‘I screwed up’ – final test? Biden admits mistakes

While Biden is still trying to limit the damage after the debacle in the TV debate with challenger Donald Trump, the debate over a possible successor for the Democrats has already erupted.

Biden is unabashedly honest
But Biden is not ready to fully admit defeat. “I had a bad night. And the fact is, I messed up, I made a mistake,” the Democrat said in a radio interview. But he learned from his father that you always have to get up, the 81-year-old said. Ninety minutes on a TV stage is nothing compared to what he has accomplished in the past three and a half years.

A final emergency for him seems to be the planned TV interview with the ABC channel on Friday – this will eventually be broadcast in prime time (Saturday at 2 a.m. CEST on the German evening).

Reactions show how serious the situation is
Interviewer George Stephanopoulos has been the face of the network for years. In the 1990s, he worked for then-Democratic President Bill Clinton. Biden rarely gives TV interviews. The fact that he feels compelled to do so now shows how serious the situation is. Biden’s performance should make a decisive contribution to the question of whether the doubters in his party are silenced or gain momentum.

Biden wants to secure a second term in the US elections in November and prevent Trump from returning to the White House. After his disastrous performance in the TV debate in front of millions, the 81-year-old must face the question of whether he is still the right candidate – or whether he should make way for a younger alternative.

Things are going well behind the scenes
Things simmered within the Democratic Party, initially behind closed doors. Critics eventually spoke out publicly. Biden eventually picked up the phone himself for crisis talks and met with party leaders. He also reached out to more than 20 Democratic governors at a White House meeting and via the internet and phone to drum up support.

According to US media, Biden told the governors that he had undergone a medical examination after the TV debacle and that he was doing well. Hours earlier, Biden’s spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre sounded a little different. “He did not have the doctor examine him. It’s cold, folks. It’s a cold, she said.

Is the explanation for the TV debacle credible?
Biden spoke in a rough voice and appeared hoarse during the debate. He then said he had a cold. He also tried to explain his disastrous performance, in which he often misunderstood and lost the thread, with stress from long trips abroad before the debate.

All eyes on the speech to the nation
Biden spent Independence Day, traditionally celebrated on July 4 in the US, with his family in the White House. In the evening (Friday evening 2:00 a.m. German time) Biden wants to give his traditional speech on the occasion of the holiday.

Here too, all eyes will be on the 81-year-old. During such speeches, Biden typically does not take questions and reads his speech from the teleprompter. This reduces the chance of verbal errors.

Nervousness is growing among Democrats
In recent weeks, Trump and Biden have been neck and neck in the polls, with the Republican always holding a one or two percentage point lead, despite his scandals and conviction in a criminal trial in New York.

Since the televised debate, however, Trump has been able to significantly increase his lead in favor of the voters, as the current polls show. This increases the nervousness of the Democrats – and apparently also their willingness to consider another candidate. The focus is increasingly on Biden’s deputy Kamala Harris.

Biden can only decide for himself
The Democrats will officially choose their presidential candidate at a party convention in Chicago in August. Biden has already collected the necessary delegate votes in the primaries, which effectively guarantees his candidacy. He had no serious competition and was considered qualified from the start.

Therefore, only Biden himself can decide to throw in the towel. Observers believe that if the Democrat really drops out of the race, he will not show any signs of weakness until the last moment, because it would be devastating for the polls.