Joe Biden was two hours late to his “big boy” presser at the NATO Summit in Washington, D.C., likely because he was rehearsing the answers for all the questions from the pre-approved reporter list. It was all part of the guardrails set up at this event, including the president reading poorly from a teleprompter.
He called Trump his vice president out of the gate, which probably gave everyone in the Democratic Party agita. For those tasked with transcribing this presser, please say a prayer for them—it will be a long night. Yet, while choppy, fraught with lies, and awkward moments—Biden resurrected creepy whispering again—it was good enough to give the president another few days of oxygen.
This presser was very much received like the ABC News interview, which was also a trainwreck but not seen as disqualifying or a true killshot to the Biden candidacy. With the president’s schedule over the next few days being leaked beforehand, it was clear that he would not announce his departure from the office, though that was true pie-in-the-sky speculation; Biden is supposed to sit down with NBC’s Lester Holt on Monday.
Folks, I’m not saying that Biden had a great night. It was terrible, but not a Chernobyl-style meltdown that would have given ‘dump Biden’ Democrats the magic bullet they needed to end this presidency. Like he did with George Stephanopoulos, Biden did well enough to keep the wolves within the Democratic Party at bay but didn’t knock it out of the park to the point where voters’ attitudes have changed regarding his mental health (via Politico):
“Unreal,” said one House Democrat watching the appearance, responding to the flub, who ultimately reviewed it as: "Mixed. Obviously much better second half." Another Democrat, who was following Biden’s remarks from a plane Biden’s remarks from a plane, texted about the Trump moment: “Ouch."
"Overall he sounded coherent but calling Z — President Putin and Harris — VP Trump overshadows the rest of his time," that lawmaker added. Democrats were granted anonymity to speak candidly about their reactions to the press conference.
Still, it wasn’t as bad as some Democrats feared. Biden flexed his foreign policy chops — including his role in expanding NATO — and defended his record of legislative accomplishments. Those moments, as well as a jab at Trump’s golf game, drew positive reviews from Democrats watching.
“Holy shit — he’s on fire,” texted one aide as Biden lit into Trump’s record.
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The whole thing could put Democrats in an even more awkward position than before. Despite deep discontent with their nominee, the performance wasn't bad enough to trigger party-wide movement toward Harris or others. While at least a half-dozen Democrats had prepared statements to come out against Biden if he had tanked in the press conference, it remained unclear, as of Thursday night, whether it had met their bar.
Three-fourths of the country thinks he’s too old to be effective. You cannot win with those numbers. The Democrats are also stuck on both fronts: they can’t boot Biden, nor is Kamala a better alternative. The former president is beating both. It also helps when the media doesn't ask tough questions; I'll get more into that later.
It's political purgatory, and the Democrats have not found a roadmap out of it, with time rapidly running out. It might have already, to be honest.