Joe Biden says only the the ‘Lord Almighty' will cause him to drop out of presidential race amid ongoing questions around his ability to serve.
Biden, fighting to save his endangered reelection effort Friday, repeatedly rejected taking an independent medical evaluation that would show voters he is up for serving another term in office while blaming his disastrous debate performance on a “bad episode” and saying there were “no indications of any serious condition.”
In his determination, the 81-year-old president was asked whether he would step down if the Democrat party felt hm continuing in the race would lead to defeat, to which he replied: "If the Lord Almighty said, ‘Joe get out of the race’, then I would get out of the race. But the Lord Almighty’s not coming down."
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Biden was further questioned on his cognitive ability, saying: "Look, I have a cognitive test every single day,” Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, referring to the tasks he faces daily in a rigorous job. “Every day, I’ve had tests. Everything I do.”
He insisted that he was not more frail and that he is “still in good shape.” He said he has an “ongoing assessment” by his personal doctors and they “don’t hesitate to tell me” if something is wrong.
As for the debate, “I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of preparing,” Biden said. He also insisted he was the “most qualified” to lead Democrats against presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
That 22-minute interview, paired with a weekend campaign in battleground Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, was part of Biden’s rigorous efforts to course correct from his debate performance last week. But the president’s push was not yet quelling internal party frustrations, with one influential Democratic senator working on a nascent push that would encourage the president to exit the race and Democrats quietly chatting about where they would go next if the president drops out — or what it would mean if he stays in.
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Still, in Wisconsin, Biden was focused on proving his capacity to remain as president. When asked whether he would halt his campaign, he told reporters he was “completely ruling that out” and said he is “positive” he could serve for another four years. At a rally in front of hundreds of supporters he acknowledged his subpar debate performance but insisted, “I am running, and I’m going to win again.”
“I beat Donald Trump,” a forceful Biden said, as the crowd gathered in a local middle school cheered and waved campaign signs. “I will beat him again.”
Biden, relying on a teleprompter for his remarks, attacked his presumptive Republican challenger almost immediately, laying into Trump by pointing out that the former president once said that “George Washington’s army won the revolution by taking control of the airports from the British.”