Joe Biden: George Stephanopoulos says US President is not able to serve another term
The future of Joe Biden is under renewed scrutiny after a blunt assessment of his ability to govern sparked a flurry of statements.
ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos said he does not believe US President Joe Biden can serve out a second term.
It comes just days after Stephanopoulos’ TV interview with Mr Biden following his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.
Stephanopoulos, a former White House Communications director, was recorded by TMZ answering a question from a passer-by in Manhattan about Mr Biden’s political future.
“Do you think Biden should step down?” the anonymous person asked the Good Morning America co-host. “You’ve talked to him more than anybody else has lately.”
“I don’t think he can serve four more years,” Stephanopoulos responded after a pause.
“You don’t think he can serve four more years?” the questioner repeated before adding: “All right, that’s an answer.”
Hours later, Stephanopoulos expressed regret over his candid response.
“Earlier today I responded to a question from a passer-by. I shouldn’t have,” he told Puck News in a statement.
In a separate statement, ABC News added: “George expressed his own point of view and not the position of ABC News.”
TRUMP CHALLENGES BIDEN TO ANOTHER DEBATE
Former US president Donald Trump has challenged Joe Biden to another election debate this week in a fiery campaign rally speech.
Trump blasted the Democratic Party under Joe Biden as “having a full-scale breakdown” as he addressed supporters in Florida.
Thousands of supporters braved the humidity in Doral, outside Miami, with some wearing T-shirts featuring Trump’s mugshot.
“I’m officially offering Joe the chance to redeem himself in front of the entire world,” Trump said.
“Let’s do another debate this week so that sleepy Joe Biden can prove to everyone all over the world that he has what it takes to be president,” Trump added.
“But this time it will be man-to-man, no moderators, no holds barred. Just name the place, anytime, anywhere.”
To cheers from the crowd, Trump described the Republican Party as “more unified than ever before”.
The Democratic Party, he said, was “divided, in chaos, and having a full-scale breakdown, all because they can’t decide which of their candidates is more unfit to be president — Sleepy Crooked Joe Biden, or Laffin’ Kamala”.
“Despite all the Democrat panic this week,” Trump said, “the truth is, it doesn’t matter who they nominate because we are going to beat any one of them in thundering landslides. And this November is going to be amazing.”
‘FRAILTY’: FEARS FOR BIDEN
The US President is heading towards a significant public speaking meltdown, an Australian body language expert has warned.
Dr Louise Mahler said Mr Biden’s speech at the NATO conference — during which he appeared to speak to himself — was worrying.
“In Biden’s address to the NATO conference he was mumbling from the start, this is being caused by the loss of control of his tongue – which is a sign of a weakening of the muscles around his tongue – caused by age and exacerbated by stress,” she said.
Dr Mahler said Mr Biden’s signs of frailty and mental struggles were worrying.
“Throughout the speech there was evidence of mental sloppiness, which is hard to mask, and while his vocal tones where stronger, the signs of fatigue and anxiety from being on the public stage where evident as he lost control of his breathing the longer the speech went,” Dr Mahler said.
“My major concern on watching Biden in recent weeks is his inability to consistently control his breath as he speaks, this is most critical to the power and authority one speaks with.
“Under stress this lack of air impacts the ability to open the vocal folds – causing an experience similar to the feeling of drowning – as we cannot get the air through our lungs we need.
“This causes panic in our mind, confusion of thought and the voice to contract and break – something we are seeing more regularly when Biden is under stress in a public setting.”
Dr Mahler said there was a real concern that Mr Biden could completely freeze on camera or on stage and lose the power to speak.
BIDEN STAVES OFF REBELLION
Joe Biden’s defiant bid to save his leadership appears to have temporarily staved off a wider Democratic Party rebellion, despite insiders saying morale is at “historic lows” as the President struggles to resurrect his campaign to defeat Donald Trump.
Democratic members of Congress met for the first time on Tuesday (local time) since the 81-year-old’s disastrous debate performance against the former president sparked mass panic about whether he could win November’s US election.
While a handful had already broken ranks to call on Mr Biden to quit, the crisis talks did not immediately spur more to publicly push him to drop out, with some critics admitting their concerns were “beside the point” as the President dug in.
A day earlier, Mr Biden railed against the “elites” in the Democratic Party trying to bring down his leadership, daring them to challenge him as he declared: “I am not going anywhere.”
After the private meeting – in which phones were banned to prevent leaking – Tennessee congressman Steve Cohen was asked if politicians were on the same page.
“We’re not even in the same book,” he replied.
Another Democrat, when asked if the mood in the meeting could be compared to a funeral, told Semafor: “That is an insult to funerals.”
But as Mr Biden prepared to host foreign leaders for the NATO summit in Washington DC, he was not immediately hit with a wave of further resignation calls after the meeting of House Democrats.
Democratic senators were meeting later on Tuesday (local time), with the talks organised by the party’s congressional leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, both of whom had stood by the President but remained muted in their support as they spoke to colleagues.
Ohio representative Greg Landsman said the House caucus meeting was a “family conversation” and that there was “still a ton of concern” about whether Mr Biden could “go out there and prove that he can make the case” to voters ahead of the election.
Massachusetts congressman Seth Moulton – one of several to have called for the President to step down – said there was “vigorous debate” about the way forward, including whether Vice President Kamala Harris could replace Mr Biden.
Illinois representative Mike Quigley added after the meeting: “I’m concerned about him dragging the ticket down … I don’t think he should stay in the race.”
But senior New York congressman Jerry Nadler – who had privately raised doubts about Mr Biden continuing as the party’s nominee – maintained he was “enthusiastically supporting” the oldest president in history to run for another four-year term.
He said his concerns were “beside the point”, adding: “He’s going to be our nominee and we all have to support him.”
Another Democratic member told CNN that the meeting was full of “sadness” from “talking about someone you love who is in obvious decline”.
As House members dodged reporters outside their meeting, Mr Biden’s key backer James Clyburn from South Carolina repeatedly said: “We are ridin’ with Biden.”
California representative Juan Vargas, another supporter of the President, accused his critics of being a “circular firing squad”.
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Originally published as Joe Biden: George Stephanopoulos says US President is not able to serve another term
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