After his first debate performance in the 2024 presidential race sparked concerns over his age and cognitive abilities, President Joe Biden is facing mounting calls from even his own party and biggest donors to step aside as the Democratic nominee.

Meanwhile, in the UK, the Labour Party won in a landslide in the general election, ending the 14-year Conservative rule and raising Keir Starmer as Britian's new prime minister.

Pangaea Policy founder Terry Haines joins Catalysts to discuss the political implications of both the UK election results and the nearing US 2024 presidential election.

"I said right after the debate last week that I didn't think the president would get out for a very simple reason. You don't try to become president for 50 years and then chuck it after one debate performance. But now he's in a situation where he doesn't have three strikes and you're out. He's already had one strike. He gets one more," Haines explains.

He believes that moving forward, Biden will have to convince voters and donors that he's up to the task and can win the election. "Otherwise, he's going to be gone pretty quickly," Haines says.

Haines notes that the donors who have stopped backing Biden shouldn't be too much of a concern, a crowd which includes Disney (DIS) heiress Abigail Disney: "The fundraisers always think they have an outsized impact on the political machinations on the inside. And they're not able, I don't think, to affect the result much. They can provide a little extra push if it comes to that, but they're not in control."

As the Labour Party celebrates a massive victory in the UK, Haines explains that the election highlighted "a situation where there's disgust and dissatisfaction with conventional politics as it's been practiced in the UK. Now, finally, what [Keir] Starmer is going to have to do is proceed cautiously and, frankly, bring the country along with him."

In order to do just that, Haines expects the Labour Party to move slowly: "You're not going to see Labour jump in here and all of a sudden start wildly taxing people the way a prior government might have done because that's just not going to wash with people. They've worked very hard to get credibility back, and they can't squander it immediately."

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This post was written by Melanie Riehl