step down as the Democratic Party's nominee, citing concerns about his cognitive abilities.
In an interview on MSNBC, Gay said, "It is not the same Joe Biden that we saw 4 years ago. I think reasonable people can say we saw this with our eyes."
New York Times Editorial Board Defends Call for Biden to Drop Out
Gay's comments come after the editorial board published a scathing editorial on Friday, calling Biden a "shadow of a great public servant" and urging him to "leave the race."
"We do believe that the stakes are existential, which Joe Biden himself has made clear, and it is, in fact, because the stakes are so high that the board feels it's so important to have the best chance for democracy with the strongest candidate possible," Gay said.
New York Times Editorial Board Defends Call for Biden to Drop Out
Gay added that the board's decision was "not an easy decision" and that it was not "an easy conversation to have."
A number of Democratic politicians, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, have been floated as possible replacements for Biden.
New York Times Editorial Board Defends Call for Biden to Drop Out
Gay acknowledged that some of the criticism of the editorial board's decision has been "frustrating," but said that "not everyone ages the same way. There is no shame in being 81 years old. It is actually remarkable. He has been a wonderful president, hugely effective. But it does not appear that he is the same as he was four years ago. That is undeniable."
The New York Times editorial board's rejection of Biden has been echoed by other organs of elite opinion, including The Chicago Tribune.
In an editorial, the Tribune wrote that Biden "was an encapsulation of what many Americans have come to know very well as they care for aged parents, partners, friends, grandparents and colleagues: a man now struggling to maintain a line of thought and keep track of complex facts, a man who gets flustered under deadline pressure, a man who has become vulnerable and yet, at the same time, far less self-aware."
The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
