Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) defended President Biden in a new interviewsaying that many people don’t realize how often he follows an “aggressive schedule.”
Whitmer, national co-chair of the Biden-Harris campaign, has reiterated her support for the president in recent days as he faces growing calls to withdraw from the race after a weak debate last month. She pointed out Biden’s busy schedule in a new Q&A interview with USA today while answering a question about his age and mental acuity.
“Well, like I said, I think this is a 90-minute snapshot of someone who went to Europe and back twice in one week,” said Whitmer, 52, adding that it would even be “a brutal schedule” for someone her age. her.
“And then I think about all the extraordinary things that people see, but don’t actually stop and say, wow, he actually keeps this really aggressive schedule and it’s showing, and there’s certainly that debate performance, and then there will be millions of others where he will demonstrate vigor and capability,” she continued. “So I think now is not the time to just throw everything away for the sake of a 90-minute debate.”
Biden said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos last week that he was “feeling terrible” before the debate and previously blamed foreign travel for his difficult debate against former President Trump.
Several Democrats, including a handful of sitting lawmakers, called on Biden to drop out of the race after he appeared to stumble over his words during last month’s debate. Some have suggested that Biden support a different Democrat, with some floating VP Harris, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro or Whitmer as possible replacements.
Whitmer said in the recent interview that talking about replacing Biden made her feel “uncomfortable.”
“I’m co-chair of the Biden-Harris campaign. I’m working hard to make sure we’re successful. I’ve traveled, I’ve done a lot of work here in Michigan, and we’re going to get it done,” she said. “So I feel like this undermines the work I’m doing on behalf of the administration. So I don’t like to see that because I don’t want to talk about those things.”
Biden said he will not step aside. The incumbent continues to emphasize that he believes he is the best candidate to defeat Trump in the fall and even challenged other Democrats to challenge him at the national convention in an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday.
When asked whether it would be “good for the nation” if Biden decided not to run for re-election, Whitmer responded that “there won’t be any conversations along those lines.”
“The president is in this race, he is running and he has my unequivocal support,” she said.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
