Biden: Only God Almighty can convince me to withdraw

2024-07-06 16:20:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Biden: Only God Almighty can convince me to withdraw

US President, Joe Biden. Source, ABC

US President Joe Biden, with his political career spanning five decades, insisted in a televised interview on Friday that he has both the mental acuity and physical stamina to win the election against former President Donald Trump and lead the country for four more terms. other years.

"I'm the most qualified person and I know how to get things done," President Biden told ABC News reporter George Stephanopoulos in a 22-minute interview. Earlier Friday he assured his supporters in Wisconsin that "I will stay in the race."

Some Democratic lawmakers in Washington have privately, and increasingly publicly, expressed concern that President Biden, 81, no longer has the mental and physical capacity to face former President Trump in the four months leading up to the Nov. 5 election. , let alone govern the country for the next four years.

"If God Almighty came down and said, 'Joe, get out of the race,' I would get out of the race. But God Almighty will not come down," President Biden said during the interview.

Democratic fears that President Biden's time in power is coming to an end have grown since he appeared confused during a debate with former President Trump a week ago, occasionally losing his train of thought and failing to attack Mr. Trump or to defend his work.

"I was exhausted," he said of the night of the debate. "I was feeling terribly ill... a bad cold." He said the poor performance was "no one's fault but mine. It was a bad episode".

But President Biden was alert Friday and answered Stephanopoulos' questions with less hesitation. He was eager to attack the former president.

"Trump is a pathological liar," President Biden said, noting that the man "is a born liar."

President Biden cited news reports that said former President Trump had told 28 lies during the 90-minute debate.

Journalist Stephanopoulos said former President Trump declined an invitation for an interview with ABC.

The news anchor, one of the most prominent journalists in the United States, asked President Biden if he had ever had a neurological test, and the president responded by saying, "I do a full neurological test every day," dealing with world and domestic.

After President Biden's poor performance in the debate, multiple polls showed Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, gaining ground in the race. After Mr. Biden's victory in 2020, it will be the first time that the same major party candidates have run in consecutive presidential elections since 1956.

President Biden defied the polls as he assured supporters at a rally in Madison, Wisconsin that "I'm running and I'm going to win again."

"I beat Donald Trump," Mr. Biden said, as the crowd cheered and waved campaign signs. "I'll beat him again."

Three major US newspapers, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, have reported in recent days that Mr Biden's blunders have become more frequent in recent months, with some Western officials saying they have noticed his decline. visible at the G-7 meeting in Italy.

President Biden's demeanor and bluntness during the interview with journalist Stephanopoulos is sure to be scrutinized, not only by Mr. Trump and his aides, but by Democrats who wonder if their candidate is able to stand up to Mr. Trump, who he is 78 years old, and he also sometimes misspoke.

At the rally, President Biden played down his mistakes, citing one of Mr Trump's campaign comments when the former president said that "George Washington's army won the revolution by taking control of the airports from the British".

As the crowd laughed, Mr. Biden continued: "and then tell me I'm messing up."

Most Democrats continue to support President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, but some have suggested the party would be better off if Mr. Biden left and Ms. Harris took over the race.

The Democratic Party holds its convention in August, leaving the party some time to decide on its presidential candidate./ VOA