US President Joe Biden attempted to defend his electability and mental health in the interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC.
The 81-year-old president endured the 22-minute interview without any major missteps that might have damaged his endangered candidacy further. Despite, this is unlikely to fully dispel concerns about his fortunes for the next four years and his ability to defeat Donald Trump in November. He also dismissed concerns about his prospects, blaming his debate performance on illness and reiterating that he is qualified to keep running.
It was a bad episode. No indication of any serious condition. I was exhausted. I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of preparation and – and a bad night. (…) I don’t think anybody’s more qualified to be president or win this race than me.
During the interview, Biden insisted he is no weaker than he was earlier in his presidency. He stated he undergoes constant evaluation with his personal physicians, and the doctors report everything necessary without any embarrassment. Biden said he does a cognitive test “every single day,” but justifying his poor performance at the debate, he explained:
Because I was sick. I was feeling terrible. Matter of fact the docs with me. I asked if they did a COVID test because they’re trying to figure out what was wrong. They did a test to see whether or not I had some infection, you know, a virus. I didn’t. I just had a really bad cold.
Despite the more or less satisfactory interview, which did not contain any serious errors, Biden spoke incoherently at times. At one point, for example, Joe Biden began explaining his debate performance, then moved on to a New York Times poll, then went on to Trump’s false claims. Biden also mentioned that the midterm “red wave” will occur in 2020, not 2022. Therefore, in the interview, the host referred to the growing demands from Democrats to have a conversation about choosing a new candidate, asking Biden if he would resign if he was convinced he couldn’t beat Trump. Biden noted:
Well, it depends. If the Lord Almighty comes down and tells me that, I might do that.
Within the party, frustration continues to mount. Senate Democrats are anxious about the president’s ability to run for re-election to take some action, though there is no consensus yet on what that plan would be. Some Democratic senators could meet as early as Monday to discuss how to move forward.
