The Battle Over Biden

Jul 3, 2024

President Joe Biden鈥檚 in the first presidential debate of 2024 has sparked about his candidacy within his own party鈥攅ven among those who have backed him despite his unconditional support for Israel鈥檚 genocide in Gaza.聽

The New York Times notably began within hours of the debate, and then published an unprecedented op-ed calling on him to 鈥溾€� by exiting the election. The paper has continued to publish a string of daily op-eds on the same theme.

But for years, a progressive campaign called 鈥攑reviously named Don鈥檛 Run Joe鈥攈as been calling on Biden to do the same. Norman Solomon, National Director of , which leads that campaign, spoke with YES! Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about the prospects for a new Democratic nominee.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined YES! in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽YES! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent 麻豆社事件 Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.