Biden stumbles through solo press conference

If you were expecting a Benjamin Button-style de-aging of President Joe Biden at tonight’s NATO press conference after he recovered from the cold and jet lag he claims led to his disastrous debate performance, well… Biden is still Biden. His voice still sounds old and whispery. That being said, when he finally did step onto the press conference stage, he had an air of confidence that was not present during the debate two weeks ago.

There were quite a few complications leading up to actually starting the press conference. The White House originally scheduled it for 5:30, but bumped it back to 6:30. The streaming started then, but the conference didn’t actually begin until almost an entire hour after 6:30. Judging from Biden’s performance earlier when he confused Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky with Russian president Vladimir Putin, he wasn’t having a great day. One reporter questioned him on this mix-up, to which Biden responded: “Do you think I failed at running this conference?” And then proceeded to explain away the mistake.

While Biden started the conference off strongish, he did fade throughout the night. And he started the whole shebang by saying: “I’ve been given a list of people to call on here.” There were more than a dozen “anyways” and about ten stutters (one of them appropriately happening during his pronunciation of neurologist). He also referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump.”

Almost every reporter asked a question about foreign affairs — but then sprinkled in a query about the president’s competence at the end. Biden would address the first question and then a few times would have to be reminded of the second part — which he addressed by mostly brushing off and ignoring concerns, saying things like “that’s not true” when one reporter questioned his capacity to keep a full schedule. There were two distinct times Biden implied everything was all his staff’s fault. “I love my staff, but they add things all the time.” And then he added, “I’m catching help from my wife.” Yikes.

Near the end of the conference, Biden said: “I’ve taken three significant and intense neurological… [mumbling] a neurologist. At least since February, and they say I’m in good shape. OK? Although I do have a little problem with my left foot, because it’s not as sensitive because I broke my foot and didn’t wear the boot. But, I’m good. I’m tested every single day about my neurological capacity — the decisions I make every day. You talk to my staff, all of you talk to my staff. Sometimes my staff talks a lot. But the fact of the matter is, I don’t think you have them telling you that all the major ideas we’ve undertaken haven’t been in part initiated by me.” 

Biden’s strongest moment of the night was when he forcefully said: “More children are killed by a bullet than any other cause of death!… The United States of America! What the hell are we doing?”

Biden’s responses to his physical fitness continued with: “If a neurologist tells me he thinks I need another exam — by the way, I’ve laid every bit of the record out, and every single day I’m surrounded by good docs. If they think there’s a problem, I promise you… Or even if they don’t think it’s a problem they think I should have a neurological exam again, I’ll do it. But no one is suggesting that to me now. Now I’ll ask you another question: no matter what I did, no one is going to be satisfied. Did you have seven docs? Did you have two? Who’d you have? Did you do this?”

At the end of the conference, Biden was asked about what would happen if another candidate is nominated at the Democratic convention. “Tomorrow if all of a sudden I show up at the convention and everybody says we want somebody else, that’s the democratic process,” Biden said. Then he whispered somewhat sinisterly, “it’s not gonna happen.” The reporter responded with: “Even if that means they vote for someone else?” Biden responded: “How accurate does anybody think the polls are these days? I can give you a series of polls where you have likely voters, me versus Trump, where I win all the time.”

The last question of the night centered around Kamala Harris, asking Biden if he would step down if his team showed him she faired better in the polls. “No. Unless they came back and said ‘there’s no way you could win’… me,” Biden responded. And then the return of the whisper: “No one is saying that. No poll is saying that.”

As for overall confidence in Biden: only the polls can tell us if this press conference will assure voters. That is, if we can trust the polls at all.