 "Democratic presidential candidate and US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a CNN town hall event in Aston, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, US, October 23, 2024. Source: REUTERS.")
A former aide of US Vice President Kamala Harris has said that outgoing President Joe Biden should resign so that she could be the 47th US President.
It may sound like a joke but the aide, Harris’ former Communications Director Jama Simmons, said this seriously.
In a discussion on CNN, Simmons said that Biden could ensure that Harris would become the president — even if for just a few weeks. That would make her the first woman president.
Simmons said that the decision would also save Harris the embarrassment of certifying her own defeat.
The Vice President of the United States also serves as the President of Senate and presides over the certification of election result on January 6. Harris would preside over the certification this time just like Mike Pence presided over the last time after the 2020 election — when President-elect Donald Trump egged on a mob to attack the US Capitol to hijack the certification to illegally overturn the election result in his favour.
When asked on CNN’s show ‘State of the Union’ about the most important agenda for the remainder of Biden’s term, most guests said that it should be return of hostages held by Hamas and the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, but Simmons said that Biden “could resign the presidency in the next 30 days, make Kamala Harris the President of the United States”.
“Joe Biden has been a phenomenal president. He’s lived up to so many of the promises he’s made. There’s one promise left that he can fulfill: being a transitional figure,” said Simmons, as per USA Today.
Quick Reads
View AllSimmons further said that such a move would keep Harris from having to oversee “her own defeat” during the election result’s certification in the Senate and “it would dominate the news at a point where Democrats have to learn” to grab the public’s attention.
Simmons went on to say that this was a moment “to change the entire perspective of how Democrats operate”.
“This is something that’s in Joe Biden’s control. It would fulfill his promise (to be a transitional president). It would give Kamala Harris the chance to be the 47th president of the United States of America,” said Simmons, adding that it would also disrupt Trump’s plans as he would have to label himself as the 48th president and order new merchandise.