The White House on Wednesday explained what President Biden meant when he misspoke and said “We finally beat Medicare” in last week’s presidential debate.
“He meant he beat big pharmaceutical companies,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. he said in a briefing when asked about the president’s words. “I mean, that’s what he meant.”
The president’s statement on Medicare last Thursday night left some confused, and the president faced an overall negative review of his debate performance against former President Trump. The debate, in which Biden spoke hoarsely and stumbled over his words, left Democrats in a state of panic and raised questions about whether the president should remain at the top of his party’s ticket.
On Wednesday, the White House insisted that Biden would not drop out of the presidential race, and Biden said in a fundraising email the same day that no one is “pushing” him “out.”
“I am the candidate of the Democratic Party,” the fundraising email says. “No one is kicking me out. I’m not leaving, I’m in this race until the end and WE are going to win this election. If that’s all you need to hear, please contribute some money to help [Vice President Harris] and I will defeat Donald Trump in November.”
Some Democrats even called for Biden to drop out of the race or be replaced as the Democratic candidate. On Tuesday, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) became the first House Democrat to publicly pressure Biden to drop out of the presidential race after the debate.
“President Biden continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states and in most polls trailed Donald Trump. I hoped the debate would provide some momentum to change that. It didn’t happen,” Doggett said in a statement. “Instead of reassuring voters, the President has failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies.”
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