WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden sat down Friday for his first televised interview since poor discussion performancea moment of high risk trying to reassure allies and voters.
The 22-minute special with ABC aired in its entirety — “no cuts, no edits, we didn’t touch it,” said interviewer George Stephanopoulos.
It’s unclear whether Biden has managed to right the ship. Although he was more coherent than he was in the debate, his interview was marked by a mix of denial (of polls suggesting he was losing the race), defiance (in the face of calls to drop out), and indifference (in the face of calls to drop out) and indifference (of critics). worry there is a deeper problem). He sought to contrast Donald Trump, repeatedly calling the former president a liar, while revealing his record and plans for a second term.
Here are three highlights from the interview.
Denial
Biden has repeatedly denied that he is trailing Trump in the polls, even though nonpartisan national and swing state polls have him widely underdogs.
“All the pollsters I’ve talked to tell me it’s a scam. It’s a shootout,” he said, adding that he doesn’t believe he’s trailing in the popular vote: “I don’t buy it.”
He denied that his job approval rating averaged about 36% in the poll shows.
“Well, I don’t believe that’s my approval rating,” Biden said. “Our polls don’t show that.”
Asked if he was being honest with himself about his ability to beat Trump, Biden widened his eyes and replied, “Yes. Yes yes yes.”
Biden also boasted about his accomplishments and said he is the same man who ran for president in January 2021.
“As far as success goes, yes. I was also the man who created a viable peace plan for the Middle East. I was also the man who expanded NATO. I was also the man who grew the economy. All of the individual things that were done were ideas that I had or implemented. ” he said.
Biden angered Democrats when asked how he would feel if Trump were elected and the anti-democracy movement succeeded.
“I’m going to feel like I did my best and I did the best job I could, that’s it,” Biden said.
Opposition
Biden insisted he would not drop out even if top Democratic leaders in Congress asked him to. He said three times that only “the Lord” could convince him to step aside.
“If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I would get out of the race. The Lord Almighty will not come down,” he said, insisting his Democratic allies would not. ask
“I don’t think anyone is more qualified to be president or win this race than I am,” Biden said.
Asked if he would agree to undergo an independent medical evaluation and cognitive testing, Biden demurred, saying, “Look. I have a cognitive test every day. I take that test every day. Everything I do. You know, I’m not only running a campaign, I’m running the world.”
And he discussed his future plans — which he failed to do coherently during the debate — saying he would “fix the tax system,” continue “health care for all people,” and seek to expand “care for children and the elderly.” Instead, he said, “Trump’s plan will cause a recession” and further fuel inflation.
“I don’t think we are a country of losers,” said Biden, who wanted to focus on Trump, whom he repeatedly called a “pathological liar” and a born liar. The president will determine whether this Constitution is applied correctly or not.”
Laziness
“I just had a bad night. I don’t know why,” Biden said when pressed about his debate performance. He called it a “bad episode” and said it was “nothing serious – I’m exhausted”.
“I was sick. I felt terrible,” Biden said, taking responsibility and refusing to blame his staff or advisers.
But he said he was ready to campaign and remain president for another four years.
“Can I run 100 in 10 flats? No. But I’m still in good shape,” Biden said. When asked if he was weaker, Biden replied with a smile: “Let’s follow my schedule.”
Biden sometimes spoke slowly, sometimes pausing as he searched for his words. At times, he continued to tell stories, a common Biden trait, but unlike the debate, he restrained himself and returned the conversation with “anyway…”. Trump gives different numbers when discussing how many times he lied during the debate.
However, she said she lives a vibrant life.
“After that debate, I did 10 big events in a row, including one until 2:00 a.m. after the debate,” he said. “I did events in North Carolina. I did events in Georgia, I did events like this today, big crowd, big reaction, no landslide.”