President Joe Biden called into his favourite morning cable news show, where he talked about his campaign crowd sizes and challenged disgruntled “elites” within his party to contest him publicly.
This move was seen as reminiscent of his Republican rival, Donald Trump.
Speaking on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Biden, 81, aimed to counter moves by Capitol Hill Democrats to push him out of the 2024 White House race.
“I’m getting so frustrated by the elites … in the party,” Biden said, audibly shuffling papers to ensure he covered all his points. “With any of these guys who don’t think I should run — run against me. Challenge me at the convention.”
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to be formally renominated later this month in a virtual roll call ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month.
During the interview, Biden also targeted Trump, 78, who has surged in national and swing state polling since their June 27 debate in Atlanta.
Biden referred to a “list of lies” purportedly told by Trump and claimed he was more active in the campaign compared to Trump.
“I’ve been out on the road so much all over the country, and while Trump is riding around in the golf cart,” Biden said, referring to Trump’s criticism of his 2020 “basement campaign” during the COVID-19 pandemic. “He hasn’t been anywhere in 10 days.”
Despite public polls showing majorities of Democrats want him to step aside, Biden insisted that rank-and-file Democratic voters still support him. “All the data — all the data, shows that the average Democrat out there who voted — 14 million of them voted for me — still want me to be the nominee,” he said, highlighting the “large crowds and enthusiastic crowds” at his events.
Biden addressed concerns about his health, reiterating a statement from a recent interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. When asked by Brzezinski if he had been screened for neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s, Biden quipped, “I have a neurological test every single day.”
The White House noted that Biden underwent a Parkinson’s screening as part of his February physical exam, which came back clean. Dr Kevin O’Connor’s summary from the exam indicated, “an extremely detailed neurologic exam was again reassuring in that there were no findings which would be consistent with any cerebellar or other central neurological disorder.”
Biden’s call to MSNBC followed his letter to congressional Democrats affirming his intent to stay in the race. At least eight Democratic members of the House have publicly called for Biden to step aside, with more expressing doubts about his ability to defeat Trump again.
Trump, who frequently appeared on “Morning Joe” during the 2016 campaign before falling out with the anchors, has also faced scrutiny. After the CNN debate, Scarborough suggested that Democrats might need to reconsider Biden as their nominee, stating, “This is a last chance for Democrats to decide whether this man we’ve known and loved for a very long time is up to the task of running for president of the United States.”
