CNN senior political analyst Nia-Malika Henderson said Wednesday that President Joe Biden’s appearances following the June 27 presidential debate affirm voters’ concerns about his age and mental acuity.
The president has participated in several media appearances since the debate in an attempt to quell concerns arising from his disastrous debate performance. Henderson said his most recent media appearances have failed to change the American public’s minds about his ability to serve a second term.
“The problem that Biden has is he has gone out for the last three weeks to try and turn the narrative around,” Henderson said. “To say that the debate was just a one-off, that he is in fact strong and vigorous and was just having a bad night, he just had a cold and he was tired. The problem is his appearances so far since then have been hit or miss.”
“There have been some relatively strong appearances. The news conference was fine, even though he had some gaffes, but still, he’s making gaffes. He’s still talking in a low voice, he still seems kind of infirm, in fact, when he goes out and greets voters… So it’s not going away because a lot of we see of Biden still just affirms what folks saw in that debate,” she continued.
CNN political analyst said Biden’s appearances following debate “affirms” voters concerns about his mental acuity pic.twitter.com/mjQt4B1sNQ
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 17, 2024
The president sat down for a one-on-one interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on July 6, where the host repeatedly pressed the president on his performance and the public’s concerns, to which Biden asserted he simply had a “bad night” and a cold. Stephanopoulos bluntly expressed doubt that Biden is able to “serve four more years” following the interview. (RELATED: ‘Viewers Of Fox News Understood’: WaPo Columnist Blames Left-Wing Media Bias For Silence About Biden’s Age, Mental Acuity)
The president held a press conference on July 11, where he succeeded in easing some concerns, despite having several notable gaffes. He referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump” and mistakenly called Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “President Putin” during the event.
He recently sat down with NBC News’ Lester Holt, where he notably addressed his comment to put former President Donald Trump in the “bullseye” during a Monday interview.
The Biden campaign negotiated with Civic Media, a Milwaukee radio station, to remove two short segments from the president’s interview ahead of its publication Thursday. The first segment featured Biden saying he has “more blacks in [his] administration” than any other president historically, namely cabinet positions. The other involved him struggling with his words as he criticized Trump’s response to a 1989 rape of a woman who jogged in Central Park.
Nearly 20 congressional Democrats have called on Biden to step down over their concerns about his ability to defeat Trump following the debate. Democratic California Rep. Adam Schiff became the latest Democrat Wednesday to call on Biden to drop out, according to The LA Times.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
