OCEANPORT, United States: US President Joe Biden attended a triple-header of campaign fundraisers Saturday, seeking to reassure high-dollar donors he can still win reelection in November despite a debate performance that sparked panic among many Democrats.
Accompanying him at the fundraisers in New York and New Jersey was First Lady Jill Biden, who has fiercely defended her 81-year-old husband amid calls for him to step aside.
“Joe isn’t just the right person for the job — he’s the only person for the job,” she told one gathering, which featured a-list actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick among the co-hosts.
The president is facing a wave of doubts following Thursday night’s debate against Republican rival Donald Trump, after he frequently stumbled over his words and lost his train of thought — exacerbating fears about his age and mental acuity.
Many political commentators called for Biden to stand down following the debate, including The New York Times editorial board.
The Washington Post’s editorial board meanwhile urged him to do some soul-searching over the weekend after his “calamitous” debate performance raised “legitimate questions about whether he’s up for another four years in the world’s toughest job.”
No high-ranking elected Democrat has yet joined the call, and former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton both publicly reiterated their backing on Friday.
Biden attempted to tamp down the nay-saying with a fiery campaign speech Friday in North Carolina in which he pledged to keep fighting.
“I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to,” Biden admitted to supporters.
“But I know how to tell the truth. I know how to do this job,” he said to huge cheers, vowing “when you get knocked down, you get back up.”
Biden’s campaign has accepted that the debate did not go how they had hoped, but insists the neck-and-neck race against Trump has not been significantly altered.
Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, chairwoman of Biden’s campaign, said in a public memo Saturday that internal post-debate polling showed that “voters’ opinions were not changed.”
She said there had actually been a surge of support during and following the debate, with $27 million raised by Friday evening.
“I didn’t have a great night but neither did Trump,” Biden told one of the gatherings Saturday.
“I promise you we’re gonna win this election,” he added.
Later he and the first lady flew to neighboring New Jersey to attend a fundraiser with the state’s Democratic governor, Phil Murphy.
“I understand the concern after the debate,” Biden told the gathering. “I get it. I didn’t have a great night, but I’m going to be fighting harder,” he pledged.
Murphy told the crowd that Biden is “on fire and we are all with you 1,000 percent.”
Biden was later set to travel with his family to the Camp David presidential retreat, where he had spent the previous week preparing for the debate with close aides.
Biden reassures big-money donors after debate debacle
https://arab.news/zx9r5
Biden reassures big-money donors after debate debacle
- I didn’t have a great night but neither did Trump,” Biden told one of the gatherings
- Many political commentators have called for Biden to stand down following the debate
‘Keep dreaming’: NATO chief says Europe can’t defend itself without US
BRUSSELS: NATO chief Mark Rutte warned Monday Europe cannot defend itself without the United States, in the face of calls for the continent to stand on its own feet after tensions over Greenland.
US President Donald Trump roiled the transatlantic alliance by threatening to seize the autonomous Danish territory — before backing off after talks with Rutte last week.
The diplomatic crisis sparked gave fresh momentum to those advocating for Europe to take a tougher line against Trump and break its military reliance on Washington.
“If anyone thinks here again, that the European Union, or Europe as a whole, can defend itself without the US — keep on dreaming. You can’t,” Rutte told lawmakers at the European Parliament.
He said that EU countries would have to double defense spending from the five percent NATO target agreed last year to 10 percent and spend “billions and billions” on building nuclear arms.
“You would lose the ultimate guarantor of our freedom, which is the US nuclear umbrella,” Rutte said. “So hey, good luck.”
The former Dutch prime minister insisted that US commitment to NATO’s Article Five mutual defense clause remained “total,” but that the United States expected European countries to keep spending more on their militaries.
“They need a secure Euro-Atlantic, and they also need a secure Europe. So the US has every interest in NATO,” he said.
The NATO head reiterated his repeated praise for Trump for pressuring reluctant European allies to step up defense spending.
He also appeared to knock back a suggestion floated by the EU’s defense commissioner Andrius Kubilius earlier this month for a possible European defense force that could replace US troops on the continent.
“It will make things more complicated. I think Putin will love it. So think again,” Rutte said.
On Greenland, Rutte said he had agreed with Trump that NATO would “take more responsibility for the defense of the Arctic,” but it was up to Greenlandic and Danish authorities to negotiate over US presence on the island.
“I have no mandate to negotiate on behalf of Denmark, so I didn’t, and I will not,” he said.
Rutte reiterated that he had stressed to Trump the cost paid by NATO allies in Afghanistan after the US leader caused outrage by playing down their contribution.
“For every two American soldiers who paid the ultimate price, one soldier of an ally or a partner, a NATO ally or a partner country, did not return home,” he said.
“I know that America greatly appreciates all the efforts.”
