Joe Biden’s departure: a political earthquake
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 22 July 2024
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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, (@SabrinaSiddiqui), 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.
Connect with us:
@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and YouTube
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Today, President Joe Biden changes the course of the U.S. election. |
| 0:15.8 | The U.S. President Joe Biden has ended his re-election campaign. |
| 0:20.2 | It's almost unprecedented in American politics, |
| 0:23.5 | putting the Democrats into uncharted territory. |
| 0:26.9 | How did Biden come to this moment, |
| 0:29.2 | and what will it mean for November? |
| 0:33.6 | I'm Malika Bilal, and this is the take. |
| 0:43.7 | Thank you. I'm Malika Bilal, and this is The Take. Something seismic has happened in the world of US politics. |
| 0:48.1 | President Joe Biden has said that he will step aside as a candidate, |
| 0:53.8 | and he will focus on fulfilling his duties as president for the remainder of his term. |
| 0:59.2 | President Biden now of formally endorsing Kamala Harris. |
| 1:04.1 | Joe Biden will not be the nominee for the Democrats in November's presidential election. |
| 1:09.3 | So to understand this moment, I talk to a journalist |
| 1:12.1 | who's covered Biden up close for years. |
| 1:17.1 | My name is Sabrina Siddiqui. I am a national politics reporter at The Wall Street Journal, |
| 1:22.3 | and I'm based in Washington, D.C. I covered President Biden when he was vice president to President Obama. |
| 1:28.9 | Then I covered his 2020 presidential campaign. And I've covered his presidency since he was |
| 1:35.5 | inaugurated in 2021 and was covering his reelection campaign. So you've been covering not only |
| 1:41.9 | Biden, but the White House and Washington for years as well. |
| 1:45.3 | And it's definitely felt like the forces around Joe Biden have been gathering in recent weeks. |
| 1:52.0 | What have you heard happening behind the scenes? |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Al Jazeera, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Al Jazeera and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.