He insisted in a nationally televised interview Friday that he has both the mental acuity and physical stamina to win the election against former President Donald Trump and to run the country for another four years.
“I’m the most qualified person and I know how to get things done,” Biden told ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos in a 22-minute interview. Earlier Friday he assured a rally of about 300 supporters in the Midwestern political battleground state of Wisconsin, “I am staying in the race.”
Some Democratic lawmakers in Washington privately – and increasingly publicly – have voiced concerns that Biden, at 81, no longer has the mental and physical capacity to take on Trump over the four months leading to the November 5 election, let alone govern the country over the next four years.
But Biden told Stephanopoulos, “If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race. But the Lord Almighty is not coming down.”
The Democrats’ fear that Biden’s time in power is nearing the end have mounted since Biden appeared confused and halting during his debate with Trump a week ago, at times losing his train of thought and unable to mount a sustained attack on Trump or consistently defend his 3½-year tenure in office.
“I was exhausted,” he said of the debate night. “I was feeling terrible … a bad cold.” He said his poor performance was “nobody’s fault but mine. It was a bad episode.”
But Biden was alert on Friday and answered Stephanopoulos’ questions with little hesitation. He was eager to attack Trump.
