In the shadow of the Republican national convention in Milwaukee, where Donald Trump officially became the party’s nominee, days after surviving an attempt on his life, Joe Biden was still confronting a question he thought he’d answered: will he be the Democratic nominee in November?
“1,000%” the president said in an interview with Complex’s Chris “Speedy” Morman, which aired on Monday. So the president would remain the party’s standard-bearer, Morman asked? “Unless I get hit by a train, yeah,” Biden replied.
The interview was recorded before a would-be assassin shot at Trump during a rally in western Pennsylvania on Saturday, bloodying his ear and killing one spectator. In the roughly 36 hours that followed, the presidential contest was suspended, as Biden returned to the White House to lead a nation rattled by the shocking act – the latest ugly episode in a rising tide of political violence.
Biden condemned the attack as “sick”. He called Trump to check in on him and let him know he and the first lady were praying for him. Then, on Sunday, Biden addressed the nation from the Oval Office, pleading with Americans in a heartfelt speech to “lower the temperature”.
The moment played to Biden’s strengths – the healer-in-chief, offering himself once again, as he did four years ago, as a compassionate leader determined to overcome political tribalism. But on Monday, as Biden returned to a campaign trail transformed by the attack, he faced many of the same doubts and weaknesses that have dogged his re-election campaign since the start.
“I’m old,” Biden conceded in an interview with NBC News’s Lester Holt, that took place and aired on Monday. “But I’m only three years older than Trump, number one. And number two, my mental acuity has been pretty damn good. I’ve gotten more done than any president has in a long, long time in three and a half years. I’m willing to be judged on that.”
Though the dramatic turn of events appeared to have momentarily quieted calls for Biden to step aside, Democrats still harbored deep reservations about their nominee’s viability. Since his disastrous debate performance against Trump last month, Biden, asked by Holt if he was ready to “get back on the horse, insisted he was already “on the horse,” having held nearly two dozen campaign events as well as an hour-long press conference at the conclusion of the Nato summit, where he held forth on foreign policy.
But many of the verbal miscues and stumbles remain, only now they are scrutinized and amplified as observers search for evidence of decline. Yet the president has remained steadfast. Asked what he would do if he had another poor performance, the president insisted it wouldn’t happen again. And when pressed on who was helping him make the decision about whether to stay in the race, Biden replied: “Me.”
The interview aired as prominent Republicans took the stage in Milwaukee, exuding a sense of confidence and resolve to win in November. The attempt on Trump’s life, and his preternatural instinct to raise a fist and shout “Fight!” to his supporters as Secret Service agents rushed him offstage, appeared to have unified and energized the Republican rank and file in attendance. Further exciting Republicans, Trump revealed his choice of running mate – the Ohio senator JD Vance – on Monday, hours after a judge he appointed during his presidency dismissed the classified documents case against him.
In the evening, Trump made his first public appearance since Saturday’s attack, drawing thunderous applause when he arrived at the convention hall with a bandage on his ear. The former reality TV star-turned-president pumped his fist, as country singer Lee Greenwood sang God Bless the USA from the main stage.
Polls show a close race – “essentially a toss-up” Biden said in his interview. But voters say they trust Trump more on the economy and immigration, two top issues. Biden holds the advantage on reproductives rights, and his campaign on Monday said it plans to make Vance’s support for abortion bans a central theme.
Asked how the attempted assassination changed the race, the president told Holt: “I don’t know. And you don’t know either.”
The president on Monday departed for Nevada, a battleground state he won in 2020, that appears to be slipping out of reach. There he will hold events in Las Vegas aimed at mobilize Black and Latino voters who are critical to his electoral coalition. On Tuesday he will deliver remarks at the 115th NAACP national convention, followed on Wednesday by remarks at the UnidosUS Annual Conference. He will also sit for two more national interviews with Black Entertainment Television (BET) and Univision radio.
Biden has also faced heavy criticisms from Palestinian and Arab Americans who say his unyielding support for Israel enabled its 10-month war in Gaza, which has killed more than 37,000 people. His interview with Morman, recorded last week in Detroit, home to a large, diverse Arab American community, likely did little to address their concerns. In it, Biden claimed that he was “the guy that did more for the Palestinian community than anybody,” pointing to his administration’s efforts to secure more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Reassembling the diverse coalition that helped elect him in 2020 rests in part on reminding Americans why they voted Trump out of office in the first place.
“I’m not the guy that said, ‘I want to be a dictator on day one.’ I’m not the guy who refused to accept the outcome of the election,” Biden told Holt, who pressed the president on whether he regretted casting Trump as “an existential threat” to American democracy in light of Saturday’s attack. Biden was again defiant, vowing not to shy away from delivering sharp critiques of his rival.
“How do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when he says things like he says?” he said, referring to Trump. “Do you just not say something because it may incite somebody?”
Biden has said the contest was a choice between two starkly different visions of America and its future. But many Democrats remain still torn over whether he is the best messenger to lay out that contrast.
In his interview with Morman, the president attempted to do just that. After touting his own record of bipartisan accomplishments, he was asked to name one thing he thought Trump would succeed at should his opponent win a second term.
“I’m not being facetious,” Biden said. “I can’t think of a single thing.”
