US President Joe Biden returned to the campaign trail on Friday seeking to reassure voters and Democrats of his fitness for office after a major news conference failed to calm calls for his resignation.
“We have to get the job done. And I promise you I’m fine,” the 81-year-old told supporters at a eatery in Northville, Michigan, where he needs to win in November to defeat Donald Trump.
Biden was scheduled to give a speech later in Detroit in which he would warn of the “nightmare” of a second Trump term under the former president’s hard-right manifesto that his campaign is pushing.
But the voices among Democrats calling on Biden to step down have grown louder, with 19 lawmakers now openly calling on him not to run for re-election after his poor performance in the June 27 debate against Trump.
The bloodshed continued even as Biden insisted in a high-level press conference at the NATO summit in Washington on Thursday that he would run for and win re-election.
Mistakes such as calling Vice President Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump” or conflating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with Russian President Vladimir Putin among others kept his mental acuity in focus.
– ’40 years of mistakes’ –
“The president understands there are still some concerns,” Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler told reporters traveling to Michigan with the president aboard Air Force One.
“That’s why he’s focused on demonstrating that he’s the best person to take on and defeat Donald Trump in November.”
Tyler downplayed the verbal gaffes, saying Biden has been known to make such mistakes throughout his long political career.
“Joe Biden has been making mistakes for 40 years, he made some mistakes last night, and he’s probably going to continue to do so,” he said.
As the controversy surrounding the debate enters its third week, Biden has been trying to reach out to lawmakers, and on Friday he spoke by telephone with Latino and Asian members of the House of Representatives.
Meanwhile, Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, said he met with Biden late Thursday after the press conference.
Jeffries said he “expressed his full insights, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward” but gave no further details.
– ‘A total loser’ –
The campaign event in Detroit is Biden’s fourth visit this year to the state, which is part of the industrial “Blue Wall” along with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that were key to his 2020 victory against his rival.
Biden’s speech is expected to focus on “Project 2025”, a blueprint for a return to power by hardline conservatives that Democrats have said the former president will implement, despite the 78-year-old’s denials.
“Project 2025 is run and paid for by Trump’s people,” Biden said, according to excerpts released by the campaign.
“And this is the nightmare that would result from this.”
Concerns about Biden are influencing Democratic donors, with Hollywood star and high-profile supporter George Clooney on Wednesday calling on Biden to step down.
Several other major donors have told the biggest Biden campaign fund that about $90 million in donations would be withheld if he continues to contest the election, The New York Times reported Friday.
Trump, who mocked Biden on social media during the news conference, said on Friday that Zelensky’s mistake was “unforgivable.”
But he also said Biden “must not allow absolute failures like George Clooney, under the complete protection and control of Barack Hussein Obama, to remove him from office. That must be his decision, and his decision alone.”
Trump was referring to reports in the US media that some in Biden’s camp believe former President Obama, during whose tenure Biden served as vice president, is involved behind the scenes with the insurgents.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
