Biden may be ‘blaming himself’ after debate with Trump

US President Joe Biden had a private conversation with a close ally on July 2, in which he “examined and blamed himself” for last week’s disappointing debate performance, instead of blaming his advisers and assistants.

“He said ‘I’ve focused too much on foreign policy’,” CNN Today quoted an unnamed ally of Mr. Biden.

The person said the US president believed that back-to-back trips to France and Italy, along with fatigue and jet lag, had hampered his first debate with Donald Trump. Mr. Biden also said at a rally in Virginia on July 2 that two foreign trips before the debate were a “bad idea.”

President Biden has acknowledged to allies that the coming days will be critical to whether he can salvage his re-election bid, and he has said he knows there is no way to recover if events don’t go well.

“He saw what was coming,” the person said. “He understood that his efforts to repair the fallout from the debate would be ineffective if his polls were plunging, his fundraising dried up and his interviews were not going well.”

Despite spending days rehearsing, Mr. Biden’s performance in the debate with former President Donald Trump on the evening of June 27 was considered a “disaster.” Not only did he stutter and appear distracted many times during the 90-minute debate, President Biden also spoke in a weak, hoarse voice, and some information was mixed up and unclear.

After the debate, many Democratic voters expressed deep concerns about the President’s ability to run for re-election. Some Democratic lawmakers even publicly called on him to withdraw from the race to ensure the interests of the party.

New York Times On the same day, citing an anonymous source, Mr. Biden told allies that he understood he might have to suspend his campaign if upcoming events, including an interview with ABC News and two rallies in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania this weekend, were not successful.

The newspaper added that an unnamed senior adviser to Mr Biden also said the President was “fully aware of the political challenge he faces”.

However, White House Press Secretary Andrew Bates denied the NY Times’ information as “completely false”.

Quentin Fulks, a top aide to the Biden-Harris campaign, also called the report “false.” “It’s clear that the president had a terrible 90 minutes,” Fulks said. “But that doesn’t define the president’s accomplishments or his vision.”