“No one is more qualified than me,” says Joe Biden

(Washington) “No one is more qualified than me to be president or to win this election,” Joe Biden assured Friday in a highly anticipated interview on ABC.

The American president, attacked on his mental capacities since a failed debate against Donald Trump, considered that his function was equivalent to “taking a cognitive test every day”, when the journalist George Stephanopoulos asked him if he would be ready to submit to this type of examination.

“I take a cognitive test every day […] “Not only am I campaigning, I’m running the world,” the 81-year-old Democrat said.

Although he expressed himself more fluently than during his failed televised duel on June 27 with Donald Trump, the Democrat nevertheless spoke in a stifled voice, and his sentences were sometimes incomplete or a little disjointed.

For 22 minutes, Joe Biden stubbornly and sometimes laboriously defended his candidacy for a second term against Republican Donald Trump, while some elected officials from his own camp called on him to step down.

Asked repeatedly about his disastrous debate with the former president on June 27, he repeatedly said it was a “bad evening” due to a cold and extreme fatigue.

Joe Biden said he “doesn’t believe” polls that give his rival the edge nationally and in key states, saying that in his view he was “neck and neck” with Donald Trump.

When the reporter told him that he had never seen a president get re-elected with a 36% approval rating, he said, “I don’t think that’s my approval rating.”

“If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I would get out of the race, but he’s not going to come down,” the American president said.

The 81-year-old president also appeared uncomfortable in front of journalist George Stephanopoulos, who was unable, for example, to say whether or not he had rewatched the 90 minutes of confrontation with his Republican rival Donald Trump.

“I’m staying in the race”

Friday’s interview, which airs in its entirety at 8 p.m. ET, is absolutely crucial for Joe Biden, who has failed utterly to silence questions about his mental acuity.

If he succeeds, he will not be saved, but if he fails, his candidacy for a second term will really be hanging by a thread.

According to the first excerpt broadcast early in the evening, the Democrat appeared much less energetic than during a campaign speech he had given, with a teleprompter, shortly before recording the interview in Madison, Wisconsin.

“You think I’m too old to beat Donald Trump?” he asked, to which the audience responded with a resounding “No!”

“They’re trying to push me out. Let me say this very clearly: I’m still in the race” for the White House, he insisted in front of a thousand supporters, according to his campaign team.

The Democrat, who left the stage to the sound of a song titled “I won’t back down [je ne me défilerai pas] “, also pointed out the inconsistencies of his rival, whose age and mental acuity are not the subject of such intense attention.

Behind him, in the audience, clearly visible during the television broadcast, a spectator carried a sign reading: “Pass the torch, Joe.”

“Evaluate your application”

The Democratic candidate still has a lot to do to erase the disastrous impression left by his debate against Donald Trump, whose immediate consequences he has not at all managed: a wave of calls for his withdrawal in the press and a surge in concerns about his mental health within his party.

A handful of Democratic lawmakers have already unequivocally called on Joe Biden to drop his candidacy.

“I look forward to seeing President Biden’s taped interview with George Stephanopoulos,” Rep. Brad Sherman said on X, saying Democrats “need” a candidate who can beat Donald Trump and outlining a possible roadmap to oust the president from the race.

“In the coming days, I urge him to listen to the American people and carefully assess whether he remains our best hope for defeating Donald Trump,” Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey wrote in a statement, two days after listening to the president make his case to a group of governors.

In any case, there is no desire to give up on the part of Joe Biden’s campaign team.

She released an intense battle plan for July on Friday, including a flurry of television appearances and trips to key states, including the southwest during the Republican convention (July 15-18).

Joe Biden is also due to host a summit of NATO leaders next week, and will hold a press conference on Thursday, another highly anticipated exercise.

Earlier this week, one of the most influential Democratic voices, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, considered it “essential” that Joe Biden do one or even two high-profile interviews.