Vice President Harris got a bit of an odd hypothetical endorsement from one of President Biden’s closest allies Thursday, when former White House chief of staff Ron Klain pondered what would happen if the vice president should need to step in.
“I think if a meteor came down and hit Joe Biden in the Rose Garden and squished him, and he couldn’t, and he was wiped out, I think she would do a great job as president,” Klain said in an interview with political commentator Greg Sargent on “The Daily Blast” podcast from The New Republic.
Klain’s oddly worded endorsement of Harris’s preparedness for the Oval Office comes as Biden, 81, faces intense scrutiny over his ability to serve another term as the country’s leader. Biden isn’t backing down, despite calls from lawmakers in his party to clear the path for a possibly more formidable rival to former President Trump heading into November.
“I’m not saying Joe Biden has it in the bag, but I do believe firmly that he is the best Democratic candidate and is the person most likely to beat Trump, having beaten Trump previously,” Klain said in the interview.
On Wednesday, actor and major Democratic donor George Clooney penned a New York Times opinion piece calling for Biden to leave the race, and Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post calling for the president to stand down.
“We cannot unsee President Biden’s disastrous debate performance,” Welch wrote. “We cannot ignore or dismiss the valid questions raised since that night.”
Clooney, who describes Biden as a “friend,” similarly questioned the president’s capacity.
“The one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can,” Clooney wrote.
Polls have shown that Biden trails Trump in crucial battleground states.
Harris and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton both polled better than Trump in a Democratic pollster’s recent survey, while Biden trailed slightly behind his Oval Office predecessor.