RALEIGH, North Carolina: President Joe Biden said Friday he intends to defeat Republican rival Donald Trump in November’s presidential election, giving no sign he would consider dropping out of the race after a lackluster debate that upset his fellow Democrats.
“I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious,” said a jubilant Biden at a rally a day after a head-to-head showdown with his Republican rival, who was considered a defeat for the 81st-year-old president.
“I don’t walk as easily as I used to, I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to, I don’t debate as well as I used to,” he said, as the crowd chanted “four more years. “
“But I know how to tell the truth.” I know how to do this job,” he said to loud cheers, vowing “when you get knocked down, you get back up.”
“I wouldn’t be running again if I didn’t believe with all my heart and soul that I could do this job.” “The stakes are too high,” Biden said.
Biden hoped to allay concerns about his advanced age and expose Trump as a habitual liar.
But the president has failed to counter his bombastic rival, who has offered a largely unchallenged series of false or misleading statements on everything from the economy to immigration.
On Friday, Biden delivered the words Democrats wished they had heard in the televised debate.
“Did you see Trump last night? “I think he’s set – and I mean it – a new record for the most lies told in one debate,” Biden said.
“Donald Trump is a real threat to this nation.” He is a threat to our freedom. He is a threat to our democracy. He is literally a threat to everything America stands for.”
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Biden’s verbal stumbles and occasionally meandering answers in the debate have fueled concerns among voters that he may not be fit to serve another four-year term and have led some of his fellow Democrats to wonder if they could replace him as their running mate in the May 5 election. November.
Campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said there had been no discussion of that possibility. “We’d rather have one bad night than a candidate with a bad vision for where he wants to take the country,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One.
The campaign held an “all hands on deck” meeting Friday afternoon to reassure staffers that Biden would not drop out of the race, according to two people familiar with the meeting.
Although Trump, 78, made a number of untruths during the debate, the focus was later squarely on Biden, especially among Democrats.
Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democratic Party in the US House of Representatives, avoided directly answering the question of whether he still believes in Biden’s candidacy.
“I support the ticket.” I support the Democratic majority in the Senate. We will do everything possible to get the House back in November. Thanks to everyone,” he told reporters.
Some other Democrats also balked when asked if Biden should stay in the race. “It’s the president’s decision,” Democratic Sen. Jack Reed told a local Rhode Island TV station.
Obama strives
But several top party figures, including former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, have said they are sticking with Biden.
“Bad debate nights happen.” Trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who spent his whole life fighting for ordinary people and someone who only cares about himself,” former Democratic President Barack Obama wrote on X.
However, the demonstration of Democratic loyalty and Biden’s defiance in North Carolina was not enough for The New York Times.
The New York Times editorial board, which endorsed Biden in 2020, urged him to drop out of the race to give the Democratic Party a better chance of defeating Trump by electing another candidate. “The greatest public service that Mr. Biden can perform now is to announce that he will not continue to run for re-election,” the editorial said.
A logical — but not automatic — candidate to take Biden’s place would be his running mate, Kamala Harris, who has loyally defended his debate performance.
The Biden campaign said it raised $14 million on Thursday and Friday and announced its best fundraising hour right after Thursday night’s debate. The Trump campaign said it raised $8 million on debate night.
One possible bright spot for Biden: Preliminary viewership figures show just 48 million Americans watched the debate, far fewer than the 73 million who watched the candidates’ last face-off in 2020.
Biden, already the oldest US president in history, faced only token opposition during the party’s months-long nominating contest, and secured enough support to guarantee his place as the Democratic nominee.
Trump also defeated his intra-party opponents early in the year, setting the stage for a long and bitter election battle.
If Biden were to withdraw, the party would have less than two months to choose another candidate at its national convention, which begins Aug. 19 — a potentially messy process that could pit Kamala Harris, the nation’s first black vice president, against governors and other officials whose names listed as possible replacements.
Trump’s allies triumphant
While Democrats fought back, Trump’s allies sought to provide calm reassurance.
Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson, a senior Republican, said it was clear that Biden was “not up to the job”.
“Donald Trump is the only man on that stage who is qualified and able to serve as the next president,” he said. “The elections cannot come soon enough.”
At an afternoon rally in Chesapeake, Virginia, Trump told supporters he had “a great victory against a man who wants to destroy our country.”
“Joe Biden’s problem is not his age,” Trump said. “That is his jurisdiction.”
Trump’s advisers said they thought the debate would boost his chances in Democratic-leaning states like Virginia, which has not endorsed a Republican presidential candidate since 2004.
Earlier, some Trump supporters said they were stunned by Biden’s poor performance. “I’m afraid they’re going to replace him and put in someone more competitive,” said Mike Boatman, who said he’s attended more than 90 Trump rallies.
Trump fundraisers said they are receiving enthusiastic calls from donors. “Anyone who raises money knows there’s a time for donors to leave, and this is one of those watershed moments,” said Ed McMullen, who served as ambassador to Switzerland during Trump’s presidency.
Questions about Trump’s fitness for office have also been raised by his conviction last month in New York for covering up hush money payments to a porn star, his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his chaotic tenure.
Sentencing is scheduled for July 11, just days before his party meets to formally nominate him. He still faces three other criminal charges, though none appear likely to go to trial before November.
Biden’s shaky performance in the debate sparked stunned global reactions on Friday, sparking public calls for him to step down and likely leaving some of America’s closest allies scrambling for a Trump comeback.
The second debate is scheduled for September 10.