Joe Biden sat down with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News on Friday as part of an increasingly desperate effort to convince Americans that he is both cognitively and physically capable of running the United States.
Biden was defiant throughout the interview, describing his debate performance against Donald Trump last week as an isolated incident attributable to an ailment and exhaustion. “I just had a bad night,” he said. He also reiterated what he has said since the debate, which is that he is not leaving the race. When Stephanopoulos asked Biden if he would drop out if he were to be convinced that he couldn’t defeat Trump, the president responded that no one could convince him of that other than God.
“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.”
At one point, Stephanopoulos read quotes from a New York Times report to Biden about how he’s experienced more lapses in recent months. Biden replied, “I’m still in good shape.” Asked if he is more frail now than when he took office, he said, “no.”
Asked if he’s had a full neurological and cognitive evaluation, Biden responded, “I get a full neurological test every day,” adding that he’s “had a full physical.” When Stephanopoulos pressed him again, asking if he’s specifically had a specialist do neurological and cognitive tests, Biden responded, “No, no one’s said I had to.”
Later in the interview, Stephanopoulos asked what Biden would do if his friends, allies, and supporters in the Democratic Party were to tell him they are concerned Democrats will lose the House and Senate if he stays in the race.
“I’m not going to answer that question,” Biden said. “It’s not going to happen.”
When asked how he’ll feel if he stays in the race, Trump is elected, and everything he’s been warning America that Trump will do comes to pass, Biden said he just needs to give it his “all” and that “that’s what this is about.”
The Americans who will be affected by Trump’s plans for a second term may feel differently about the election being primarily about Biden giving his all. A CBS News poll conducted after the debate found that 72 percent of registered voters believe that Biden should not be running for president.
The interview comes just over a week after a disastrous debate performance against Trump threw Biden’s campaign into a state of crisis. The 81-year-old president repeatedly stumbled over his words and generally struggled to prosecute the case against Trump or project any coherent vision for his own second term in office. The performance led to a frenzied week of Democratic lawmakers, donors, and voices in the media pushing for Biden to drop out of the race — as well as multiple new reports tracing how he has been declining physically and mentally for months.
News outlets have reported that Biden has spoken with allies about whether to continue or cede the nomination to a younger, more capable Democrat, but publicly the president and his team have insisted they are in it to win it, and have no intention of stepping aside. The White House has emphatically denied he is considering dropping out of the race, and Biden reportedly told staffers last week that he “is running” and “no one’s pushing me out.” He reportedly told a supporter on Thursday that he is “not going anywhere.”
The White House insisted this week that Biden is “as sharp as ever,” but his team’s assurances have done little to quell concern over his ability to execute the duties of the office. He misspoke on multiple occasions during radio interviews that aired Thursday, while telling Democratic governors that night that he needs to sleep more and is going to stop scheduling events after 8 p.m. He also joked about his health: “It’s just my brain.”
The following day, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D), one of Biden’s top allies, said in a statement that he needs to “carefully evaluate whether he remains our best hope to defeat Donald Trump.” The Washington Post reported a few hours later that Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is working to assemble a group of senators to ask Biden to exit the race.
Biden recorded his interview with Stephanopoulos on Friday before heading to Wisconsin for a campaign rally. He insisted again that he has no intention of dropping out of the race. “I am running and going to win again,” he said. “They’re trying to push me out of the race,” he added. “Let me say this as clearly as I can: I’m staying in the race.”