TV debacle: Joe Biden provides further explanation - crisis meeting today

Berliner Zeitung TV debacle: Joe Biden provides further explanation - crisis meeting today AFP/dpa/BLZ • 5 hours • 3 minutes reading time Criticism of Joe Biden is growing. The American President Joe Biden has explained his weak performance in the first TV debate before the presidential election with tiredness after international travel. It was not very smart to "travel around the world several times" shortly before the duel, said Biden. "I didn't listen to my staff (...) and then I almost fell asleep on stage." It was "not an excuse, but an explanation." Biden - at 81 years old the oldest president in US history - spoke in a hoarse voice during the TV debate with his likely challenger Donald Trump on CNN on Thursday evening, repeatedly getting tangled up in his wording and leaving sentences unfinished. Although the heavyweights in the Democratic Party have publicly expressed their support for Biden, the nervousness of supporters and donors has been increasing since the TV debate. Biden traveled to France in early June to attend commemorations for the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy, and he also visited the country for a state visit. In the middle of the month, Biden traveled to Italy for the G7 summit. US Vice President Kamala Harris - who has been described as perhaps the most obvious candidate to succeed Biden should he drop out of the race for the White House - meanwhile said she was "proud" to be Biden's so-called running mate. "Joe Biden is our candidate," she told CBS News. "We beat Trump once and we will beat him again." Not everyone is as positive about Joe Biden's condition as Harris: A first US Democratic congressman called on the head of state to withdraw his candidacy. Representative Lloyd Doggett of the state of Texas expressed hope in a statement on Tuesday that Biden would make "the painful and difficult decision" to "drop out" of the race. "I respectfully urge him to do so," Doggett added. Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi also spoke up. In an interview with the US broadcaster MSNBC, she credited him with "judgment and strategic thinking." When asked, the Democrat also said that it was a "legitimate question" whether Biden's blunder in the TV debate was "just an episode or a state of affairs." However, both candidates must be subjected to equally critical scrutiny when it comes to the question of their suitability for the presidency. Pelosi stressed that it is difficult to debate with Trump because the Republican ex-president is constantly lying. According to a report in the Washington Post, Senator Joe Manchin threatened to publicly break with Biden immediately after the TV debate. Manchin, who is known as a troublemaker, recently turned his back on the Democrats, but as an independent senator he continues to vote with his former party on many issues. According to the report, Manchin changed his confrontational course at the urging of the Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, among others. The newspaper quoted an unnamed representative of the Democratic Party as saying: "Nobody wants to be the first to stab Julius Caesar." The US broadcaster CBS reported that Biden would meet with Democratic governors of various states this Wednesday to secure their support. Previously, the broadcaster CNN, citing people familiar with the situation, had reported that several governors had spoken to each other on the phone at the beginning of the week to arrange such a meeting. According to a report in the Washington Post, there will also be another crisis meeting on Wednesday: White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients wants to hold a conference call with all of the President's staff, it was said. The conference should emphasize the importance of continuing the work despite the headwinds. The past few days are also unlikely to have left their mark on Biden's team at government headquarters, which normally does not interfere in election campaign matters.