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In a high-stakes interview with ABC News this past Friday, President Biden doubled down on his determination to run for re-election – brushing aside concerns about lagging poll numbers and questions of whether he would be sharp enough in the 2024 White House race.
It was the 81-year-old president’s first televised interview since last week’s debate with former President Trump, and spanned a total of 22 minutes covering many journalistic beats in which Biden has made news recently.
When George Stephanopoulos pointed out to Trump that Biden is losing the popular vote, the president responded: “I don’t buy that.”
“I don’t think anybody is more qualified to be president or win this race than me,” Biden said when pressed about a race his opponent appears favored to win.
When asked if he had the mental acuity to be president another four years, Biden said, “I wouldn’t be running if I didn’t think I did.”
Biden also pushed back on questions about his age and sharpness by referencing his frequent cognitive tests.
“Look, I have a cognitive test every single day. Every day I have a test. Everything I do,” Biden said. “You know, not only am I campaigning, I’m running the world. And that’s not — it sounds like hyperbole. But we are the essential nation in the world.”
His followers and his critics were closely watching the interview after last month’s CNN debate that left many Democrats worrying about Biden’s ability to forge ahead as a candidate.
“I think the most charitable thing you can say about it is it’s way too little, too late,” Democratic strategist Julian Epstein, former chief counsel for Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital after the interview aired.
“The president looks frail. He looks foggy. He looks weak. He looks like he is using every last ounce of energy that he may have to sort of barely get through.
“Most Democrats now, whether they’re saying it or not, realize that, you know, the Biden campaign is on death watch. And it’s a question of whether I think it will be, you know, early next week or after that.”
Biden conceded he did not have a strong debate performance but also blamed Trump.
“I was having a bad night when I realized that even when I was answering a question, even when they turned his mic off, he was still shouting, and I … I let it distract me. I’m not blaming it on that. But I realized that I just wasn’t in control,” the president said.
Asked about recent polls showing him behind Trump, Biden said: “All pollsters I talk to tell me it’s a toss-up. And when I’m behind … there’s only one poll I’m really far behind, CBS poll and NBC, I mean, excuse me.”
After the debate on Wednesday, former Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod tweeted “The president is rightfully proud of his record. But he is dangerously out-of-touch with the concerns people have about his capacities moving forward and his standing in this race.”