President Joe Biden delivered a much-anticipated speech capping off a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Washington on Thursday, before taking questions in an open conference from the press for the first time since his debate against Donald Trump.
Biden, embattled by the press and some in his own party, championed his record, vowing again not to bow out.
“We’ve got more to do, though. We’ve got to finish the job,” he said.
Biden didn’t complete the presser without slips, though, referring at one point to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump,” when asked if Harris was capable of defeating Donald Trump if necessary.
Pressed on the gaffe, and Donald Trump’s weaponization of it, Biden simply urged reporters to “listen to him,” referencing his opponent’s own gaffes. The candidate, who laughed off an earlier flub on Putin’s name, is three years older than Trump.
Asked numerous times about his age and performance, Biden denied reports that he was ending his day earlier and touted his post-debate schedule of “over 20 major events,” adding that he wanted Americans to see him out on the trail.
“If you focus on my schedule since I made that stupid mistake in the debate, my schedule’s been full board,” Biden said. “Where has Trump been? Riding around in his golf cart?”
The president also flexed his reputation amongst world leaders, who he said still see him in high regard despite American attacks on his candidacy.
“I’m not hearing my European allies come up to me and say ‘Joe don’t run.’ They’re saying, ‘You’ve gotta win,’” Biden said, answering that he did believe Europe would be less safe under Trump.
The president, who answered complex foreign policy questions on Russia, China, and Israel, detailed discussions with leaders at the summit, and weighed in on his continued support for Ukraine in its defense campaign, as well as a maintained push for a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
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His policy discussion marked a stark contrast to the image of a beleaguered and aging Biden that his debate performance formed, prompting impressed responses from pundits.
Former National Security Council official Alexander Vindman, who led European policy under Donald Trump, pointed to the gap between the candidates’ abilities to answer questions on complex topics.
“Biden knows his stuff. Can anyone imagine Trump answering any of these foreign policy questions with any coherence?” Vindman wrote in a post to X.
Meanwhile, world leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron, have used NATO media opportunities to defend President Biden.
“I think it would be a big mistake to underestimate the president,” Scholz said. “From my perspective, as someone who is speaking with Biden, he is very focused and is very intensely doing what a president of the United States has to do.”
Likewise, the newly-minted U.K. Prime Minister said Biden was “on good form” during the pair’s hour-long conversation. Biden summarized his conversations with world leaders throughout the summit as “a great success” in his remarks.
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