Eight days after a debate deemed disastrous against Donald Trump and calls from his camp for him to withdraw from the presidential race, Joe Biden continues to try to reassure Americans.
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He was on a trip to Madison, Wisconsin on Thursday, where he reiterated that he remains his party’s candidate. And US President Joe Biden repeated the same message during an interview on Friday, July 5, with ABC television.
The test went pretty well. Biden seemed relaxed overall, without a tie. His voice wasn’t very clear, but he didn’t fumble for words or make too many slips of the tongue during the 22 minutes. He had just a brief pause for thought and a curious response when asked by journalist George Stephanopoulos if he had watched the famous debate with Donald Trump since then. He said: “I don’t think I did, no”, (“No, I don’t think so”)as if he thought there was a trap.
For the rest, this debate was a “bad evening”he said it again, and he is the only one responsible. Simply, he had “a bad cold”. This has been the talking point of the White House for the past eight days. He said he was “exhausted”that he did not feel “really not good”.
But Biden finds himself “in good form” and he thinks he is “the best to be president and win this election”. As for the repeated question about the possibility of taking a cognitive test, he refuses to answer and simply explains that his job is to take one every day.
When asked about the polls and the elected officials in his camp who want them to give up, he replies that he doesn’t believe in the polls. He points out that they predicted a Republican wave in the 2022 midterm elections and it didn’t happen. His approval rating below 40%? Same, it’s not “not fair”.
As for calls from some Democratic elected officials asking him to give up his candidacy, he responds that he has spoken to the leaders of the House and Senate and others on the phone, that they are with him. As are the governors he gathered Wednesday at the White House.
What if he were to make them lose their seats in November? Biden says that won’t happen. George Stephanopoulos finally asked him what he would say to himself if he ultimately loses. Answer: he will have “do the most.” In the end there would only be “Almighty God” that he would listen if he asked him to give up. But “That won’t happen either”Biden said.
We will see in the coming days whether the exercise has convinced his camp. He will probably be grilled next Thursday at the press conference he will give on the sidelines of the NATO summit.