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President Joe Biden shocked the nation when he announced on Sunday, July 21, 2024 that he was withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race.
In a letter he shared to social media, Biden said, “It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.” In a separate post, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic Party’s nominee for president, and urged Americans to support her.
As love and support poured in from all over the country, CNN host and political analyst Van Jones reacted with the raw and earnest emotion he often displays in seismic political moments. He compared the last few weeks, during which Biden faced immense pressure from Democrats to step aside after a shocking debate performance that highlighted the president’s advancing age, to fighting tooth and nail to take the car keys away from a stubborn grandfather.
“You finally get the keys back,” Jones said, followed by a powerful pause. “And then you just cry. Because this is somebody that you love. This is somebody that you care about. This is somebody who was there for you. This is somebody…you wouldn’t be here without him. And you have to take something from him.”
Jones then called Biden “one of the great humans in America,” implying that Biden, who longed to stay in the race, put aside his own pride, ego, and self-interest in making this decision. “This is leadership. This is patriotism. This is what it means to put the country first, and put the party first, and put the cause first.” Jones then added, “When your arm gets tired, you let somebody else finish pitching the game… He’s done that for all of us.”
Jones expressed deep love for Biden and noted how “painful” it was to speak of him as a problem for Democrats in recent weeks. Notably, Jones had used the word “painful” during his post-debate analysis in June, reflecting on how much it hurt to see Biden diminished. Both Biden’s condition and the honest confrontation of what it could mean for the 2024 election clearly weighed on Jones’ soul.
With his voice on the verge of breaking, Jones continued processing Biden’s withdrawal, predicting that the Democratic convention in August will see people “crying, standing, screaming, cheering — he may not get a chance to talk for ten minutes.” He declared Biden did the right thing and would be embraced and honored for it.
A final marker of Jones’ characteristic endless well of compassion came when he connected Biden’s personal experience with the human experience: “All of us are gonna be in this situation some day.” From car keys to the presidency, old age takes all from all. Put yourself in Biden’s shoes, Jones seemed to suggest, to better understand the full weight and difficulty of this momentous, historic choice.