During a one-on-one interview with radio host Howard Stern on Friday, President Joe Biden said he is ready to debate Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
“I don’t know where, when, but I’m happy to debate him,” Biden said in an interview.
Biden and his campaign have shied away from the debate question in recent months. When asked about Trump’s debate calls in February, Biden just said, “If I were him, I’d like him to argue with me too. He has nothing else to do.”
In response to Biden’s remarks on Friday, Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita said in a tweet to X: “Okay, let’s build it!”
The president’s new openness to debate comes after Trump defended his chance to face Biden on stage as the polls tighten on the two presumptive presidential candidates.
Despite Trump’s refusal to participate in any of the Republican primary debates, he said in a post from all capitals on the social media site in March he is ready to debate with Biden “anytime, anywhere and everywhere.”
Abundantly major news organizations also called on the two rivals to commit to dialogue in a joint statement earlier this month.
During the nearly 75-minute interview with Stern, Biden spoke candidly about his family history, his father’s previous business struggles, the loss of his first wife and infant daughter in a car accident, and the death of his son Beau. cancer, at this moment his voice was caught with emotion.
Stern then pressed President Trump to talk about recent decisions by the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, including three justices appointed by Trump. The radio host announced in June 2022 that the court will overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade singled out his overturning decision — something Biden and Democrats see as a winning issue for them in November.
“Does it drive you crazy?” “This is really an extremely conservative court, perhaps the most conservative court in modern history,” Stern asked Biden to respond.
“This is not your father’s Republican Party,” Biden said later, adding that several Republican senators had come to him to express their agreement with some of the views critical of Trump, including his actions regarding the January 6 riots in the United States. The Capitol, however, felt threatened by the former president’s influence.
“Over the last few years, I’ve had seven top Republican senators — but two are gone now — seven top Republican friends have called me and said, ‘Joe, I agree with you, but I can’t do it. He’s going to — he’s going to get me,'” Biden said.
When Stern asked Biden why he thought some Republican politicians, like former President George W. Bush, weren’t more critical of Trump, Biden replied, “I don’t think the election is over in that regard.”