Biden’s press conference carries major risks, and campaign is on shaky ground | Wilnesh News

President Joe Biden mistakenly referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump” in the opening question of his highly anticipated personal press conference in Washington on Thursday.

“Look, if I didn’t think Vice President Trump was qualified to be president, I wouldn’t select her as vice president,” Biden said, aligning his No. 2 with former President Donald Trump, his November opponent. ·Trump is confused.

A reporter pointed out Biden’s mistake in the final question of the press conference and asked the president to comment on the mistake after Trump used it to mock him. Biden smiled to himself, replied, “Just what he wants,” and walked off the stage.

Thursday’s press conference is seen as Biden’s best chance to prove to Democrats that he can handle tough issues and think on his feet in an impromptu setting.

Pressure on Biden to drop out of the 2024 race has been mounting for weeks after his poor performance in a June 27 debate with Trump and his campaign’s subsequent failure to allay voters’ concerns about his health.

However, people soon discovered that Biden’s hour-long press conference did not allay the concerns of the Democratic Party.

Four minutes after he walked off the podium, Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said: Issues statement calling on Biden to withdraw from the race.

Soon after, Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., did the same thing. “The stakes are high and we are on a path to failure,” Peters said in a statement.

As he has done all week, Biden has rigorously rejected any suggestion that he should or will withdraw, insisting that no one is better equipped to defeat Trump in November.

However, Biden acknowledged that he would consider dropping out of the race if his team told him he had “no chance” of winning.

Even though the president came to rescue his faltering campaign, he repeatedly said the wrong thing when answering reporters’ questions and appeared to lose his train of thought multiple times. Trump and his campaign posted several clips of Biden’s gaffe online truth society.

In another memorable gaffe, Biden referred to his chief of staff as “my commander in chief” before realizing his mistake.

He also sometimes gives meandering answers, such as taking seven minutes to answer a question about China. As he spoke, he would occasionally pause or even stumble over his own words.

“Some of our European friends are going to invest less in Russia and, I mean, sorry, in China,” the president said.

When he cited figures, he repeatedly stated that he might get them wrong: “Don’t let me know the exact number.”

Biden also often interrupts himself mid-speech, veering off into unrelated topics as he tries to defend his re-election: “We still have a lot to do. I’m determined to get this done. This is about freedom. By the way, I “It’ll end this, okay, I’m not going to do that…Hailey has to come up too,” he said, then trailed off.

Earlier Thursday night, Biden added salt to his political wounds when he accidentally introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” at a NATO event honoring Ukraine.

“Now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has the same courage and determination. Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” Biden said, before quickly correcting himself.

The last time Biden held a separate press conference was after meeting Trump in November 2023. Chinese President Xi Jinping In California.

This time, the president faces new pressures and an uncertain future in his re-election campaign.

Since his June debate debacle, new fissures have emerged daily in Biden’s support for Democratic lawmakers, donors, fundraisers and strategists.

Hours before Biden’s highly anticipated news conference, one of his campaign officials told NBC News that the president needs to step aside: “He’s never going to recover from this.”