US President Joe Biden said on Thursday: “I’m not going anywhere,” during a Independence Day celebration at the White House that included a barbecue for a few thousand active-duty military personnel and their families.
Biden made brief remarks from a teleprompter before mingling with the crowd and taking selfies. At one point, someone shouted, “Keep fighting.”
“You got me, man. I’m not going anywhere,” he replied.
Biden’s mental and physical abilities have come under scrutiny in the week since his shaky debate performance against former President Donald Trump. At times during the debate, he lost his train of thought, at one point mistakenly saying he had eliminated Medicare, the government health insurance program for older Americans.
The president is holding more public events and interviews in an attempt to reassure voters, Democratic Party officials and donors that he is fit to run and serve as president for four more years.
In a July 4 interview Thursday morning on Wisconsin radio station WAUK, Biden admitted that he didn’t have a good debate last Thursday.
“I had a bad night. I had a bad night. And the fact is, you know, I screwed up. I made a mistake. But I learned from my dad: when you get knocked down, you just get back up,” he said.
The president will travel to Wisconsin on Friday and appear in an interview that evening in ABC News.
Biden’s reconfirmation that he would remain in the campaign came as some Democrats had begun to publicly question whether the 81-year-old president had the mental and physical capacity to sustain a vigorous campaign for the next four months and, if he wins, to govern for the next four years. Top Democratic lawmakers have expressed support for Biden, but at least two Democratic lawmakers have called for Biden to drop out of the race.
The effort to calm concerns continued late Wednesday, when Biden met with all but one of the state governors who are members of his Democratic Party.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who chairs the Democratic Governors Association, told reporters that Biden’s debate performance was poor but that the president is fit for office.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said it’s clear Biden “is here to win.”
“The president is our candidate. The president is the leader of our party,” Moore added.
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green highlighted his experience meeting with Biden after wildfires ravaged Hawaii last year and drew a distinction between the presidential debate and the business of governing.
“In this upcoming election, it’s clear to me that we’re electing a commander-in-chief, not a debater-in-chief,” Green said on X.
National and state polls show Trump gaining ground in the aftermath of the debate, though pollsters say the matchup remains very close. Biden campaign aides have called wealthy donors to try to calm their anxiety about the contest.
Biden has spoken privately with senior Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also of New York, Delaware Sen. Chris Coons and South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, according to a White House official and others with knowledge of the conversations.
In Congress, there has been growing angst among other lawmakers who feel Biden has been too slow to reach out to top Democrats and rank-and-file members, according to people familiar with the conversations.
White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients sought to regain White House staffers’ confidence in Biden’s reelection apparatus, noting that the president has a “strong campaign team” and that the White House’s job is to focus on continuing to implement Biden’s agenda. He also told staffers that Biden has always survived tough times, despite being sometimes written off during his decades in public office.
On Wednesday morning, the Biden campaign released a staff-wide memo showing that Biden has fallen only slightly in national polls against Trump since the debate and that the race essentially remains tied.
However, other independent polls have shown Trump gaining ground since the debate, which was watched by 51 million people.
A group of Democratic officials have begun to publicly express concerns about whether Biden has the mental acuity and physical strength to finish his campaign and serve another four-year term, which would end in early 2029 when he is 86.
Lloyd Doggett, a 15-term House member from Texas, on Tuesday became the first Democratic official to call on Biden to step aside, saying Biden should “make the painful and difficult decision to step down.”
On Wednesday, Rep. Raul Grijalva became the second Democratic lawmaker to urge Biden to step aside.
“If he’s the nominee, I’m going to support him, but I think this is an opportunity to look the other way,” said Grijalva, a progressive who represents a district in southern Arizona along the border with Mexico, New York Times.
However, senior Democratic leaders have expressed support for Biden after the recent debate, saying he should stand firm in the face of growing angst among his party colleagues.
Schumer, the Senate majority leader, said Tuesday he believed the 81-year-old president was fit to serve.
“I’m with Joe Biden,” he said, echoing comments from other senior party officials.
But Nancy Pelosi, a California congresswoman and former House speaker, said that while she supports Biden, it was “legitimate to ask the question: ‘Is this an episode or is this a condition?'” Pelosi said she was hearing “mixed” feedback from Democratic donors about whether Biden could continue his run for a second term.
ABC Newswhich compiles survey data, demographics and economic information to produce its election forecasts, said Biden had slipped slightly in national polls since the debate but still concluded: “With four months to go until the election, the 2024 presidential election is an absolute unknown.”
[Parte de la información para este informe provino de Reuters y The Associated Press]
Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channels Youtube, WhatsApp and to newsletter. Turn on notifications and follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Add Comment