Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) wondered on Fox News why Democrats are the only ones having a “public and painful conversation” about their party’s presidential nominee amid concerns about their candidate’s fitness for office.
Fox News host John Roberts asked Auchincloss on Monday whether President Joe Biden can win the November election, following intensified scrutiny after the June presidential debate.
The congressman pointed out Biden is the candidate millions of Democratic voters selected in the primaries.
“Unlike the Republican Party, we respect free and fair elections, and what unifies us as a party is knowing that Donald Trump is an existential threat to democracy,” he said. “And my challenge to my Republican colleagues is: Why aren’t you having this same public and painful conversation about your nominee?”
He noted that Trump, too, behaved problematically at the debate, pointing to the former president’s incessant lies, his refusal to say he would accept the results of the 2024 election, the violence he incited on Jan. 6, 2021, and his stances on Social Security and Russia’s war on Ukraine.
“How much more do House Republicans need to hear before they’re willing to do the right thing?” he asked.
Biden’s feeble debate performance has ignited a firestorm within the Democratic Party as voters, political analysts and lawmakers deliberate whether he’s fit to take on Trump and lead the country.
Trump, a convicted felon who attempted a coup, cruised to victory in the Republican primaries and is slated to formally become the party’s nominee during the Republican National Convention next week.
