A DEFIANT JOE Biden has told a rally in the battleground state of Michigan that he was “not done yet”, insisting that he was staying in the race for the White House amid growing calls from Democrats for him to drop out.
The 81-year-old gave a boisterous performance at the campaign event and tried to turn attention to Donald Trump, just 24 hours after a string of verbal gaffes at a Nato summit threw a harsh new spotlight on his fitness to serve.
“There’s been a lot of speculation lately. What’s Joe Biden going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? Is he going to drop out?” Biden told supporters in the city of Detroit, to chants of “Don’t you quit!”
“Here’s my answer: I am running and we’re going to win! I’m not going to change that,” the US president said.
You made me the nominee, no one else – not the press, not the pundits, not the insiders, not donors. You, the voters. You decided. No one else. And I’m not going anywhere.
One Democratic senator and roughly 20 House Democrats now publicly calling on Biden to step aside due to concerns over his health and mental acuity in the wake of his disastrous debate performance against Trump on 27 June.
Hollywood actor and high-profile supporter George Clooney has also called for Biden to step aside.
A series of gaffes at the Nato summit, including referring to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump” and introducing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin”, kept the focus on his fitness to serve.
We all know it’s not enough to just be against something. We have to be for something.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 13, 2024
Here’s my plan for the first 100 days of my second term.pic.twitter.com/WuJGBK0Ln0
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries told Democrats he had met privately with Biden after a news conference on Friday, sharing the “full breadth” of views from lawmakers about the path forward in the president’s campaign for re-election.
But the support Biden retains among Democrats was clear among the hundreds of supporters at the rally, who waved signs that read “Motown is Joetown” and enthusiastically cheered the president’s remarks – and jeered at any mention of Trump.
Biden urged the media to focus on Trump’s “lies” and referred to his filing for bankruptcy six times.
“Americans want a president not a dictator,” Biden said to cheers. Referring to Trump’s comment that he would only be a dictator on “day one” of his presidency, he said he would let that happen “over my dead body.”
Biden, who blamed jet lag and illness for his stumbling debate performance against Trump, will keep up a relentless travel schedule in coming days as he seeks to allay concerns over his stamina and sharpness.
“The president understands that there’s still some anxiety,” Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler told reporters traveling to Michigan with the president aboard Air Force One.
“That’s why he’s laser focused on demonstrating that he is the best person to take on Donald Trump,” he said.
Tyler played down the verbal slip-ups, saying: “Joe Biden has been making gaffes for 40 years, he made a couple of last night, he probably will continue to do so.”
Next week Biden will head to Texas and Nevada for further campaign events and will give his second major network interview of recent weeks on Monday to broadcaster NBC.
With reporting from © AFP 2024
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