(Washington) US President Joe Biden said Monday that he made a “mistake” in calling for “targeting” Donald Trump, just days before the shootings against his Republican rival.
“It’s time to target Trump,” Joe Biden said during a call with donors on July 8. A formula that has been widely criticized since the assassination attempt against Donald Trump on Saturday.
“It was a mistake to use that word,” Joe Biden said in an interview with NBC on Monday.
“I meant, focus on him, what he’s doing, his policies, the number of lies he told in the debate,” Biden added.
The Democratic president has been accused by Republicans of responsibility for the assassination attempt on Mr Trump.
“The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. This rhetoric directly led to the attempted assassination of President Trump,” Senator JD Vance, now the Republican’s running mate, had said on Saturday evening.
Joe Biden called for a calming of the political climate and also sought on Monday to explain his delicate position vis-à-vis his rival.
“How do you talk about the threat to our democracy, which is real when a president says things like he says? You don’t just say things because it might incite someone?” Biden continued during his interview.
“I have not used that rhetoric. My rival has used that rhetoric, he talks about a slaughter if he loses,” Biden said.
The president also took advantage of this interview to once again reject doubts about his ability to run for the White House again, after his disastrous debate against Donald Trump at the end of June.
“My mental acuity is pretty damn good,” he said, noting that he is “only three years older than Trump.”
“In three and a half years, I have done more than any president has done in a long time. I am prepared to be judged on that,” he added.
Faced with the panic that has been sweeping through his camp since the debate, marked by his inability to finish certain sentences and his stares into space with his mouth open, Mr. Biden nevertheless conceded that he understood the voters’ hesitations.
“I understand why people say, ‘My God, he’s 81. What will he be like when he’s 83, 84?’ It’s a legitimate question to ask,” he acknowledged.