Biden has so far managed to weather the storm in the aftermath of his poor debate performance late last month that raised alarm bells among Democrats about whether he’s up to the task of winning the November election. He has received statements of support from some key Democratic leaders and groups, but he’s not out of the woods yet in being able to continue running.
The presumptive Democratic nominee has been stepping up his insistence that he’s not dropping out of the race and making a few appearances to make the case to voters and members of his party.
Following his sit-down interview with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos that aired Friday, he called in to MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday in which he dismissed calls for him to step aside as coming from “elites.”
He also sent a letter to congressional Democrats as a handful have called for him to drop out, rejecting those calls as ignoring the will of voters. He said he is not “blind” to good-faith concerns but would not be running if he did not believe he is best suited to beat Trump.
“The question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it’s time for it to end,” Biden wrote. “Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us. It is time to come together.”
The White House has also stressed Biden’s ability to serve as president. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre went back and forth with reporters during the press briefing on Monday over reports on visitor logs that showed a neurologist specializing in Parkinson’s disease visited the White House eight times in an eight-month period.
Jean-Pierre said Biden is not being treated for Parkinson’s. The White House later released a letter from Biden’s physician stating that the neurologist’s overall medical and military background is the reason why he saw Biden and not his expertise in movement disorders.
All eyes will be on Biden this week at the NATO Summit that he is hosting in Washington, D.C. He is set to give a press conference on Thursday, one that observers will look to for evidence as to whether Biden is up for the four months left of the campaign and another term in office.
