The editor of the New Yorker magazine publicly urged President Joe Biden to quit his reelection campaign, saying his dreadful debate performance against former President Donald Trump was "agonizing" to watch.
David Remnick joined the editorial boards of the New York Times and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in saying Biden should step aside to avoid losing to Trump in November.
In a "Daily Comment" essay posted at the top of the New Yorker website Saturday, said that "watching Thursday's debate, observing Biden wander into senselessness onstage, was an agonizing experience."
"You watched it, and, on the most basic human level, you could only feel pity for the man and, more, fear for the country," he wrote.
Remnick also said it wasn't "just the political class or the commentariat who were unnerved by the debate."
"Most people with eyes to see were unnerved," he wrote. "At this point, for the Bidens to insist on defying biology, to think that a decent performance at one rally or speech can offset the indelible images of Thursday night, is folly."
Remick said there were a slew of Democrats who could replace Biden, 81, as their party's nominee.
He called Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore "just a few of the office-holders in the Party who could energize Democrats and independents, inspire more younger voters, and beat Trump."
Biden has given no indication he plans to abandon the race, and delivered a fiery campaign speech in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday and attended a series of fundraisers in New York and New Jersey on Saturday.
