President Joe Biden rejected calls to end his re-election bid and denied that his debate performance did any significant harm to his campaign, a defiant stance that has further irked Democrats who fear he has not dealt honestly with their biggest political crisis.
In an interview with ABC News on Friday, Biden declined to undergo an independent medical examination to reassure the public about his mental state, though he insisted he has the ability to serve four more years.
He did not acknowledge that he was trailing Donald Trump in opinion polls, said he had not heard any direct talk among senior Democrats that he was being called upon to step down, and said only “God Almighty” would motivate him to end his effort.
And while the 81-year-old president avoided the critical gaffes that plagued his inconsistent debate performances, the 22-minute prime-time interview with anchor George Stephanopoulos was not able to assuage concerns among voters, donors and Democratic officials who have spent the past week nervous that he would not only fail to defeat his Republican opponent but that he would not be able to serve another four years even if he managed to win re-election.
“I think as long as I’ve given my best and I’ve done the best job that I can, that’s the essence of it,” Biden said, when asked how he would feel if Trump wins the election in January, a nightmare scenario for Democrats.
This stance by Biden is perhaps the only strategy available to a candidate who is determined to continue his bid for a second term. After a revised speech by Biden on Friday in which he acknowledged his age and attacked Trump more forcefully, his campaign indicated he plans to hold more events on Sunday in the battleground state of Pennsylvania and beyond.
Several polls released after the debate showed Biden trailing Trump, with many showing him trailing by 6 percentage points. The share of voters who believe he is too old to be president rose to 74% in a New York Times/Siena College poll.
Polling rejected
However, when asked if he thought he was behind, Biden said, “All the pollsters I talked to told me it’s a tossup.”
One Democratic donor, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said he was angered by Biden supporters who did not encourage him to step down, calling the ongoing campaign delusional and selfish.
“He is dangerously ignorant of people’s concerns,” David Axelrod, a former Obama White House adviser who has been critical of Biden, wrote on X after the interview.
Before Biden appeared on ABC, Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois joined a group of more than a half-dozen House Democrats who have either explicitly called on the president to exit, or have said they believe he will lose to Trump in November.
Biden acknowledged that Senator Mark Warner, a prominent Democrat from Virginia, is trying to mobilize other lawmakers to pressure him to drop out of the election. The president said he has heard from others that he should stay in the race.
“Mark and I have different perspectives,” Biden told Stephanopoulos.
The president added, “If God Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I would drop out of the race. God Almighty is not coming down.”
‘Was not in control’
Biden described his poor performance at the debate as a “bad incident” caused by a nasty cold and said there was “no indication of any serious condition.” Asked when he realized he had a bad night, Biden suggested that at one point he was distracted by Trump’s yelling.
“I realized I wasn’t in control,” he said of that moment.
Asked if he had watched his debate performance, which had worried Democratic colleagues, Biden said, “I don’t think I did, no.”
The interview took place during a visit to Wisconsin in which Biden made it clear he is not considering dropping out of the race. He said those who seek to pressure him are disrespecting the will of Democratic primary voters, and that he still believes he represents the best chance for Democrats to defeat Trump.
The issue will be put under intense scrutiny in the coming weeks, amid growing concern among Democratic lawmakers and donors.
After his visit to Pennsylvania, Biden will host NATO leaders at a summit in Washington starting Tuesday. The president’s increased schedule is a response to nervous Democrats who have demanded he do more to prove to voters he is capable of serving four more years in the White House.
Yet some Democrats remain cautious.
Biden met with more than 20 Democratic governors behind closed doors on Wednesday to ease the crisis that has dogged his presidency and told them they were “in it to win.” He received public votes of confidence from several governors, including Gavin Newsom of California and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan.
But privately governors had tough questions for the president and acknowledged they needed more sleep to move forward, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
One of the participants, Massachusetts Governor Maura Haley, released a statement Friday in which she stopped short of calling on Biden to drop out of the election but pressed him to at least consider the possibility.
“I urge him to listen to the American people and carefully evaluate whether he is our best hope to defeat Donald Trump,” she said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
