Joe Biden’s historic and emotional farewell speech was banned from prime time television, sparking disbelief and anger – and sparking various theories among viewers.
The keynote speech in which the aged president officially passed the baton to Kamala Harris, ending his more than 50-year career in politics, took place in the middle of the night, beginning at nearly 10:30 p.m. local time on Monday at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois, meaning those who wanted to watch until the end of his speech had to stay up past midnight on the East Coast.
Biden was set to lead the Democrats to the polls in November’s election. The 81-year-old ran against the only slightly younger 78-year-old Republican Donald Trump. Both sides accused each other of being unfit to run, but concerns from Biden’s own camp after a series of falls, memory lapses and public gaffes led the increasingly frail-looking president to eventually agree to step down and let Harris lead the party instead.
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Biden’s speech was supposed to be the incumbent president’s keynote address, but for many viewers it came too late on a weekday. The timing caused shock in some quarters, with some viewers seeing it as a final humiliation for an American president forced from office. Others said Democrats did it intentionally to keep him out of the spotlight.
Biden cried as he was brought on stage and was visibly emotional during parts of his speech. He stressed that he was not angry about withdrawing from the presidential campaign and vowed to be the “best volunteer” Harris has on her team. “It has been an honor of a lifetime. I love the job. But I love my country more,” he said.
But his words were lost on many, and the timing of the speech seemed to provoke more comment than its content.
The New York Post The front page featured a photo of Biden with the headline: “After his bedtime,” adding that Democrats had dealt him a “final insult” by postponing his speech. The article said that “most people had already tuned out” by the time he began speaking at around 11:30 p.m. in that time zone.
Some viewers, however, pointed out that Biden’s speech would still be visible at a reasonable time in other parts of the country. Several users on X (formerly Twitter) grumbled that too much fuss was being made about the East Coast.
One wrote: “I’d like to remind members of the East Coast media that more than half of all Americans – including those in Chicago – do not live in your time zone… no one but East Coast journalists will care. Normal people stay up, or not, or stream at all damn hours.”
Others didn’t mind the late hour. One wrote: “Seeing all the comments on Twitter about the late night, Biden being pushed out of primetime, etc. Obviously the scheduling got a bit messed up. But the speeches were consistent and to the point. Everything seems fine to me. The people waiting to hear from Biden are diehard D-supporters.”
Others disagreed, saying the whole country could have watched the outgoing president’s swan song live, and many will now never see the speech in full. One viewer wrote on X: “I know my wife, she would have sat here and enjoyed the speech, but she’s not going to go back and watch it on YouTube. Multiply it by about 10 million people. All I’m saying is it’s a disgrace.”
Some confused viewers posted about the delay while waiting for Biden to appear. Mehdi Hasan, editor of Zeteo News, posted on X: “Am I the only one who doesn’t understand these timings? What happened to Joe Biden’s farewell speech on prime time TV? It’s almost 11pm ET on a weekday.” Another viewer added: “The first night after 11pm is brutal.”
There was much discussion about why the speech took place so late at night.
One wrote: “That’s the plan. Hide Biden from the spotlight.” Another added: “Of course they wanted to do that. Biden’s prime-time speech could be a disaster. They don’t want to remind people that they tried to portray an aging man with a declining lifestyle as fit for duty while raising questions about why he’s still president in his state.”
And statistician and author Nate Silver wrote on X: “However, the media is very focused on the East Coast, you have to be pretty naive to believe that the extended DNC tonight has any reason other than to reduce Biden’s visibility.”
However, the media is very focused on the East Coast, you have to be pretty naive to believe that the extended DNC tonight has any other reason than to reduce Biden’s visibility. https://t.co/LSd5DJzrON
– Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) 20 August 2024
Some Americans felt the Democrats had betrayed their leader. One viewer wrote: “What is the DNC doing to this guy? First they stole the presidency from him, then they successfully staged a coup, installed Kamala as their chosen candidate, and now they promised him a prime-time speech but made him wait until way past his bedtime. I hope he gets around to speaking.” Another viewer wrote: “Dude… he’s the damn president giving a farewell speech. They treated him badly.”
And Axios journalist Alex Thompson said on X: “A longtime Biden aide wrote, ‘This is awful. He literally put together a campaign and handed it over to them – do they have to take him off primetime?'”
A statement distributed to the media from congressional officials said: “Due to the thunderous applause that interrupted one speaker after another, we ultimately skipped portions of our program to ensure we got to President Biden as quickly as possible so he could speak directly to the American people. We are proud of the electric atmosphere in our congressional chamber and proud that our Congress is showcasing the broad and diverse coalition behind the Harris-Waltz ticket on and offstage all week.”
Newsweek has contacted representatives of the Democratic campaign team via email and requested further comment.
