- author, Bernd Debsmann Jr.
- role, BBC News, Washington
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US President Joe Biden hit back at criticism over his age in an impassioned speech to supporters, telling them he would run for re-election in November after a poor debate performance raised concerns about his candidacy.
“Needless to say, I know I’m not getting any younger,” Trump said at a rally in the battleground state of North Carolina on Friday, a day after struggling in a televised showdown with Republican rival Donald Trump.
“I can’t walk as easily as I used to. I can’t argue as well as I used to,” he admitted. “But I know what I know, and I know how to tell the truth.”[and]I know how to do this job.”
Biden, 81, said he “truly” believes he can serve another term, as the Raleigh crowd cheered, “Four more years!”
Trump, meanwhile, held his own rally in Virginia just hours later, praising his “big win” in the debate, which CNN said was watched by 48 million people on television and millions more online. “The problem with Joe Biden is not his age,” said Trump, 78. “The problem is his ability. He’s woefully incompetent.”
The former president said he doesn’t believe speculation that Biden is dropping out of the race, saying he is “doing better in the polls” than other Democrats, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Questions about Biden’s age are not new, but his shaky performance in the debate – where he struggled to speak, slurred speech and gave inaudible answers – has sparked panic among some Democrats and raised new doubts about his candidacy.
Senior Democratic figures, political activists and people close to the president who spoke to the BBC’s Katie Kaye painted a picture of anxiety within the party, worried about the strength of the candidates.
“From a performance standpoint, it wasn’t great,” said Nancy Pelosi, a former Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives. Other Democrats, including Biden’s former communications director, Kate Bedingfield, said the debate performance was “really disappointing.”
Democratic donors, who spoke anonymously to various outlets, were more blunt, with one calling the performance a “disqualification.” “The only way it could have been more disastrous is if he fell off the stage. Big donors are saying he has to go,” one Democratic source told the Financial Times.
But during Friday’s debate, many Democratic Party officials and Biden allies publicly defended Biden’s performance and sought to calm liberal fears. Former President Barack Obama was one of Biden’s supporters, who tweeted that “debate night can be bad.”
“This election is a choice between someone who has spent his whole life fighting for ordinary people and someone who only thinks about himself,” Obama wrote, adding that Trump is “someone who lies for his own gain.”
Biden and his campaign were quick to reject calls that he should step down as a candidate.
“President Biden is the only person to have beaten President Donald Trump, and he will do it again,” the campaign adviser said. “This election was not going to be won or lost on one rally, one conversation or one debate.”
The Biden campaign also appeared to be trying to show the president is maintaining his momentum, saying he has raised $14 million in fundraising in recent days.
Biden is scheduled to meet with donors on Friday and Saturday, including at events in Manhattan and the wealthy Hamptons.
