President Joe Biden on Thursday, aimed to convince his detractors and supporters that he is able to serve another four years in office.
Here are some takeaways:
A Rorschach test for nervous Democrats
Biden’s performance likely won’t change many minds – Democrats who want Biden to step down are able to jump on a notable verbal gaffe he made at the beginning of the news conference, while Biden’s supporters will point toward the time he spent deftly answering a variety of questions on foreign policy.
Biden mistakenly referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as former President Donald Trump. It was exactly the type of slip-up the White House and Biden’s campaign presumably would have feared amid mounting questions surrounding his mental acuity.
“I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president did I think she was not qualified to be president,” he said.
He made a similar mistake earlier in the day, accidentally calling Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky “President Putin” while introducing him during a NATO event.
Biden eagerly takes on Trump
“My schedule has been full bore. I’ve done — where’s Trump been? Riding on his golf cart, filling out his scorecard before he hits the ball? I mean, look. He’s done virtually nothing,” Biden said.
Biden told reporters that foreign leaders he’s met at the conference have expressed concern over the prospect of a second Trump term.
“I think I can I say this without sounding too self-serving– I’ve not had any of my European allies come up to me and say, ‘Joe don’t run,’” he said. “What I hear them say is, you gotta win – you can’t have this guy come forward, he’d be a disaster, he’d be a disaster.”
Biden brushes off concerns about his campaign
“I think I’m the most qualified person to run for president. I beat him once and I will beat him again,” Biden said, referring to Trump.
“There’s a long way to go this campaign and so I – I’m just gonna keep moving.”
Pressed on whether he might reconsider his stance if he were shown data showing Harris performing better against Trump, he offered some openness to that possibility.
“No, unless they came back and said there’s no way you can win,” Biden said.
That’s a much different answer from last week.
Read more of the takeaways.
Source link : https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/election-2024-campaign-news-07-12-24/index.html
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Publish date : 2024-07-12 19:57:00
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