NYT columnist acknowledges Biden suffered a "coup" by Democratic leadership

On July 21, Joe Biden announced that he would not seek a second term, becoming the first sitting president to do so since Lyndon Johnson in 1968. Weeks later, he revealed that several of his Democratic colleagues approached him with concern that his candidacy could affect other Democrats across the country, which finally led him to make the decision. However, for The New York Times political columnist Maureen Dowd, what happened to Biden was a "coup."

Dowd went even further than Anita Dunn, a top adviser to the president during his tenure, who recently argued that the press and Democrats were responsible for the unraveling of Biden's candidacy.

Although the most influential leaders of the Democratic Party denied that they were involved in a sort of pressure campaign against Biden, the columnist has another view of what happened. Without going any further, she titles her column as follows: "Democrats are thrilled. But a coup is still a coup."

"A coterie of powerful Democrats maneuvered behind the scenes to push an incumbent president out of the race"

"At some point, when the polls collapsed, the Democratic mandarins decided to put the well-being of the party - and the country - ahead of the president's ego, and stop catering to his egotistical fantasy that he was the only one who could beat Donald Trump," she wrote.

When it came to putting a name to the situation, the columnist boldly stated that it was due to "a coterie of powerful Democrats maneuvered behind the scenes to push an incumbent president out of the race."

She even gave the first and last name of Nancy Pelosi, who, according to reports, had not spoken to Biden since July 21. "One of the most ruthless and successful tacticians in congressional history seemed sheepish about knifing her pal, and conflicted over whether to take credit," Dowd added.

As for Biden's reaction, the president still maintains his composure in public, but neither he nor his family were dazzled by Democratic leaders' praise of him, which Dowd argues is a cover-up for the domestic coup.

Despite the curious and striking nature of the case, unique in U.S. political history, the NYT columnist believes the ends justified the means. "Those who pushed out Biden should be proud. They saved him and their party from a likely crushing defeat, letting Trump snake back in and soil democracy," she stated.