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- Former Rep. Jane Harman is warning Democrats who want to dump Biden: Look at what happened in Egypt.
- She argued it was "easy to knock people off," pointing to the overthrown of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
- "I don't think people would say Egypt has better leadership now than it did under Mubarak," she said.
As a growing number of Democrats call for President Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, one former lawmaker has a warning: Look at what happened in Egypt during the Arab Spring.
During an appearance on ABC News on Thursday night, former Democratic Rep. Jane Harman of California pointed to the 2011 overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as a worthy example to weigh when contemplating whether Biden should step aside.
"It's easy to knock people off," Harman said. "We saw it in the so-called Arab Spring. We knocked off Mubarak, the leader of Egypt."
While the US has denied direct involvement in Mubarak's overthrow, then-President Barack Obama supported the public revolt against the Egyptian leader, which came in the midst of the Arab Spring. Mubarak had led the country for nearly 30 years in an autocratic fashion until his resignation. In the subsequent 2012 election, Mohammed Morsi — a candidate affiliated with the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood — was elected president. Morsi was overthrown the following year, and former military officer Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has led the country since 2014.
"Where is Egypt now? We ended up electing — they ended up electing — the Muslim Brotherhood, which was a very toxic, unpalatable group and then that led to a military leader, El-Sisi, and a lot of journalists are in jail, and I don't think people would say Egypt has better leadership now than it did under Mubarak," said Harman. "I'm not totally defending him either. But knocking someone down is easier than building someone up."
Harman suggested that there's no clear plan for who will succeed Biden if he steps aside. Vice President Kamala Harris would likely be the frontrunner, but other Democratic candidates could seek the nomination at a contested convention in August.
"Where is the team that will succeed Biden, and how do we know they can beat [former President Donald] Trump?" asked Harman.