Julián Castro on the Biden Problem, and What the Democratic Party Got Wrong

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

News, David, Books, Arts, Storytelling, Wnyc, New, Remnick, News Commentary, Yorker, Politics

4.2 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 12 July 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

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Summary

A former Presidential candidate, Castro tells David Remnick why Democratic leaders concerned about President Biden’s age were afraid to challenge the establishment and run against him.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC studios and the New Yorker.
0:09.7	Welcome to the New Yorker Radio Hour, I'm David Remnick.
0:13.9	The panic that has gripped Democrats during and after the first presidential debate
0:19.4	didn't come out of nowhere.
0:21.2	In fact, we did an episode on this program about President Biden's age
0:25.2	and the concerns that voters were expressing back in January of last year,
0:29.7	2023. But what we've been hearing from the White House and nearly all Democratic leaders is some version of this.
0:38.1	Biden's in good shape, he has an impressive first term to run on, and if he wants to run again nobody's going to stop him.
0:45.6	But after his disastrous performance in the June debate the party is grappling
0:51.2	with the consequences of that strategy.
0:54.2	Julian Castro was one of the first prominent Democrats to say after the debate
0:58.7	that Biden should bow out.
1:00.8	Now Castro ran against Biden last time in the presidential primary. He had served
1:05.8	in President Obama's cabinet as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
1:10.8	We spoke last week.
1:15.0	Secretary Castro, welcome.
1:16.8	You recently wrote on X or Twitter about President Biden
1:22.1	that quote, even before the debate three and four registered
1:25.6	voters and 55% of his own 20-20 voters thought he was too old to be
1:31.3	effective and you're not the only person to suggest he was too old to be effective.
1:33.2	And you're not the only person to suggest that, and as the week has gone on, we've seen this real
1:38.7	tension in the Democratic Party.
	...

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