The first debate between the two White House contenders in November left Joe Biden with a badly damaged image. While those supporters had hoped that this confrontation with Donald Trump would erase or allay concerns about the 81-year-old Democratic president’s age and mental health, the opposite happened. On the screens shared by the two candidates, while Trump appeared stoic and smiling, Biden seemed to have difficulty expressing his thoughts, mumbling in a hoarse, pained voice or waiting, mouth open, eyes wide, for his opponent to finish his answer.
If Biden’s entourage initially floated the idea of a cold, the American president came up with a new explanation for these disastrous 90 minutes during a meeting with Democratic donors near Washington. He said that it was “not very smart” to have “traveled around the world several times” shortly before this confrontation and that this led him to “almost fall asleep on stage,” adding: “That’s not an excuse, that’s an explanation.”
The American president visited France from June 5 to 9, then Italy from June 12 to 14, followed by a campaign trip to California. The fact remains that he subsequently took six days to prepare for the June 27 debate at Camp David, during which time he conducted no public activity.
To try to prove he is still fit to govern, the US president is scheduled to give an interview to ABC News on Friday, and the White House is promising a personal press conference next week. The two meetings were meant to prove that Joe Biden can freely express himself without a teleprompter.
Democrats are pushing him out
Many Democrats are beginning to publicly question Joe Biden’s fitness, pushing him out even though he still leads Trump in the polls.
“I hope he makes the difficult and painful decision to resign. I respectfully urge him to do so,” wrote Texas Democrat Lloyd Doggett, who first publicly demanded that the president step down.
“I think it’s legitimate to wonder whether this is a blip or a long-term condition,” said the powerful Nancy Pelosi, the former Democratic House president, on Joe Biden’s favorite network, MSNBC. “I think the truth is Biden is going to lose to Trump. I know it’s tough, but I think the debates have done too much damage,” added Washington state Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.
But Vice President Kamala Harris said she was “proud” to be the president’s “vice presidential nominee.” “Joe Biden is our nominee, and we beat Donald Trump once and we’re going to beat him again,” she told CBS News.
According to the official White House agenda, Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with the country’s Democratic governors this Wednesday. “We’re going to have a healthy discussion with the president,” one of them, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, explained on CNN Tuesday night. “Joe Biden is our nominee at this point, I support him 100% unless he decides otherwise, in which case we’ll all discuss the best course of action,” the governor added.
Who will replace him?
According to a CNN poll released Tuesday, 75% of voters surveyed believe the Democratic Party would have a better chance in November with a candidate other than him. Donald Trump is credited with 49% of voter intent nationally, compared with 43% for his rival, a consistent gap from the last such poll conducted in April. Vice President Kamala Harris, had she not won, would have fared better: 45% to the 78-year-old Republican former president’s 47%.
The problem is that Kamala Harris is not very popular and has failed to establish herself in Biden’s administration during his term, and only 33% of Americans believe she is qualified to be president, according to an Economist/Yougov poll conducted in June.
Source: Le Parisien
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
