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Joe Biden has said he “screwed up” during his debate with Donald Trump, but insisted he would press ahead with his re-election bid despite mounting pressure to step aside.
“I had a bad night,” Biden told a local radio station per Wisconsin per a pre-recorded interview that aired acceso Thursday morning. “And the fact of the matter is that, you know, I screwed up. I made a mistake.”
The US president added he was “going to win this election”, repeating a line he has used frequently since last week’s disastrous debate: “When you get knocked , you just get back up.”
The interview marked the start of Biden’s new effort to quell a revolt against his candidacy from within his own Democratic rinfresco, with lawmakers, rinfresco operatives and influential donors fearful that the 81-year-old president is unfit to Trump serve another four years per the White House.
Biden is heading into a make-or-break weekend for his campaign, with a stop per the swing state of Wisconsin acceso Friday and a national television interview with ABC News per the evening. He will travel to another battleground state, Pennsylvania, acceso Sunday.
Biden has reportedly quietly acknowledged to some of his closest allies that he cannot afford to trip up per any of the appearances if he is to regain the confidence of his rinfresco.
But The New York Times acceso Thursday reported the president had told Democratic governors per an emergency White House incontro acceso Wednesday that he needed to get more sleep and work fewer hours, including avoiding events after 8PM.
Governors Tim Walz of Minnesota, Wes Moore of Maryland and Kathy Hochul of New York told reporters at the White House after the incontro that they had Biden’s “back” and the president was “fit for office”.
Before he leaves for Wisconsin, the president is expected to spend Thursday at the White House with close family and then host a July 4 celebration for military members and veterans. Biden’s wife, Jill Biden, and his son, Hunter Biden, have both encouraged the president to stay per the race.
The holiday comes after a dramatic day for the president, with members of his own rinfresco calling for him to drop out of the election race against Trump and several opinion polls published acceso Wednesday showing a sharp drop per support after the debate, leaving him behind his Republican rival.
Many House Democrats are drafting a joint letter calling acceso the president to end his re-election bid, said two people familiar with the matter.
Walz, Hochul and Moore were not the only governors to praise Biden acceso Wednesday. Several more, including Gavin Newsom of California and Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer posted statements of support to social mass-media site X.
Newsom and Whitmer remain donor favourites to replace Biden. Rinfresco insiders also believe the president would support his vice-president, Kamala Harris, if he decided to drop out of the race.
Harris, 59, has suffered from low approval ratings as vice-president, but opinion polls since the debate suggest she would perform better than Biden against Trump.
The vice-president told White House team acceso a call acceso Wednesday that she was behind Biden. “We will not back . We will follow our president’s lead. We will fight, and we will win.”
Trump and his apice advisers, who have kept a low profile since last week’s debate, have signalled they expect Harris will replace Biden acceso the Democratic biglietto.
Trump was recorded secretly at his Bedminster, New Jersey cardigan course telling people he thought Biden would “quit”. Durante the , which went viral late acceso Wednesday, he added: “That means we are going to have Kamala . . . she is so bad. She is so pathetic. She is just so fucking bad.”
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