Joe Biden was two hours late to his “big boy” presser at the NATO Summit in Washington, D.C., likely because he was rehearsing the answers for all the questions from the pre-approved reporter list. It was all part of the guardrails set up at this event, including the president reading poorly from a teleprompter.
He called Trump his vice president out of the gate, which probably gave everyone in the Democratic Party agita. For those tasked with transcribing this presser, please say a prayer for them—it will be a long night. Yet, while choppy, fraught with lies, and awkward moments—Biden resurrected creepy whispering again—it was good enough to give the president another few days of oxygen.
Who did this 🤣 pic.twitter.com/49cYguqEuu
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 11, 2024
This presser was very much received like the ABC News interview, which was also a trainwreck but not seen as disqualifying or a true killshot to the Biden candidacy. With the president’s schedule over the next few days being leaked beforehand, it was clear that he would not announce his departure from the office, though that was true pie-in-the-sky speculation; Biden is supposed to sit down with NBC’s Lester Holt on Monday.
Little scoop here on Biden media schedule next week:
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) July 11, 2024
In addition to Monday's interview with @LesterHoltNBC, Biden will sit for two more interviews:
- on Tuesday with Black national media outlet (during NAACP Conference)
- on Wednesday with Latino national media outlet
...
Folks, I’m not saying that Biden had a great night. It was terrible, but not a Chernobyl-style meltdown that would have given ‘dump Biden’ Democrats the magic bullet they needed to end this presidency. Like he did with George Stephanopoulos, Biden did well enough to keep the wolves within the Democratic Party at bay but didn’t knock it out of the park to the point where voters’ attitudes have changed regarding his mental health (via Politico):
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“Unreal,” said one House Democrat watching the appearance, responding to the flub, who ultimately reviewed it as: "Mixed. Obviously much better second half." Another Democrat, who was following Biden’s remarks from a plane Biden’s remarks from a plane, texted about the Trump moment: “Ouch."
"Overall he sounded coherent but calling Z — President Putin and Harris — VP Trump overshadows the rest of his time," that lawmaker added. Democrats were granted anonymity to speak candidly about their reactions to the press conference.
Still, it wasn’t as bad as some Democrats feared. Biden flexed his foreign policy chops — including his role in expanding NATO — and defended his record of legislative accomplishments. Those moments, as well as a jab at Trump’s golf game, drew positive reviews from Democrats watching.
“Holy shit — he’s on fire,” texted one aide as Biden lit into Trump’s record.
[…]
The whole thing could put Democrats in an even more awkward position than before. Despite deep discontent with their nominee, the performance wasn't bad enough to trigger party-wide movement toward Harris or others. While at least a half-dozen Democrats had prepared statements to come out against Biden if he had tanked in the press conference, it remained unclear, as of Thursday night, whether it had met their bar.
Three-fourths of the country thinks he’s too old to be effective. You cannot win with those numbers. The Democrats are also stuck on both fronts: they can’t boot Biden, nor is Kamala a better alternative. The former president is beating both. It also helps when the media don't ask tough questions; I'll get more into that later.
The presser now feels a bit like a Rorschach test. People either saw a person in command of policy with ideas for a second term, or they saw the meandering answers, the anyways, and the mixing up of names. What is clear is that the president will keep going.
— Katie Rogers (@katierogers) July 12, 2024
So far this is a very similar Goldilocks performance to Biden's ABC News interview: not bad enough to open the floodgates, but not good enough to silence the critics. A frustrating spot for Dems
— Kirk A. Bado (@kirk_bado) July 11, 2024
Yeah I'm worried this isn't quite disastrous enough to knock him out quickly pic.twitter.com/K0cyyHdhOy
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) July 12, 2024
Dem source on Biden’s performance at the press conference:
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) July 12, 2024
*adding - Biden has said he will not pardon Hunter or commute his sentence pic.twitter.com/pb5aPJufRT
And this is the worst-case scenario for Biden & congressional Dems. The longer the “candid, comprehensive & clear-eyed” (to use Hakeem Jeffries’ words) discussion about Biden’s viability lasts, the worse it will get for Biden & down-ballot Dems.
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) July 12, 2024
If Biden doesn’t completely bomb… https://t.co/YS950cbzOo
It's political purgatory, and the Democrats have not found a roadmap out of it, with time rapidly running out. It might have already, to be honest.
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