Political expert predicts Biden will drop out before primaries.

Political Commentator Predicts Biden Will Bow Out of Re-Election Bid

“I think you’ll see an exit in the course of the primaries because if I am a [Machiavellian], I don’t want the president dumping out if I’m a Democrat. I don’t want Vice President [Kamala] Harris commanding the field.”

Political commentator and Reagan administration alum Hugh Hewitt made a bold prediction Monday that President Joe Biden will bow out of his re-election bid by the primaries next year. Hewitt sees the race shaping up similarly to the 1968 race when then-President Lyndon Johnson told the nation he would not seek re-election after barely winning the first Democratic primary contest.

Biden’s Age and Health Concerns

In late April of this year, Biden announced he would be seeking a second term, though he is already the oldest person to ever be president at 80 years of age. He would be 86 at the end of a second term. By comparison, Ronald Reagan, previously the oldest to serve as president, finished his eight-year stint at the White House at 77.

Following Biden’s highly-publicized fall at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Thursday, The New York Times ran what amounted to a puff piece over the weekend, acknowledging the president is showing signs of his age, but is still basically fit to hold the office. His aides are quoted as saying he’s mentally as “sharp as a tack.”

But the Times at least acknowledged Biden’s age is a concern for Americans citing a Reuters/Ipsos poll from April showing 73 percent of respondents described the president as too old to be in office.

Fox News host Dana Perino asked Hewitt to respond to the Times’ piece. “This is The New York Times tip-toeing into what is seen as the major story on the Democratic side,” Hewitt said. He went on to argue that two of the four reporters who worked on the lengthy story at least wove in the truth, “The president is infirm.”

Biden has some health issues, according to the Times, including taking medicine for atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat), cholesterol and asthma. Not as serious as Johnson, but worth noting.

History Repeating Itself?

Hewitt predicted of Biden, “I think you’ll see an exit in the course of the primaries because if I am a [Machiavellian], I don’t want the president dumping out if I’m a Democrat. I don’t want Vice President [Kamala] Harris commanding the field.”

“You do have [California Gov.] Gavin Newsom on the bench and warming up. He’s in the bullpen. Got a couple other Democrats out there,” Hewitt added.

Looking back again at 1968, what if Johnson had won the Democratic nomination? Could he have beaten the Republican nominee Richard Nixon? His approval rating, according to Gallup was slightly underwater in November of that year, 43 percent approve and 44 percent disapprove.

Of course that was up from a 36 percent approval rating in March just prior to him announcing he would not seek another term. So perhaps he was already benefiting from the uptick in approval former presidents usually enjoy after leaving office.

Nixon won the ’68 race somewhat handily over Johnson’s vice president, Hubert Humphrey, 301 to 191 in the Electoral College with third-party candidate Alabama Gov. George Wallace picking up 46 votes.

Had Johnson run and won he would have barely lived long enough to complete his second term, dying Jan. 22, 1973, incidentally the same day the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Roe v. Wade decision.

However, Johnson had a history of heart disease and suffered a heart attack in 1972. He spent the last seven months of his life struggling with the effects from it.

Will Biden Bow Out?

No one can say if the rigors of being president would have resulted in him dying while in office or if still being in power would have been an elixir for him. No one would fault Biden if he should not seek a second term, given his age. It will be interesting to see if Hewitt’s prediction comes true.

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