On June 29, Biden traveled to New Jersey to participate in a campaign fundraiser. (Visual China)
-- Li Zhun, special correspondent of this newspaper in the United States, -- This newspaper's special correspondent has a heavy responsibility
"I had a not-so-good night, but I'm going to fight harder." After being deemed to have underperformed in the first televised debate on June 27, US President Joe Biden spent the next two days attending fundraisers in multiple locations to dispel the crisis of confidence in his re-election campaign. He acknowledged his poor performance but insisted he was the right man to win the November presidential election. Biden has also not forgotten to continue attacking his opponent Trump, saying that he "poses a real threat to the country." At the same time, in response to Biden's poor performance in the debate, the New York Times and other American media have published articles, saying that "Biden is no longer the same person he was four years ago" and calling on him to withdraw from this year's presidential election for the benefit of the Democratic Party. However, there are also some donors to the Biden campaign who believe the importance of the debate has been exaggerated. "He did poorly," said Robert Wolff, a former chairman of UBS Americas, "but a 90-minute debate would not offset his three-and-a-half-year presidency." The Associated Press argues that the debate highlights the "dilemma" of many Americans in choosing between two very unpopular candidates.
Biden hurried to reassure
In a series of fundraisers on June 28 and 29, Biden tried to reassure donors that he was capable enough to continue the campaign. According to ABC, on June 28, Biden said in a speech to supporters in Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina, that "I don't walk as easily as I used to, I don't speak as fluently as I used to, and I don't debate as well as I used to, but ...... I know how to tell the truth, I know right from wrong, I know how to do this job well."
According to Bloomberg, on June 29, at a reception for Biden held by American hedge fund giant and billionaire Barry Rosenstein in the Hamptons, a wealthy district of New York, Biden admitted to the Democratic "funders" that he did not perform well in the first debate, but reiterated his confidence in winning re-election, "If I don't believe I can win, I won't run."
"Biden tried to calm nervous Democrats, but it won't work right away." The Washington Post believes that Biden's generous speech at the fundraiser was prepared in advance, and he clearly lacked such dynamism in a debate without a manuscript. If a debate can't define a candidate, a rally can't erase the impact of a debate that highlights Biden's greatest weaknesses.
"After a disastrous debate, Biden turned to his family for help on his way forward". NBC reported on June 30, citing sources familiar with the matter, that Biden is expected to discuss his future for re-election with his family at Camp David on the same day. According to the report, the top Democrats agreed that Biden should be given space to decide on his next move. They believe that only the president, after consulting with his family, can decide whether to move forward or end the campaign early.
However, White House spokesman Andrew Bates wrote on social platform X that the president's Camp David trip was publicly announced as early as June 23, and NBC "didn't come to us at all to comment on it." Another anonymous White House official told The Associated Press that he was skeptical of NBC's report.
Conspiracy staged in the United States?
"To serve his country, President Biden should step out of the race". The New York Times website published an editorial on June 28 saying that Biden had said that he himself was the most likely candidate to confront and defeat Trump. Biden's argument is largely based on the fact that he defeated Trump in the 2020 election, which is no longer a sufficient reason for Biden to be the Democratic presidential nominee this year.
The Atlanta Constitution, a local newspaper in Atlanta, where the televised debate was held, also published an editorial saying that Biden's aides said he had a cold and that Biden's allies defended his poor performance. These answers are an insult to the American people. If Biden really wants to defeat Trump, he must urge Democrats to nominate another candidate at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.
In addition to the above-mentioned media, the Associated Press said that many donors, party strategists and members of the Democratic National Committee also expressed hope that the 81-year-old Biden would give up the election so that the Democratic Party could launch a younger replacement. For now, though, Biden's closest allies insist that he is still in a good position in the race against Trump and that there is no sign that it will force him to end the campaign.
According to the ABC, although in public, senior Democratic Party officials have said that "we will never turn our backs on President Biden" and "we support you 1,000%", but in private, some senior party officials have been discussing how to persuade senators to have a frank conversation with the president about withdrawing from the race. Elaine Carmack, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a member of the Democratic National Committee, told Reuters that Vice President Harris, California Governor Newsom and others are potential replacements. After the June 27 televised debate, they actively defended Biden, but at the same time their fluent expression contrasted sharply with Biden's stumbling in Atlanta.
The New York Times even played with "conspiracy theories." The newspaper said that at a time when the Democrats are in trouble, there is a hint of panic behind the cheers of the Republican Party. Trump supporters have long claimed that Biden is nothing more than a tool of a shadow agency that, when the time comes, will pull him in to put forward a stronger candidate. Now this conspiracy is being played out before the eyes of the people of the whole country. But Trump himself is not very convinced that Biden will drop out of the race, and he believes that his replacement is not as good as Biden.
"You may have heard the voices of voters in a dilemma"
The president's withdrawal will only "lead to weeks of chaos and internal strife." According to ABC, the Biden campaign warned supporters on June 29 that Trump would take the opportunity of the Democratic Party's "substitution" to win voters, and the replacement would be in a very weak position before the November election. NBC also quoted a senior Democratic official as saying, "We need to have as much discipline as emotion." Biden's withdrawal from the election is not politically wise."
The Washington Post quoted Biden advisers as saying that while Biden's first debate was disappointing, it was only "a moment" compared to a long and intense campaign. University of Virginia historian Russell Riley agrees that the significance of the debate will fade in the coming weeks. "The passage of time, combined with the transient nature of voters' attention spans, can diminish almost any influence in presidential election politics."
"In the aftermath of the presidential debate, you may have heard voters in a dilemma." The Associated Press said on June 30 that they watched Trump speak a barrage of lies sharply, forcefully and firmly, while Biden tried to grasp the main points of the debate, but many of them were not good. After watching this debate, many people felt very entangled. "I think it just confirms my previous feeling that this election is going to be very chaotic. For me, it's no longer the lesser of two evils. "Neither candidate seems to be a viable option." ”▲