Despite the hesitations and new blunders, Joe Biden has shown himself to be combative. At the end of the summit marking the 75th anniversary of NATO in Washington, the American president gave a press conference, live, without a script and without a safety net. A (highly) anticipated event, as the American president, aged 81, is being urged from all sides to abandon his candidacy for his succession in November because of his state of health. On June 27, Joe Biden appeared very confused and tired during a debate, deemed “calamitous”, against his rival and predecessor Donald Trump. This Thursday, July 11, facing the press, Joe Biden thus tried to counterattack against these criticisms that are weighing down his electoral campaign, defending his foreign policy and the legitimacy of his candidacy for a second term in the White House.
The challenge for President Biden after last month’s debate is that every public appearance through November will be scrutinized for evidence of infirmity, the newspaper notes. The New York Times. A few hours before this face-to-face with the press, Joe Biden had already made an impression at the NATO summit in Washington where he invited “President Putin” to the podium while he welcomed Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelensky on stage. “It certainly didn’t help,” believes the New York daily.
Stay in the race at all costs
For nearly an hour, in the most anticipated news conference of his presidency, Joe Biden demonstrated a firm grasp of the issues and appeared more comfortable with a lengthy speech on foreign policy. He argued that age gave him wisdom and made clear that he had no intention of giving up the race. “I am committed to running,” he said. He dismissed polls showing him losing to Donald Trump and insisted, “I think I am the best person to do the job.” But he also acknowledged that the presidential schedule had become difficult. “I just have to pace myself a little bit more.” He also pushed back against some media reports, such as denying that he has to go to bed at 8 p.m.
Still, many Democrats doubt that the American president can still save his candidacy, a few weeks before the nomination convention that will be held from August 19 to 22 in Chicago. Many party leaders and campaign financiers have already publicly called on the president to step down. According to the New York Timesthe campaign team of Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris has begun to quietly conduct polls on the chances of the vice president, aged 59, against Donald Trump.
Mastery of foreign policy
But Joe Biden doesn’t see it. During a long part of his speech devoted to international politics, he repeated several times that he wanted to “finish the job” started in 2020, and assured that he would still be able, if re-elected, to “manage” the Chinese and Russian presidents, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, in three years. “I’ve had three intense and substantial neurological exams” conducted by a neurologist, the last one “in February,” he recalled, and “they say I’m in good shape.”
He nonetheless gave lengthy and detailed answers on a variety of foreign policy issues, including when he said he was prepared to “cut off” relations between China and Russia. He also reiterated his long-standing position that Ukraine should not be allowed to use American weapons to strike deeply at Russia, including Moscow and the Kremlin. And he detailed his efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, noting that Israel “occasionally” was “less than cooperative.”
“Vice President Trump”
Joe Biden has also repeatedly defended the powers of his Vice President Kamala Harris. He has praised her for her work, including her defense of abortion rights. Despite all his good intentions, Joe Biden has also made some spectacular slips of the tongue, which immediately delighted his rival. In response to the first question at the press conference, he said: “I would not have chosen Vice President Trump to be vice president if I didn’t think she was qualified to be president.” He obviously meant Vice President Kamala Harris. “Good job, Joe,” Donald Trump quipped on his Truth Social network.