Roughly 14 hours after his disastrous debate performance against former president Donald Trump, President Joe Biden leaned into his age-related decline, saying that while he does not walk, speak, or debate as well as he used to, he can still serve another four years as America's commander in chief.
"I know I'm not a young man, to state the obvious," Biden told attendees at his Friday afternoon rally in Raleigh, North Carolina.
"Folks, I don't walk as easily as I used to, I don't speak as smoothly as I used to, I don't debate as well as I used to, but I know what I do know," he continued. "I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong."
After coughing into his hand, the 81 year old carried on. "I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done. And I know, like millions of Americans know: When you get knocked down, you get back up."
President Biden: Let me close with this. I know I'm not a young man. I don't walk as easily as I used to. I don't talk as smoothly as I used to. I don't debate as well as I used to. Well, I know what I do know. I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. I know how to… pic.twitter.com/spo4F1VCUu
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) June 28, 2024
Biden struck a different tone at the rally than he did Thursday night. When CNN's Dana Bash asked him to address "concerns about your capability to handle the toughest job in the world well into your 80s," Biden said he spent much of his career "being criticized [for] being the youngest person in politics" and defended his competence.
"And now I'm the oldest," Biden said. "This guy's three years younger and a lot less competent. I think that just look at the record. Look what I've done."
Some 300 miles away from Raleigh, in Washington, D.C., Biden's Democratic colleagues in the House of Representatives sounded the alarm.
Publicly, those lawmakers skewered Biden's debate performance, with Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D., Mo.) saying Biden "was horrible." Privately, they discussed swapping Biden for a younger candidate, Axios reported. Among the possible replacements are Democratic governors Gretchen Whitmer (Mich.), Tim Walz (Minn.), Roy Cooper (N.C.), Josh Shapiro (Pa.), and Gavin Newsom (Calif.), according to the outlet.
Cooper introduced Biden in Raleigh, offering a full-throated defense of the octogenarian.
"Here's one thing I know to be true: When the fate of our country was hanging in the balance with Donald Trump's presidency, Joe Biden saved this nation with his victory in 2020," Cooper said. "We must do it again in 2024."
Most of Biden's speech centered on Trump, who Biden said has "the morals of an alley cat" and set "a new record for the number of lies told at a debate."
"He lied about the great economy he created," Biden said. "He lied about the pandemic he botched, killing millions of people." Biden's latter claim was itself a lie—at the time of the Democrat's 2021 inauguration, roughly 460,000 Americans had died from COVID. Since then, more than 725,000 Americans have died from the virus.
Biden also struggled with the truth during Thursday night's debate, at one point claiming he is "the only president this century that doesn't have … any troops dying anywhere in the world." Thirteen American service members died in a suicide bombing attack during the Biden administration's chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal, marking one of the deadliest days for American forces in the country in the last decade.
Biden traveled to Raleigh from Atlanta following Thursday night's debate, which prompted widespread panic from Democratic pundits and politicians.
Immediately after the debate, CNN's Van Jones said Biden's performance was "painful." Biden "had a test to meet tonight to restore confidence of the country and of the base, and he failed to do that," Jones said before suggesting Biden exit the race.
"I think there's a lot of people who are going to want to see him consider taking a different course now. We're still far from our convention, and there is time for this party to figure out a different way forward if he will allow us to do that."
Party leaders have thus far rejected that possibility—at least publicly. DNC chair Jaime Harrison said a nominee swap is "not going to happen." House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.), asked Friday morning if Biden should step aside, responded, "No."
Shortly thereafter, however, Jeffries gave a more mysterious response. Biden "is scheduled to speak today around noon, as I understand it," he said. "And until he articulates a way forward in terms of his vision for America at this moment, I'm going to reserve comment about anything relative to where we are at this moment, other than to say I stand behind the ticket."
One House Democrat told Politico that some in the caucus would like Jeffries and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) to launch a "combined effort" to push Biden to step away.
Back in Atlanta, the site of the debate, Biden's top campaign officials met with donors at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, where they downplayed Biden's debate performance and rallied behind the president, according to the Washington Post. The campaign will host an all-staff meeting Friday afternoon.