President Joe Biden worked hard on Friday to ease Democratic concerns about his lack of focus in his interview with former President Donald Trump, as elected members of his party closed in on him in an effort to quell talk that he would replace him on the ticket.
Biden’s halting of introductions and outlandish comments, especially at the start of the debate, have raised concerns among members of his party that at age 81 he is unfit for the job of leading the country for another four years. It created a difficult moment for Biden’s campaign and his presidency, as members of his party flirted with potential successors, and donors and supporters could not contain their concerns about Trump’s showing.
Biden appeared to accept the criticism during a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, saying “I don’t argue the way I used to.” But he added, “I know how to do this job. I know how to do things.” Speaking for 18 minutes, Biden appeared more energetic than last night as he congratulated Trump for his “lies” and for running a campaign aimed at “revenge and revenge.”
“The choice in this election is easy,” Biden said. “Donald Trump will destroy our democracy. I will defend it.”
He also added, referring to his election, “If you get knocked down, you stand up.”
Even before the debate, Biden’s age was a liability to voters, and Thursday night’s about-face seemed to reinforce deep public anxiety before perhaps the largest audience he’ll gather in the four months until Election Day.
On the sidelines, his campaign worked to calm concerns and keep donors and other representatives on board. Democratic lawmakers on Friday acknowledged Biden’s poor showing, but tried to stop talking about replacing him as their general manager, focusing instead on Trump’s attacks and lies.
“Well, the president didn’t have a good night, but neither did Donald Trump lie after lie and his dark vision of America,” Gov. of North Carolina Roy Cooper told The Associated Press on Friday, hours before he introduced the president. Raleigh. “We cannot send Donald Trump to the White House. He is a danger to our nation.”
Former President Barack Obama supported his former running mate, writing on X that “It’s going to be a bad night of debate.” Referring to his poor showing in the first debate of his 2012 re-election campaign, Obama continued, “Trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for the common people all his life and someone who only cares about himself.”
He added: “Last night didn’t change that, that’s why there is a big risk in November.”
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said “no” when asked Friday if Biden should step down.
Rep. Ritchie Torres, DN.Y., admitted he “should be taking fewer antidepressants than usual” after the Biden debate.
But he added that “a Donald Trump presidency would make me more uncomfortable than a Joe Biden debate.”
Biden’s campaign has billed the Raleigh event as the biggest rally yet for his re-election bid in a state Trump carried by a slim margin in 2020. Then he went to New York for a weekend of fundraisers that his campaign needs now more than ever. .
The Biden campaign announced it raised $14 million on the day of the debate and the next morning, while the Trump campaign said it raised more than $8 million from the start of the debate until the end of the night.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who was sent by the Biden campaign to defend his performance, tried to reassure Biden supporters at a rally in Las Vegas on Friday, saying, “This race will not be decided overnight in June.
“This race will be decided by you. I said,” he said. “Who sits in the White House next year will be determined by what we do together in the next 130 days.”
The director of communications for the Biden campaign, Michael Tyler, said there were no internal discussions “anywhere” about Biden’s withdrawal, although he also admitted that the president had a “bad night” on stage.
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., said he can’t sleep because of the phone calls he received after Biden’s “bad” interview.
“People were just worried. And I tell everyone who’s worried that you’re fine, overreacting is dangerous,” Cleaver said.
Rep. James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat whose support in that state helped Biden secure the Democratic nomination four years ago, said he would likely speak with Biden later on Friday and his message would be simple: “Keep going.”
Biden and his team have long argued that voters will look past their concerns about his age and unpopularity when they face the ballot box and choose between the president and Trump. Despite their concerns about Biden’s performance, they comforted Trump by doing little to boost his own appeal to voters on Thursday.
Polls from CNN and 538/Ipsos conducted shortly after the debate found that a majority of debate viewers thought Trump had won over Biden. But the approval ratings of both men remained unchanged, as they did after Trump’s conviction.
Democrats seized on Trump’s comments on whether he would accept the will of the voters this time, his refusal to criticize the protesters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, trying to reverse his loss to Biden in 2020, and his embrace of conservatives. -depends on the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade had legalized abortions across the country.
But Biden fumbled on abortion rights, one of the most important issues for Democrats in this year’s election. He could not explain Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. A strong three-judge Trump-appointed Supreme Court overturned Roe two years ago.
As elected Democrats rallied behind Biden publicly, donors and party workers shared panicked text messages and phone calls Thursday night and Friday expressing concern that Biden’s performance was so bad that he might not be nominated this fall.
Among the few public voices in the Democratic Alliance calling for Biden to step aside was congressional candidate Nancy Boyda of Kansas, who broke with her party and called on Biden to suspend his campaign and retire at the end of his current term.
But there were no immediate signs of an organized effort among donors, his campaign leadership or the Democratic National Committee to convince the president to step aside, according to interviews with several people who spoke on condition of anonymity to share sensitive discussions.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat who is often touted as a 2028 contender and thought to be a possible replacement for Biden, issued a statement of support on Friday.
“The contrast between Joe Biden’s vision of making sure every American has a proper gun and Donald Trump’s dangerous, self-serving plans will be sharper as we head into November,” he said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom also dismissed questions about whether he would consider running against Biden, telling reporters, “I’m not going to turn my back on him.”
Under current Democratic Party rules, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to replace Biden as the party’s nominee without his cooperation or unless party officials are willing to rewrite the rules at the August national convention.
Trump was due to hold a rally on Friday afternoon in Chesapeake, Virginia, a battleground that has swung to the Democrats in recent years but his aides believe could swing to the Republicans in November.
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