“Joe should immediately take a cognitive test and I would go with him and take another one as well. For the first time we would be a team and we would do it for the good of the country,” said the 45th president, in a message posted on the social network Truth Social.
The former president proposed that “all presidential candidates should undergo a cognitive test” and an aptitude test, “regardless of their age.” “Their performance since that heated debate has not exactly been stellar,” he added.
Trump called Biden’s lapse in communiqué with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “unforgivable,” referring to him as “president.” Putin”. “Despite all this, he should not allow complete losers like George Clooney, under the auspices of Barack Hussein Obama, to urge him to leave office,” he added.
On the other hand, the tycoon said during an interview with a radio program that Biden “made quite a few mistakes” during the press conference the day before after the NATO summit in Washington, although his performance was not “a total disaster,” he noted.
President Biden arrived in Michigan on Friday, determined to continue campaigning after a press conference that did not dispel doubts about his re-election bid but did not exacerbate them either.
“We have to finish the job. I promise I’m fine,” Biden told supporters at a restaurant in Northville, the industrial state in the north of the country that he must win in the November elections if he wants to defeat Republican Donald Trump.
The 81-year-old president is giving a speech in Detroit, the main objective of which is to denounce “project 2025”, a right-wing government programme drawn up by Trump allies, which the former president says he is not familiar with.
“Project 2025 is run and paid for by Trump’s people,” Biden said, according to excerpts of the speech broadcast to the press.
The president “understands that there is still some anxiety” in Congress, which is why he is focused on “proving that he is the best person to take on Donald Trump and defeat him in November,” according to campaign spokesman Michael Tyler.
The Democrat said Thursday that he was the “most qualified” to be president at a press conference that was supposed to seal his political fate, which has been very uncertain since the disastrous debate on June 27 against the 78-year-old Republican tycoon.
Everyone saw what they wanted to see during the hour or so it lasted, and it was confirmed that Biden is currently the most scrutinized politician on the planet.
His supporters praised his extensive knowledge of issues, especially international ones, and his control of the situation.
Monumental falls
But there were also those who highlighted his diction problems and in particular two monumental lapses.
Shortly before appearing before journalists, the president called the Ukrainian head of state, Volodymyr Zelensky, “President Putin.” He corrected himself as soon as he realized it.
And at the press conference he said “Vice President Trump” instead of Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Good job, Joe!” Trump joked.
“Joe Biden has been making gaffes for 40 years, he made a couple last night and he’ll probably make more,” his spokesman Tyler said.
More Democrats withdraw their support
The trickle of congressmen who have turned their backs on him continues, without any apparent bleeding for the moment.
Nearly twenty Democratic congressmen have openly called on the US president to withdraw his candidacy before the nominating convention to be held in Chicago (North) in August.
And the president failed to win the public support of his party’s House leader, Hakeem Jeffries, whom he received on Thursday night.
In a letter to members of his group, the Democrat simply informed them of the meeting and stated: “We will continue to work for the good of middle-class Americans.”
On Friday, one of the architects of the Democratic leader’s victory in 2020, African-American Congressman James Clyburn, nevertheless assured NBC that he “fully” supported Biden.
Money
The question now is whether the president has bought himself enough time to survive the political and media storm, or whether all he has achieved is to delay his withdrawal.
Part of the answer will be financial: a sudden drop in fundraising would be difficult to overcome.
According to the New York Times, major contributors have suspended pledges to one of the largest fundraisers for Biden’s campaign, freezing $90 million.
The spotlight is now on the party’s leading figures, particularly former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama.
The former insisted this week that Joe Biden “make a decision,” a subtle way of implying that she believes the one he has made is not necessarily the right one. The latter has campaigned with Biden and is currently keeping silent.
Source: With information from AFP and Europa Press
