Joe Biden continues to defend his candidacy during crucial interview

During his interview with journalist George Stephanopoulos, which is crucial to his candidacy, the president repeatedly dodged the question of whether his physical and mental health has deteriorated during his term. He also declined to commit to undergoing independent medical evaluations, saying that being president is like taking “cognitive tests every day.” Yet it is his cognitive abilities that have been the subject of heated debate ever since his disastrous debate against Donald Trump on Thursday, June 27.

“denial”

“I was sick,” the Democratic leader said, citing a bad cold to justify his poor performance against his Republican predecessor. Asked if he had reviewed his poor performance, Joe Biden responded with these bizarre words: “I don’t think so.” The sequence was immediately shared by the Republican camp, which has for years claimed that the octogenarian president is suffering from senility. “Biden is in denial and in retreat,” Carolyn Levitt, Donald Trump’s spokeswoman, said on Channel X.

Though he spoke more smoothly than he did during his failed June 27 televised duel with Donald Trump, Joe Biden spoke in a muffled voice, occasionally slurring or somewhat disjointed sentences. Will that be enough to reassure Democrats, who are increasingly calling for him to surrender? “The president is proud of his record, and rightly so. He seems dangerously disconnected from people’s concerns about his ability to move forward and his place in this campaign,” David Axelrod, a former strategist for Barack Obama, told X.

“God Almighty”

So the Democratic candidate still has a lot to do to erase the disastrous impression left by his debate against Donald Trump, the immediate consequences of which he has been unable to manage: a wave of calls in the press for his withdrawal and growing concerns about his mental health within his party. Four Democratic lawmakers have already unequivocally called on Joe Biden to abandon the candidacy. Democratic Governor Maura Healey has asked him to evaluate his candidacy “carefully.” The president has ignored these calls.

“If God Almighty came down and said to Joe, ‘Get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race, but he’s not going to get out,” he told ABC. The Democrat appeared much less animated than he was in a teleprompter-assisted campaign speech shortly before the interview was taped in Madison, Wisconsin. “Do you think I’m too big to beat Donald Trump?” he said at the rally, to which the crowd responded with a resounding “No!” There was no sign of surrender from Joe Biden’s campaign.