President Biden recently sat down for an interview with ABC News, where he asked about his recent disastrous performance against former President Donald Trump in last week’s CNN presidential debate. Biden offered a litany of reasons for his poor showing, such as feeling under the weather and not trusting his instincts with his preparation. He ultimately claimed he just had a “bad night.”
However, Biden offered another excuse, claiming that “even when I was answering a question, even though they turned his mic off,” Trump “was still shouting. And I let it distract me.” While Biden maintained that he didn’t entirely rest the blame on this conduct from the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, it made him realize “that I just wasn’t in control.”
ABC host George Stephanopoulos, who conducted the interview, asked Biden, “And how quickly did it come to you that you were having that bad night?” Biden answered, “Well, it came to me that I was having a bad night when I realized that, even when I was answering a question, even though they turned his mic off, he was still shouting. And I let it distract me. I’m not blaming it on that. But I realized that I just wasn’t in control.”
Stephanopolous continued, noting that Biden’s struggles in the debate are part of a broader trend. “Part of the other concern is that this seems to fit into a pattern of decline that has been reported on recently. New York Times had a headline on July 2 Biden’s lapses are said to be increasingly common and worrisome. Here’s what they wrote. People who spent time with President Biden over the last few months or so said the lapses appear to have grown more frequent, more pronounced, and after Thursday, Thursday’s debate more worrisome.”
The host continued, the question, pressing Biden as if he is the same state of health as he was when he was inaugurated. “By many accounts, as evidenced by video footage, observation and interviews, Mr Biden is not the same today as he was, even when he took office three and a half years ago. Similar reporting in the Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. Are you the same man today that you were when you took office three and a half years ago,” he asked.
The president immediately pivoted the discussion away from the topic of his mental state, drawing on the supposed wins in his presidential record, seemingly obfuscating the whole point of Stephanopolous’ question. “In terms of successes? Yes, I also was a guy put together a peace plan for the Middle East that may become a fruition. I was also the guy that expanded NATO. It’s also the guy that grew the economy. All the individual things were done were ideas I had or I fulfilled. I moved on,” Biden said.
Biden’s debate performance has sparked serious concerns among Democrats. In the aftermath of the event there have been widespread conversations in the mainstream media as to whether President Biden should step aside and allow a candidate who is more capable of defeating former President Trump later this year in November. Watch the interview between Biden and Stephanopolous below:
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.
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