Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro he said President Biden’s ABC interview on Friday “wasn’t good enough.”
“I think the scariest thing was when [George] Stephanopoulos asked him, ‘Well, what if you lose to [former President Trump,] So how will you feel? and President Biden said, ‘Well, as long as I gave it my all,’ basically he would feel fine,” Castro said on “Alex Wagner Tonight” on MSNBC on Friday.
“This is not enough for the American people,” Castro continued. “That’s not good enough with what’s at stake in Donald Trump’s victory.”
The president’s interview on Friday came just over a week of anxiety among Democrats following a shaky debate performance last Thursday. Biden sounded hoarse and stumbled over his words during the CNN debate, sparking questions among Democrats about whether he should remain the party’s nominee.
Castro said Biden was “steadier” in Friday’s ABC interview “than we saw him in the debate” but that he is “basically in denial” about issues like “his decline” and poll numbers.
Biden continued to reject suggestions that he drop out of the race.
“If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I would get out of the race. The Lord Almighty will not come down,” Biden said during the interview.
Castro is one of the few Democrats who have said publicly that the president should drop out of the 2024 race.
“Joe Biden is a good man and has been a good president,” Castro he said on social platform X Tuesday. “But last week’s debate disturbingly demonstrated that he is incapable of effectively prosecuting the case against Donald Trump – let alone inspiring and mobilizing voters to the polls.”
“Unfortunately, President Biden is not the activist he was in 2020 – and he appears very likely to lose to Trump, one of the weakest candidates in presidential history,” he continued. “I am convinced that several other Democrats, including Vice President Harris, have a better chance of winning.”
The White House and Biden’s allies pushed back against those who expressed doubts about the president’s ability to stay on the campaign trail.
The Hill reached out to the Biden campaign.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
