MADISON, Wis. — President Joe Biden, fighting to salvage his threatened reelection effort, used a highly anticipated TV interview Friday to repeatedly reject an independent medical assessment that would show voters he is ready to serve another term, while blaming his disastrous debate performance on a “bad episode” and saying there were “no indications of any serious condition.”
“Look, I take a cognitive test every day,” Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, referring to the tasks he faces daily in a rigorous job. “Every day I take this test. Everything I do. You know, I’m not just campaigning, I’m also running the world.”
Biden, 81, got through the 22-minute interview without any major errors that could do further damage to his imperiled candidacy, but he seemed unlikely to fully assuage concerns about his age and physical condition for another four years and his ability to defeat Donald Trump in November.
That left Biden deadlocked against a not insignificant faction of his party, with four months until Election Day and just a few weeks until the Democratic National Convention. The prolonged spectacle could benefit Biden’s efforts to stay in the race by limiting the party’s options to replace him. But it could also be a distraction from vital efforts to frame the 2024 race as a referendum on Trump.
During the interview, Biden insisted that he was no more fragile than at the beginning of his presidency. He said he undergoes “continuous evaluation” by his personal doctors and they “don’t hesitate to let me know” if something is wrong.
“Can I run 100 in 10 flat? No. But I’m still in good shape,” Biden said.
As for the debate, “I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of preparation,” Biden said.
Biden suggested that Trump’s interruptions – just feet away – had disturbed him: “I noticed that even when I was answering a question and they turned off the microphone, he was still yelling and I let that distract me. I’m not blaming it. But I realized I just wasn’t in control.”
Biden rambled at times during the interview, which ABC said was shown in its entirety and without edits. At one point, he began explaining his debate performance, then veered into a New York Times poll, then turned to the lies Trump told during the debate. Biden also referred to the medium-term “red wave” as occurring in 2020 rather than 2022.
Asked how he could turn the race around, Biden argued that one key would be large, energetic rallies like the one he held Friday in Wisconsin. When reminded that Trump routinely draws larger crowds, the president lashed out at his opponent.
“Trump is a pathological liar,” Biden said, accusing Trump of botching the federal response to the COVID pandemic and failing to create jobs. “Have you ever seen something Trump did that benefited someone else and not him?”
The interview, combined with a weekend campaign campaign in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, was part of Biden’s rigorous effort to correct the course of his difficult debate performance. But internal party frustrations continue to fester, with an influential Democratic senator working on a nascent effort to encourage the president to drop out of the race and Democrats calmly talking about where they would go next if the president dropped out — or what it would mean. if he stayed. in.
“It is President Biden’s decision to remain in the race or not. Voters select our nominee and they chose him,” said California Rep. Ro Khanna, a member of the Biden campaign’s national advisory board, which serves as a gathering of his top surrogates. for the job and it will require more than just this interview.”
One Democrat watching said he found Biden was still unstable under controlled conditions and predicted more people would call on him to drop out of the race.
Still, in Wisconsin, Biden was focused on proving his ability to serve another term. When asked whether he would pause his campaign, he told reporters he was “completely ruling out that possibility” and said he was “certain” he could serve another four years. At a rally before hundreds of supporters, he acknowledged his subpar debate performance but insisted: “I’m running and I’m going to win again.”
While private angst among Democratic lawmakers, donors and strategists has increased since the debate, most of the party has kept the public fire as it waits to see if the president can restore confidence with his weekend trip and form how you conducted the interview. Top Biden campaign officials were sending text messages to lawmakers encouraging them to refrain from public comment on the situation and to give the president a chance to respond, according to a Democrat granted anonymity to discuss the situation.
To that end, Senator Mark Warner reached out to other senators throughout this week to discuss whether he should ask Biden to drop out of the race, according to three people familiar with the effort who requested anonymity to speak about private conversations. The Virginia Democrat’s moves are notable given his chairmanship of the Senate Intelligence Committee and his reputation as a lawmaker who supports Biden and has working relationships with colleagues from both parties. Warner’s effort was first reported by The Washington Post.
The strategy remains fluid. One of the people with knowledge of Warner’s effort said there are enough Senate Democrats concerned about Biden’s ability to run for reelection to take some kind of action, although there has not yet been consensus on what that plan would be. Some of the Democratic senators could meet as early as Monday to discuss how to move forward.
Key House Democratic committees plan to meet virtually on Sunday to discuss the situation, according to a person familiar with the meeting who was granted anonymity to speak about the matter.
At least four House Democrats have called on Biden to resign as their candidate. While he didn’t go that far, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said in a carefully worded statement Friday that Biden now has a decision to make about “the best path forward.”
“I ask you to listen to the American people and carefully consider whether you remain our best hope for defeating Donald Trump,” Healey said.
In the interview, Biden was asked how he could be persuaded to drop out of the race. He laughed and replied, “If the Lord Almighty comes and tells me this, I can do it.”
There were also some signs of discontent at Biden’s campaign rally on Friday, with one person on stage waving a sign that said “Pass the torch Joe” as the president left. His motorcade was also greeted at secondary school by some people who encouraged him to move forward.
But Rebecca Green, a 52-year-old environmental scientist from Madison, said she finds Biden’s energy reassuring. “We were just hoping he would come out strong and fight again, the way we know he is.”
Many Democratic lawmakers, listening to voters at home during the holiday week, are deeply frustrated and divided over whether Biden should stay or go. Privately, arguments among House Democrats escalated this week as word spread that some of them were drafting public letters suggesting the president should drop out of the race.
Biden appears to have brought his family closer together as he tries to prove that he is still the Democrats’ best option.
Hunter Biden’s ubiquitous presence in the West Wing since the debate has become an uncomfortable dynamic for many staffers, according to two Democrats close to the White House who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic.
For many officials, the sight of Hunter Biden, just weeks after his gun conviction, taking a greater role in counseling his father has been disturbing and a questionable choice, they said.
In a hastily arranged meeting with more than 20 Democratic governors on Wednesday night, Biden acknowledged that he needs to sleep more and limit evening events so he can rest up for work. When trying to explain these comments, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stressed that Biden “works 24 hours a day”, but that “he also recognizes the importance of finding a balance and taking care of himself”.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who attended the meeting, said Biden “certainly engaged with us on complicated issues.”
“But again, this is something he needs to not only reassure Democratic governors, but also reassure the American people,” Beshear said.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
