As a Hungarian, I can count on one hand the number of times I have stayed up until dawn for a press conference by an American president. Of course, elections and presidential debates are a different matter, and those interested in American politics do not regret sacrificing precious hours of sleep for them. However, a press conference is not nearly as important.
This was an exception: Joe Biden’s ‘big boy’ press conference—as White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre referred to it—this morning was as crucial as determining whether he would remain the Democratic candidate in the November election or be urged to step aside by his party colleagues. Reactions, much like the press conference itself, were mixed.
Right from the first question, Biden began with his usual, shall we say, ‘slip of the tongue’. A Reuters journalist asked him whether he thought Vice President Kamala Harris could defeat former President Donald Trump and the Republican presidential candidate in the election if Biden had to step aside.
‘Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if I thought she’s not qualified to be president,’ Biden snapped, almost offended by the question itself. The Democratic president did not even realize he had confused Harris’ and Trump’s names, and did not correct his mistake. Trump immediately responded: ‘Great job, Joe!’ he wrote ironically in his Truth Social post.
HAHAHA holy sh*t Joe Biden just called Kamala Harris "Vice President Trump" pic.twitter.com/T2IzSEGsRn
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 11, 2024
Biden had already ‘warmed up’ before the press conference at the NATO summit in Washington, DC. He introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by saying: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin.’ Perhaps no greater insult to Zelenskyy could be imagined at the moment.
The press conference followed a similar pattern throughout: forgotten words, slips of the tongue, and long-winded speeches that left both Biden and the audience unsure of his message. During The Washington Post’s live coverage, commentators were posting increasingly frequent updates from
Democratic strategists and consultants expressing panic about Biden’s terrible performance and his future.
The calls for Biden to step aside began to gain momentum after the first presidential debate, where the Democratic candidate performed disastrously, even by his own standards. This press conference was particularly significant in this context; Biden needed to deliver a strong performance, but once again, he failed to do so. At the beginning, most reporters, of course, questioned the president about his mental health and the possibility of him stepping aside. This led him to adopt a defensive and offended stance, which characterized the entire event.
The hour-long press conference had barely ended when another House Democrat joined the growing group—now at least 18 strong—calling for Biden’s retirement. Rep Jim Himes (D-Conn), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, stated: ‘We must put forth the strongest candidate possible to confront the threat posed by Trump’s promised authoritarianism.’ He added: ‘I no longer believe that is Joe Biden, and I hope that he will continue to put our nation first.’
Even George Clooney, a major Democratic donor, spoke out against the President’s candidacy in an opinion piece published in The New York Times. Clooney wrote that Biden ‘cannot win’ in November, adding that the President is not the man he used to know, but rather ‘the same man we all witnessed at the debate’. The actor even mentioned that ‘every senator, Congress member, and governor that I’ve spoken with in private’ agrees that Biden must step down.
In contrast, European leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have backed Biden. After the Putin-Zelenskyy blunder, Macron remarked that such mistakes could happen to anyone—though perhaps not twenty times a day—and praised Biden as an excellent leader who has done much for Europe.
It is not surprising that Western leaders are defending Biden,
as they are particularly fearful of a second Trump presidency. In such a scenario, Europe would be ‘left alone’—ie Europe would finally be able to pursue foreign, economic, and energy policies independent of the United States. What a nightmare!
Despite Biden’s poor performance, he and Trump are head-to-head in most polls, or well within the margin of error. There has not yet been a poll conducted since the recent press conference to reflect its impact, but it is likely that Biden’s support will drop somewhat, as it did after the presidential debate.
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