Stubborn Biden insists ‘I can do this job’ at North Carolina rally after debate disaster
President Biden tried to steady his campaign Friday after a calamitous debate against former President Donald Trump sent shockwaves through the Democratic Party — leading some supporters and even the liberal New York Times to call for Biden to consider stepping aside as the presumptive nominee despite him saying he won’t budge.
“Folks, I don’t walk as easy as I used to, I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to, I don’t debate as well as I used to,” the 81-year-old Biden said at a midday rally in North Carolina — before appearing at Manhattan’s Stonewall Inn Friday afternoon with pop star Elton John.
“But I know what I do know: I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong,” Biden said at the earlier event in Raleigh.
“I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done. I know what millions of Americans know: When you get knocked down, you get back up,” added Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a full second term.
Biden kept closely to his script at both of his public events Friday — reading from prepared remarks with only relatively minor errors — ahead of an evening fundraiser at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Midtown.
Speaking at a new Stonewall visitors center dedicated to the history of the gay rights movement, Biden mangled the acronym for sexual minorities by saying “LBGTQ+” and then caught himself later to put the letters in their customary order.
The commander-in-chief also generated social media scrutiny by lingering behind John, 77, for the duration of the signer’s three-minute speech, rather than taking a place in the audience after introducing him.
“Good job, man,” Biden said as John finished, with the musician seeming surprised that the president was still behind him on stage and appearing to reply, “Huh?” and then “oh” when Biden repeated himself.
At 6 p.m., shortly after Biden left Stonewall, the Times editorial board formally called on the president to step aside as the presumptive Democratic nominee, saying that to continue his campaign would be a “reckless gamble” and “risk the stability and security of the country.”
“Mr. Biden answered an urgent question on Thursday night. It was not the answer that he and his supporters were hoping for,” the Times wrote. “But if the risk of a second Trump term is as great as he says it is — and we agree with him that the danger is enormous — then his dedication to this country leaves him and his party only one choice.”
Both Friday daytime events were relatively gaffe-free compared to Biden’s repeated stumbles during CNN’s Thursday night debate in Atlanta.
“Folks, I give you my word as a Biden: I would not be running again if I didn’t believe with all my heart and soul I can do this job, because, quite frankly, the stakes are too high,” Biden tried to reassure voters in North Carolina — confirming he has no intention to drop out of the race.
Trump, 78, “is a genuine threat to this nation,” the president said.
“He’s a threat to our freedom. He’s a threat to our democracy. He’s literally a threat to everything America stands for,” the president said. “The choice in this election is simple: Donald Trump will destroy democracy; I will defend it.”
Although Biden trails in polling across most swing states, including North Carolina, he told rallygoers, “I intend to win this state in November.”
At one point, Biden repeated one of the few well-rated lines from his debate performance, saying that Trump had “the morals of an alley cat.”
But that zinger didn’t make up for how badly the president bungled the first — and possibly only — debate of the 2024 general election despite taking a full week to prepare in seclusion at the Camp David retreat in western Maryland.
In the most devastating moment, Biden seemed to lose his train of thought and confusingly declared after nearly 10 seconds of silence: “We finally beat Medicare.”
After another near-incomprehensible remark from Biden, Trump ridiculed his successor, saying: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence — and I don’t think he knows what he said either.”
In the aftermath, the post-debate coverage on host network CNN described “aggressive panic” among Democrats, while a flash poll conducted by the channel showed forum viewers believed by a two-to-one margin that Trump had won the night.
Despite reports of crisis talks involving campaign staffers, fundraisers and past and present elected Democrats — including former President Barack Obama — the vast majority of current and former party officeholders insisted Friday that Biden had simply had a bad night, leading one insider to tell The Post they feared “delusion” had set in at the top levels of government.
Biden spoke more clearly in North Carolina — and wiped away tears after first lady Jill Biden vouched for her husband after his dismal debate.
“I loved him from the start. I saw in him then the same character that I see in him today, and even though he has faced unimaginable tragedies, his optimism is undaunted, his strength is unshakable, his hope is undeterred,” the first lady said.
“What you saw last night on the debate stage was Joe Biden, a president with integrity and character who told the truth.”
Biden did not immediately modify his schedule in response to the debate fallout, but there were signs that campaign staff were working to cut off journalistic access to events where donors and Democratic voters could give candid quotes on Biden’s political future.
Times politics reporter Simon Levien informed press colleagues in a pool report that a Nevada Democratic Party official “followed” him around a campaign event Friday featuring Vice President Kamala Harris in Las Vegas and “asked for interviews to conclude when the voters began criticizing the campaign.”
When rally attendee Stephen Stubbs expressed concern to the reporter about Biden’s “mental acuity” — asking, “Who’s running the country?” and proposing that Biden hand off the presidential nomination to Harris — deputy communications director Clio Calvo-Platero said, “I’m going to stop it here, sorry. If I can, it’s a Biden event. Is that okay?”
When another Democratic voter and rally-goer, Amy Nelson, told the Times reporter the debate was “terrible” and “you can’t tell me that there’s not anyone better,” the official again cut off the interview, saying, “We’re at a Joe Biden event, so I’m going to cut you off there, sorry.”
There were indications that the minding of press coverage wasn’t a one-off — with New York magazine writer Olivia Nuzzi, who is known for her incisive profiles that often feature vividly raw observations, revealing she was uninvited from a Hamptons fundraiser on Saturday.
After Nuzzi revealed the move on X, she said that the campaign “blamed their initial revocation of my access on a communications error and insisted it was not in response to the president’s performance at last night’s debate.”
