Washington: A defiant Joe Biden insisted on Thursday that he will seek another term as US president and defeat Donald Trump, as a string of misspelled words at a major summit cast a harsh new light on his fitness.
At a high-profile press conference at the end of the NATO summit in Washington, the 81-year-old acknowledged the need to “allay concerns” among Democrats but said he was determined not to be sidetracked.
His bid to portray himself as commanding was undermined by introducing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as his Russian nemesis Vladimir Putin earlier in the day and then referring to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump” at a news conference.
Biden’s candidacy is in crisis as a disastrous debate performance against Trump two weeks ago renewed concerns about his age — and a rare stand-alone news conference that lasted about an hour was designed to show he’s still got it.
“I’m the most qualified person to run for president. I’ve beaten him once and I’m going to beat him again,” Biden said of Trump.
Biden, who is already the oldest president in US history, said “it’s not for my legacy” but to “finish the job I started”.
The president has faced a steady drumbeat from Democrats who are calling on him to drop his 2024 bid because they fear Trump is in a position to defeat him.
More calls from House representatives came Thursday night after the press conference.
Biden has made clear his support for Harris — who will take over as vice president in an emergency but is also seen by a growing number of Democrats as a stronger front-runner.
Amid reports that the Biden campaign was quietly testing Harris’ mettle in a theoretical matchup against Trump, the president said he wouldn’t have picked her if she “wasn’t qualified to be president.”
He also denied reports that he was supposed to go to bed by 8:00 p.m., when he was still holding Thursday’s press conference.
But after blaming his debate debacle on a mixture of jet lag and a cold, he admitted it would have been “smarter for me to run a bit more”.
He also stressed that neurological tests showed he was in “good shape” and said he would undergo another if doctors recommended one, but they did not.
Biden also fielded a series of foreign and domestic policy questions, with detailed, if occasionally meandering, answers and relatively few typos, though he mixed up Europe and Asia.
Asked about his ability to stand up to autocratic leaders like Putin or China’s Xi Jinping, Biden said he was “ready to deal with them now and in three years.”
Still, his relatively assured performance failed to stop the bleeding, with three more Democratic lawmakers calling on him to leave the race, bringing the total to 17.
Meanwhile, Trump mocked Biden for his gaffes during the press conference itself.
“Crooked Joe begins his “Big Boy” press conference by saying, “I wouldn’t pick VP Trump for VP… Great job Joe!” Trump said on his Truth Social website.
