WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has offered plenty of excuses for his terrible performance in last week’s presidential debate. None of them have done much to assuage Democrats’ concerns about Donald Trump returning to the White House.
Biden’s White House, for its part, insists these are explanations, not excuses. But they have only reinforced Democrats’ concerns about their presumptive nominee’s readiness.
A bad cold
In the opening moments of Thursday’s debate, shortly after the 81-year-old Biden told a stunned audience that “we finally defeated Medicare,” aides said the president was suffering from a cold.
Biden’s voice was hoarse. His eyes sometimes seemed glazed. But despite the cold, he went from the debate to a watch party to a Waffle House. Then he gave an energetic speech in North Carolina on Friday.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during Wednesday’s press briefing that she initially threw out the cold as an explanation, but she knew his schedule and jet lag were issues. She later suggested that Biden had been traveling and had come down with a cold, potentially linking the two.
“That was my mistake,” Jean-Pierre said of not discussing jet lag earlier.
Studied too hard
Other aides said Biden had simply overprepared during his time at the presidential retreat at Camp David, that the president had simply crammed too many facts into his head.
Biden spent six full days in Maryland at Camp David, which is located in Catoctin Mountain Park. Jean-Pierre said Biden also performed all of his presidential duties while working late.
I do not feel so good
Biden’s wife, Jill, told supporters in New York City on Friday that he didn’t feel “that great” during the debate. It’s unclear what that meant, whether it was the cold, exhaustion or something else. But the first lady made the campaign’s central argument that 90 minutes shouldn’t define his entire presidency.
Jetlag – from a trip almost two weeks earlier
Biden offered a different explanation Tuesday night at a fundraiser in Virginia, saying his problem was jet lag after traveling to France, California and then Italy before spending time in Delaware and at Camp David. He arrived at Camp David on June 20, seven days before the debate. The presidential retreat is in the Eastern Time Zone, the same as CNN’s Atlanta studios.
“I decided to travel around the world a couple of times, going through I don’t know how many time zones,” Biden said, adding that he went through “15 time zones” and joking that he “then came back and almost fell asleep on stage.”
That explanation raised more questions about how long Biden needs to recover from a trip.
“I don’t think it’s a new excuse,” Jean-Pierre said of the jet lag, adding that it involved a lot of travelling before stressing that “we certainly don’t want to justify this”.
Why he didn’t do more damage control: Aviation
Jean-Pierre later added that Biden did not further mitigate the damage from his performance during the debate immediately afterwards, as he traveled through North Carolina, New York and New Jersey before returning to Camp David late Saturday night.
Air Force One is equipped with extensive communications equipment so presidents can stay informed during the flight.
