Joe Biden took to the stage at his Thursday night news conference with everything on the line – his presidency, his re-election hopes, his political life. If those were the stakes, he barely acknowledged them at the hour-long session to mark the end of a Nato summit, having earlier introduced Ukraine’s President Zelensky as “President Putin” at a separate event. The news conference was his first unscripted appearance after a disastrous debate with his rival Donald Trump, leading to calls from several Democratic politicians and donors for him to drop out of the race for president. Mr Biden, 81, has faced continuous questions over his age and ability to serve another term, which intensified after the debate. But at the highly anticipated news conference, he dismissed the concerns about his campaign that were posed again and again by a room full of reporters, and promised that he was fighting not for his legacy, but to finish the job he started when he took office in 2021. “If I slow down and can’t get the job done, that’s a sign I shouldn’t be doing it,” he said. “But there’s no indication of that yet.” Depending on perspective, it was either a sign of dogged determination or of a man in denial about how dire his situation has become. Minutes after the news conference finished, several more Democratic members of Congress publicly called on Mr Biden to step down, joining at least a dozen other lawmakers in the president’s own party who have done so. The question for Joe Biden’s campaign is whether the floodgates will now open, or if the tide will hold. The situation will not be helped by two excruciating gaffes that will be remembered by anyone who watched. In his very first answer, he called his own Vice-President Kamala Harris “Vice-President Trump” – a painful faceplant in front of a national television audience. That came just an hour after another headline-grabbing mistake at a Nato event, when Mr Biden introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin”, prompting loud gasps in the audience.

He corrected the first verbal misstep involving Ukraine’s leader quickly. The second one he didn’t catch, even as some reporters in the room murmured in surprise and several of his top Cabinet secretaries sat stone-faced in the front row of the audience. Those moments - the only major stumbles in an otherwise steady if not vigorous, appearance - will surely prompt nervous Democrats to wonder if there are more gaffes to come if the president presses ahead with his campaign. But for now at least, Mr Biden seemed the happy warrior, insisting he will push on. He laughed and smiled as he was peppered with questions, and said he could keep up with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping, even if the hoarseness and cough that had been on display during his debate two weeks ago still appeared to linger. He again insisted he didn’t need cognitive tests, telling reporters that if he even saw “two doctors or seven”, his critics wouldn’t be satisfied. The election campaign, he said, had barely started, and he again repeated that he was confident he could beat Donald Trump in November’s election. The Democratic delegates who will back him officially as the party’s nominee at next month’s convention were free to change their minds as they pleased, he said, before mock whispering: “It’s not going to happen.” He said he would consider stepping aside if his staff gave him data that he couldn’t win, but that polls still show the race a dead heat. In that regard, he is on firm ground. An Ipsos survey released earlier on Thursday, for instance, had Mr Biden only one point behind his opponent – well within the margin of error. If there’s one thing that has been clear since the start of the year, support for the two candidates has remained remarkably stable despite unprecedented drama surrounding both men. Polling alone won’t calm the panic that has set in among many Democratic officials, however, and the storm clouds that linger around Biden’s campaign won’t be so easily dispelled. More Democratic politicians are waiting in the wings, according to reports, poised to announce their own break with the president, having waited until the conclusion of this Nato summit to voice their concerns. And that’s just the first round of tests for the embattled president. He has another high-profile sit-down interview, with NBC’s Lester Holt, on Monday. Donors are anxious, and earlier on Thursday several reports suggested that even figures in the president’s own campaign were plotting ways to usher their candidate toward the exit. Despite all of this, Mr Biden made clear that it will be a challenging task to pry the nomination away from him. The 81-year-old man who at times gripped the lectern with two hands and insisted he was the “best-qualified person” to run the country is not going to exit the stage quietly.

  • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Tired old man does things any human would do if they were tired, is he fit for office?

    Unfortunately, the fact that Dem Congresscritters have spoken up publicly asking him to step down means that:

    1. Private channels are exhausted

    2. Things are royally fucked.

    Regardless of whether or not he is fit for office, those who are most dependent on a Dem ticket victory no longer have confidence in his ability to deliver it. That alone would be fatal. We need to get Biden to step down.

    • snekerpimp@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      My whole point is the press is failing at being non-bias, otherwise they would mention all the atrocious things being said by the other guy that should be making people ask for him to step down. Our press is failing us, failing at reporting fairly and unbiasedly(if that’s even a word)

      • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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        4 months ago

        The press is attacking and scrambling because they got caught being complicit in hiding what Biden is.

        • Omega@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          The press has repeatedly attacked Biden for everything they possibly can. Remember when he tripped on a sandbag? A thing that could happen to literally anybody?

        • snekerpimp@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          The news I read and what you read must be wildly different. I see a lot of articles about how unfit Biden is, how everyone is telling him to step down. I’m not arguing one side or another, just that I see attack articles against one side more than the other, and I see that as being biased when both side are equally open to be attacked.

    • CaliforniaSober@lemmy.ca
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      4 months ago

      “Congresscritters”

      That’s the end of this. If you’re saying shit like that you are not serious, or can’t think seriously enough to move beyond “critters”…

      If things are as “royally fucked” as you say then “congresscritters” is a laughingly insufficient take.

      • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Alright, I guess. If you would prefer to ignore an argument because you find one of the terms risible, that’s up to you. The rest of us? We’re going to be trying to deal with this shit and prevent fascism. You’re welcome to join anytime.

        • CaliforniaSober@lemmy.ca
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          4 months ago

          Self defeating language is self defeating. I too want to deal with this shit, hence not using kid language. Congresscritters implies a type of benign neglect in politics, like business as usual… it implies a lazy take and it ignores the actual malice present and gives a veneer of “just politics” happening.

          Facists aren’t “critters” those are squirrels.

          • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Facists aren’t “critters” those are squirrels.

            I didn’t realize that I was talking about the GOP, rather than the Democrats.

            • CaliforniaSober@lemmy.ca
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              4 months ago

              I mean you mentioned fascists… What are you talking about? “Everyone is a critter” doesn’t help.

            • CaliforniaSober@lemmy.ca
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              4 months ago

              I mean you mentioned fascists… What ARE you talking about? “Everyone is a critter” doesn’t help.

              • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                I mean you mentioned fascists

                Yes, opposition to fascists - the Republican Party - is important, and it would be wonderful if people would join in the effort to defeat them.

                What ARE you talking about?

                … that sitting Dem Congressmembers have called on Biden to step down for the good of the party, and that a loss of faith that serious by the party would be an incredible millstone around the campaign’s neck even if Biden was completely, 100% fine, and it was all media spin. And that, furthermore, as those Congressmembers are self-interested in having a Democratic president win at all costs, and better placed than most to read the electorate, and have personal exposure to Biden and thus a better view than most as to whether he is up to the task of a presidential campaign, their opinions are not minor; in fact, they are very major and troubling enough that it should absolutely give you pause as to whether Biden continuing his campaign is a good idea.

                • CaliforniaSober@lemmy.ca
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                  4 months ago

                  It’s really hit critical mass no? The fucked up part is the political calculus vs the political reality… polling has shown that dem sentiment is under represented, typical off cycle elections have swung wildly left counter to polling… we don’t really know what the “polls” show. So what’s left is rhetoric and reasoning.

                  • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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                    4 months ago

                    Yeah. Regardless of the reality of the situation, it’s increasingly becoming politically untenable for Biden to continue. Perceptions are as important as reality in an election, unfortunately.

              • Maeve@kbin.earth
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                4 months ago

                The guy is not one of my fans, but I’m still not going to focus on his word choice. Focus on important things.