President Joe Biden was more energetic and forceful at a rally this afternoon following his dismal performance at Thursday night’s debate with Donald Trump.
Biden acknowledged as much, as he told the crowd, “I don’t walk as easily as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know. I know how to tell the truth.”
That was a reference to the many false statements that Trump made during the debate, many of which went unchecked by CNN’s moderators, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, and by Biden.
With a weakened voice and verbal stumbles, Biden’s Thursday performance shocked many supporters and unleashed a wave of new calls for him to drop out, including from The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. Morning Joe‘s Joe Scarborough, who has been a defender of the president’s, raised doubts. While Scarborough said that he is certain Biden can govern, he asked, “Can he run for president in 2024?”
“Donald Trump lied over and over and over again, and Joe Biden couldn’t respond to any of those lies,” Scarborough said.
As of now, though, there is little indication that Biden is thinking his decision to run for reelection, nor are his closest allies trying to convince him to drop out. Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) told reporters earlier in the day that he planned to tell Biden to stay the course.
At the rally, held in the swing state of North Carolina, Biden told the crowd that “I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done. I know what many Americans know: When you get knocked down you get back up.”
Biden also referred to what may have been one of his stronger moments of the evening, when he went through the litany of Trump’s legal troubles. At the rally, he called Trump a “one man crime wave.”