‘I’m still in good shape’: Biden vows to continue in ABC interview
ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos pressed the president about whether he needs a test of his cognition and why he wasn’t prepared enough to debate Donald Trump.
President Joe Biden on Friday denied that he needs a cognitive test and repeatedly chalked up his poor debate performance to a “bad night” as he mounted a spirited but muddled argument to remain the Democratic Party’s nominee.
In his first full-length interview since last week’s debate, Biden took full responsibility for his performance but didn’t offer a clear explanation for what other Democrats worry is age-related decline and appeared unwilling to acknowledge that he is trailing Trump in the polls.
In the 22-minute interview with ABC News, which George Stephanopoulos said had not been edited, Biden repeatedly indicated he doesn’t need a cognitive exam, arguing that he undergoes one “every single day” as president, and that his physicians have never indicated he needs one. He also denied any increased frailty since the 2020 campaign.
“Can I run the 100 in 10 flat? No,” Biden said. “But I’m still in good shape.”
Democrats were closely watching Biden’s performance in the unscripted interview for an indication that he has the mental fortitude to run for the presidency, let alone complete a second term in the job.
But there were several moments in the interview in which Biden abruptly changed subjects with an “anyway” and sometimes lowered his voice substantially. In one answer, he began to explain how he prepared for the debate with great detail but meandered into polls, Donald Trump’s “28” lies and ended by saying it was “no one else’s fault.”
With Biden’s allies demanding a show of strength to preserve their support and set aside worries about Biden’s ability to beat Trump in November, Friday’s interview is unlikely to do so. A handful of elected Democrats have already publicly asked Biden to step aside or consider doing so. Even more are privately raising concerns and have openly said Biden needed to perform well in this kind of setting to shore up their confidence.
“Nothing good enough to shake off the debate problem and stop the bleeding, And unfortunately a few points of confusion and unease that reinforced the bad narrative,” said one skeptical House Democrat who praised Biden as a “legendary leader” who is “stubbornly blind” to the reality of this campaign.
Still, Biden’s campaign has announced a flurry of travel in July to force a message of forward momentum. Following a rally in Madison, Wisconsin, earlier Friday, he’ll make campaign stops in Pennsylvania on Sunday. Next week he’ll return to Washington to host international leaders for the NATO Summit.
With Stephanopoulos, Biden dodged further discussions about his age and mental acuity by pivoting to his legislative accomplishments, policy and character, including a new line of attack against Trump following the former president’s criminal conviction and this week’s Supreme Court ruling establishing immunity from prosecution for a president’s official acts.
The interview provided new fodder for Democrats’ worries beyond age-related issues, however. When asked how Biden would feel in January if Trump were reelected, Biden didn’t cite his campaign stump speech about the parade of horribles Democrats predict if Trump goes back to the Oval Office. Instead, Biden merely said he’ll take comfort if he knows he’s done his best.
“As long as I gave it my all and I did as good of a job as I know I can do, that’s what this is about,” he said.
Biden acknowledged “some” Democrats may want him out of the race but refused to get into any discussion about a potential scenario in which Democrats push him out: “It’s not going to happen.”
“If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race,” he said. “The Lord Almighty’s not coming down.”
When asked about reports that Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is gathering senators to discuss Biden’s political viability, Biden dismissed it and referenced Warner’s flirtation with a presidential campaign in 2008, the same year as Biden’s second bid for the White House.
In what may be an alarming moment for other Democrats, Biden refused to acknowledge that he’s trailing Trump and likened the panic among Democrats today to the fear in 2020 that Biden would lose to Trump.
“Have you ever seen a group in time when elected officials running for office aren’t a little worried? Have you ever seen that? I’ve not,” Biden said. “The same thing happened in 2020.”
Biden also disputed his low approval ratings and waved off suggestions that other Democrats — such as Vice President Kamala Harris — may now have a better shot at beating Trump.
“I don’t think anybody’s more qualified to be president or win this race than me,” he said, adding that critics of his decision to keep running “don’t know what they’re talking about.”
A fundraising email that the Biden campaign blasted out shortly after the interview doubled down on that sentiment, declaring that “the pundits and politicians have continually gotten it wrong. Dead wrong.”
Former Obama strategist David Axelrod, who has not been hesitant to criticize the Biden White House, said in a post on the social media site X that Biden was “dangerously out-of-touch with the concerns people have about his capacitiies [sic] moving forward and his standing in this race.”
“Four years ago at this time, he was 10 points ahead of Trump. Today, he is six points behind.”
In the days since the debate, Biden and his team have vacillated between downplaying the panic surrounding his candidacy and acknowledging the president must do more to demonstrate that he’s still up for the job.
The campaign has consistently brushed off Biden’s disastrous performance as a one-off and argued it shouldn’t negate the successes he’s racked up over the past three years. Biden remains mentally sharp, they insist, and the best equipped option that Democrats have to beat Trump in November.
But as criticism mounted from Democrats worried about Biden’s abilities and angry over his top aides’ handling of the fallout, the White House and campaign made a flurry of calls to leaders across the party to try to tamp down talk of replacing Biden atop the ticket. They sought to assure allies that Biden would make a more concerted effort to allay voters’ doubts about his age, starting with Friday’s sit-down interview.