Biden family in Camp David summit to discuss US President’s future
Joe Biden and his family are gathering at Camp David as Democrats agonise over their floundering campaign, while Labor MP and GP Mike Freelander says he believes the President has Parkinson’s.
US President Joe Biden and his family are due to discuss his political future at Camp David after his calamitous debate performance, as Democrats agonise over their floundering campaign to retain the White House.
Amid a split among Democratic Party donors on the way forward, Vice-President Kamala Harris admitted Mr Biden’s performance in Thursday’s debate wasn’t his “finest hour”. But as party figures held crisis talks on potential replacement candidates, Mr Biden vowed to fight even “harder” to defeat Mr Trump.
Mr Biden on Sunday (Monday AEDT) was set to regroup with his wife and key political adviser Jill Biden, and along with their children and grandchildren.
The gathering at the presidential retreat was arranged months ago so the family could pose for renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz. It was not a planned formal meeting, US media reported, but was expected to be used as an opportunity for three generations of Bidens to focus on the President’s future.
The developments came as Labor MP and general practitioner Mike Freelander said he believed that Mr Biden had Parkinson’s disease and would be unable to complete another four-year term even if he beat Donald Trump.
Dr Freelander told The Australian that Mr Biden showed signs of the degenerative brain condition during the debate and he believed the 81-year-old should quit the presidential race.
A fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and a member of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Freelander said Mr Biden displayed a range of symptoms during the debate that were typical of Parkinson’s disease. “He is expressionless and he hesitates when he talks; he hesitates to start talking and his voice is very flat,” he said. “He doesn’t show much emotion. When he walks, he hesitates; and he doesn’t move much when he walks. He looks stiff. And he is losing concentration; you can see it in the answers to the questions.”
Dr Freelander’s assessment was in contrast to that of Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, who said he believed Mr Biden could serve another term.
“I definitely think he has the capacity,” he told the ABC’s Insiders program.
Mr Marles said the Biden administration was “doing a fantastic job in terms of managing America’s presence in the world”, but the bilateral relationship would remain strong if Mr Trump retook the White House.
As the US and allies such as Australia wait for the President’s next move, former foreign minister Alexander Downer said Mr Biden’s debate performance showed he was no longer up to the job, and he should stand aside for the good of the country.
“That was obvious to the tens of millions who watched Thursday’s debate,” he said. “If he insists on running, he’ll lose to Trump. He should have the patriotic decency to stand down and let Democrats choose a younger, more able candidate like Gretchen Whitmer.”
Arthur Sinodinos, a former Australian ambassador to the US, said he believed Mr Biden, his family and closest advisers would want to press ahead with his campaign, and he would already be planning his comeback in the next debate.
“He’s not keen to stand down. So I think in terms of the discussions within Democratic Party circles, the difficulty is at the moment, that – Sherman Tank-like – he’s going to hang on,” Mr Sinodinos said. However, he said it was possible the Democrats might “break the glass and push the emergency button” if Mr Biden’s prospects went “seriously south” in the opinion polls.
“That is a complicated process, getting close to the convention in August,” he said. “What that means in terms of who gets the nod, that’s very difficult to tell at this stage. No doubt Kamala Harris would want to be in the race.”
Mr Sinodinos’s predecessor in the role, Joe Hockey, said Mr Biden’s debate performance would sap the confidence of Democratic Party voters, who the party needed to show up at polling booths: “If he loses 10 per cent of the people that voted for him in 2020, he’ll be in real trouble.”
The party’s powerful donors would be key to any switch to a new candidate, and the window for change was closing fast. If Mr Biden was persuaded to step aside, there was “little doubt the candidate would be Kamala Harris”.
Mr Hockey said Thursday’s debate was “very frustrating – It’d be impossible as an Australian political leader to get away with that sort of thing, either way.”
Punters have flocked to lay bets on a Trump victory following the debate, with Sportsbet offering $1.57 for Mr Trump to win the election and $4.50 for Mr Biden to clinch a second term.
The former ambassador and Coalition treasurer said Australia could expect to do well from a second Trump presidency, as it did under the first. He advised Anthony Albanese to appeal to Mr Trump’s transactional nature if he was re-elected by making an early down payment on the Virginia-class submarines promised to Australia under AUKUS.
He said he had no concerns about the nuclear submarine deal under a second Trump administration, “provided we prove early on that we are not only carrying our weight, but we are lifting beyond what most other nations are doing when it comes to partnering with the US”.
“Donald Trump’s legacy recollection of Australia is mateship, that we go into bat hard for the partnership with the US, and that we’ve been side by side with the US for more than 100 years. That’s what he knows. And that is invaluable,” Mr Hockey said.
“We finished with Donald Trump in a very strong position. He knows that. We just need to avoid any public criticism that would give him cause to form a negative view about us.”
The Prime Minister on Saturday said he had a “terrific” relationship with Mr Biden, but would work with whoever was elected president in November.
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