U.S. President Joe Biden has ended his reelection campaign and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee. If officially nominated by the party, Harris would be the first woman of color to lead a major-party ticket in U.S. history.
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00:00Despite a COVID diagnosis, a thumbs up from U.S. President Joe Biden the last time he
00:10was seen in public. Just days later, he posted a game-changing decision on social media to
00:16end his bid for reelection, saying he would stand down and focus on finishing out his
00:22term.
00:23Democrats and voters have been losing faith in Biden's mental fitness to beat Donald Trump,
00:28now officially the Republican presidential nominee.
00:31Going back, I think this was all Biden's fault. I think he made a lot of really critical errors.
00:37He's the power of the incumbent in an election, and he acted like the outsider. He didn't
00:43have to do that debate. He didn't have to do all these things. But he put himself in
00:47the position that where this letter had to come out today was all him and him only.
00:53In recent months, Biden's performance has sparked concerns about his mental acuity from
00:58stumbling through a televised presidential debate to sensitive gaffes at a recent historic
01:03NATO summit.
01:04And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he
01:10has determination. Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin. President Putin. You can beat President
01:18Putin. President Zelensky.
01:20Now some relief among American voters that there's a new way forward.
01:24That it was a brave decision for him to step down, to pull himself out of the race. I think
01:29it was the correct one.
01:30I am glad that Biden stepped down. You know, we've been really concerned about his policy
01:37towards Palestine and his full-throated support for Israel and the ongoing genocide against
01:42the Palestinians.
01:44The 81-year-old incumbent is now backing his vice president, Kamala Harris, to lead the
01:49Democratic ticket in the race for the White House. If elected president, Harris would
01:54likely continue many of Biden's foreign policies, including backing Ukraine against Russia and
02:00Taiwan's self-defense against China.
02:03Harris met Taiwan's leader, Lai Ching-teh, back in 2022 in Honduras, when both were vice
02:09presidents representing their nations at the inauguration of President Xiomara Castro.
02:15Harris also spoke with Taiwan's envoy to APEC in San Francisco last November, chipmaker
02:21TSMC's founder, Morris Chang.
02:24Despite Biden's support, Democrats have yet to name Harris as their official pick. It
02:29would be a historic nomination that would catapult the former California attorney general,
02:34a child of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, to become the leader of a major party ticket.
02:40The question for Vice President Harris is not whether can a woman win the presidency.
02:46It's can Vice President Harris win. Her approval ratings as vice president have been, are not
02:51great. In fact, in kind of the current polling, the matchups against former President Trump,
02:57she's faring only kind of marginally better than President Biden. However, Vice President
03:04Trump has claimed that Harris will be easier to beat than Biden, appearing prepared to
03:19take on his potential new opponent, airing an ad targeting Harris just moments after
03:24Biden dropped out.
03:31Many Democrats have quickly backed Harris, but others say the party should hold a mini-primary.
03:37With time running out before the Democratic National Convention in August, pressure is
03:41on the party to use this major opportunity to draw up a stronger route to the White House.
03:47Patrick Chen and Joyce Zen for Taiwan Plus.