Joe Biden “is in a very difficult and unprecedented moment, where he must regain the trust of his own camp”

The American president, who appeared weakened and diminished during a debate with Donald Trump, tried to reassure his voters on Friday in a televised interview.

A week after a disastrous debate against Donald Trump, The Democratic president defended, Friday July 5 in an interview with the ABC television channel, his ability to govern the country for a second term. For Simon Grivet, historian and lecturer in American civilization at the University of Lille, Joe Biden is “engaged in a very tough fight.”

franceinfo: What did you think of this “rescue operation”?

Simon Grivet: It seemed to me that it was an average performance. This is the Joe Biden we usually know. He answered questions. He avoided some questions, for example on the need for a cognitive test. For the rest, he did classic, he didn’t make any gaffes. There were no moments when he seemed lost during the debate. But of course, of course, he didn’t seem any younger. He’s still an 81-year-old man!

That failed debate last week was a real turning point in his campaign. ?

Yes, it’s a turning point. It showed tens of millions of Americans that he was in trouble at that point, that things weren’t going well, that he was having a lot of trouble answering questions and making coherent statements. So he’s really in a very difficult moment, where he has to regain the trust of his own camp.

This is absolutely unprecedented. The only previous episode was in 1968 with President Johnson, but it was not at all his health that was in question: it was the very strong, very powerful protest of a whole section of the youth against the Vietnam War. Here, it is really a question of his health, his abilities. Donors and some elected officials, publicly and apparently much more in private, are worried, think that he cannot win and worse that he could even make his camp lose. But during this interview, precisely, he said that he continued to receive a lot of donations, that the fundraisers continued to go well.

“It’s a balance of power that is being established and clearly, the coming week is going to be important. The media pressure is only going to increase. And if there are other moments where he seems lost, less relevant than usual, that will increase the pressure on him again.”

Simon Grivet, historian specializing in the United States

to franceinfo

“There is no one more qualified to serve as president of the United States than I am,” says Joe Biden. Is he sending a message to his potential replacements in this presidential election? ?

Yes, clearly. He tried to defend himself, to defend the legitimacy of his candidacy. He was stubborn. It is obvious that, in the background, in private, many people are hoping for his withdrawal, are starting to think about replacing him with his vice president. So he must fight not only against his Republican opponent, Donald Trump, but against a whole section of his rivals. It is really a very tough fight that is underway.

Only Biden could decide to withdraw, no one can force him to do so. He won most of the delegates at the Democratic convention. So, if he persists as he seems to be doing in this interview, nothing will happen. He will be the candidate. If he were to finally say “yes, indeed, I do not feel well, I am not able to lead this campaign and possibly have a new mandate”, the party should find itself very very quickly before the Democratic convention, during the month of August. The least shocking thing for Democratic activists would be his replacement by Vice President Kamala Harris, because she is already a candidate with him. Because in a way, she was also chosen with him.

Pollsters are testing several hypotheses at the moment. It is true that Biden was, until before the debate, the best hypothesis. Since the debate, he has lost ground in the polls. The other candidates would do a little better, but nothing obvious for the moment. We are in a completely unprecedented in-between.