No holiday for Biden as debate crisis cleanup continues

US President Joe Biden speaks during a presidential debate hosted by CNN with Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo)

WASHINGTON – While Americans were celebrating the July 4 holiday with fireworks and feasts, President Joe Biden on Thursday continued to face explosive fallout from his debate against Donald Trump that has left many Democrats hungry for a replacement.

The 81-year-old has struggled since last week’s debate to tamp down panic among his party, but he won the backing on Wednesday of Democratic governors who gathered for an emergency meeting with him at the White House.

However, a new and potentially damaging wrinkle emerged on Independence Day, with The New York Times reporting Biden told the governors he needs more sleep and plans to curtail public events after 8:00 pm.

The revelation was according to two participants in the meeting, the Times said, and could further fuel rumblings within the party about finding a replacement candidate for November’s election.

With polls showing Republican Trump extending a narrow lead after last week’s debate, Biden finds himself under pressure as never before to demonstrate his capacity to lead.

“I had a bad night,” Biden acknowledged to Wisconsin’s Civic Media in a pre-recorded radio interview that aired Thursday.

“I screwed up. I made a mistake,” he added. “That’s 90 minutes on stage. Look at what I’ve done in 3.5 years.”

The Times, citing multiple sources, said Biden told the governors he had been examined by his physician at some point after the debate because he was suffering from a cold, and that he was fine.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates confirmed that Biden was seen by the physician — but that contrasted with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s remarks to reporters on Friday, when she told reporters he had had no medical checkup since the debate.

The White House has insisted Biden is “absolutely not” stepping down.

Biden himself sought to appear determined he was staying in the race, telling his radio interviewer: “When you get knocked down, you just get back up.”

As a signal of the international concern swirling over Biden’s status, British magazine The Economist became the latest major publication urging Biden to withdraw, joining The New York Times and Boston Globe editorial boards.

The uncertainty simmered ahead of the embattled president’s much-anticipated television interview Friday with ABC News, an event that will be watched closely to see whether Biden can bounce back from his faltering debate performance.

All eyes will also be on a Biden campaign rally set for Friday in the battleground state of Wisconsin.

‘So pathetic’

For July 4, Biden remains in Washington, where he and First Lady Jill Biden host a White House barbecue with military personnel. 

The president is scheduled to deliver remarks before observing the annual fireworks display, accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris.

The nation’s first female VP is suddenly in the spotlight as Democrats weigh potentially changing their nominee.

The 59-year-old former California prosecutor has been performing a delicate high-wire act since the debate, offering unwaving support for Biden in public but standing by as a leading contender to replace him if he steps aside.

Trump, who has remained largely — and uncharacteristically — quiet as Biden’s crisis deepens, broke his silence Thursday in fierce fashion, unleashing attacks on both Biden and Harris in a leaked video that he then posted on his own Truth Social account.

“I kicked that old broken down pile of crap” during the debate, Trump, sitting in a golf cart, says in the video.

“He’s quitting the race. Yep, I got him out of the race. And that means we have Kamala,” Trump says. “She’s so bad, she’s so pathetic.”

Biden, with his Wisconsin rally and a press conference during the NATO summit in Washington next week, is aiming to prove his capacity to speak impromptu, engage with voters and reporters, and generally dismiss the doubts that have surged since his debate debacle.

Only two sitting Democratic lawmakers have so far called for Biden to exit the race, but several others, including Representative Jared Huffman, have publicly expressed concern about the president’s ability to right the ship.

“It wasn’t just one bad night. It was a bad night that may have locked in a really unfortunate narrative about President Biden’s age and fitness, and that narrative could be very hard to undo,” Huffman told CNN on Thursday.