Former President Donald Trump has falsely claimed to have driven Democratic President Joe Biden out of the White House race, while also disparaging Vice President Kamala Harris in a video published by the Daily Beast. The video, which was shared on Trump’s Truth Social platform, drew a sharp rebuke from the Biden campaign.
In the footage, Trump is seen at one of his golf courses, boasting about his debate performance against Biden. “He’s quitting the race … I got him out,” Trump says in the video, which was published late Wednesday. The former president also refers to Biden as a “broken-down pile of crap” while sitting in a golf cart next to his youngest son, Barron Trump. Trump then turns his attention to Harris, who sources say would likely take over from Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate if he were to pull out, saying, “She’s so bad, she’s so pathetic.”
Biden, 81, has made it clear to his campaign that he is still running. His campaign fired back at Trump, with spokesperson Sarafina Chitika stating, “No, Donald. What is bad is taking away women’s rights; What is bad is losing an election and encouraging a violent mob to attack the Capitol; What is bad is assaulting women; What is bad is not paying your taxes.”
Trump’s campaign stood by his words, with co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita responding on X: “Nothing in this video is incorrect.” Reuters verified the location of the video as Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. The golf cart Trump is seen driving features the number one and a presidential seal; he has been seen driving the same cart before in file video from the course.
President Joe Biden, meanwhile, sought to project an image of confidence during a rally in North Carolina after a woeful performance in a debate with Donald Trump exacerbated concerns about his age and mental acuity. In remarks on Friday, Biden seemed to brush aside suggestions he should step down to make room for a younger candidate to take on Trump in the high-stakes November election. “I intend to win this election. When you get knocked down, you get back up,” Biden said, alluding to his debate performance the day earlier. The lively crowd loudly chanted, “four more years, four more years” and “USA, USA, USA.”
The speech comes following what many political observers called a disastrous performance by Biden during Thursday’s debate against Trump, who pushed false claims and inflammatory rhetoric but was overshadowed by responses from Biden that at times appeared rambling and incoherent.
Trump, meanwhile, slammed Biden’s performance and leaned into the foreboding rhetoric that has come to define his style of politics in remarks at a political rally in Chesapeake, Virginia, on Friday. “We have to take it back from that party [the Democrats]. That’s an evil party,” he said. “Despite the fact that crooked Joe Biden spent the entire week at Camp David [a presidential retreat] resting, working, studying. He studied very hard, he studied so hard he didn’t know what the hell he was doing.” Trump later added: “Joe Biden’s problem is not his age, it’s his competence.”
Many voters before the debate expressed concerns about Biden’s age, and the wobbly performance led to a wave of calls for him to step down and make room for a replacement candidate. It remains unclear how potential voters will respond to Biden’s debate performance, but media reports painted a picture of panic among Democratic Party officials. Concerns about Biden’s age have been seen as a political vulnerability for years.
Biden campaign spokesperson Michael Tyler said there are no conversations taking place about that possibility. “We’d rather have one bad night than a candidate with a bad vision for where he wants to take the country,” he told reporters. Seeking to regain his composure and reassure supporters, Biden went on the offensive against Trump in fiery remarks at his rally on Friday. “I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious,” Biden said. “I would not be running again if I didn’t believe with all my heart and soul that I could do this job. The stakes are too high.”
The 81-year-old president also castigated Trump – his conservative rival who tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election based on the false claim it had been “rigged” against him through massive fraud – for his history of attacks on democracy. “The choice in this election is simple: Donald Trump will destroy our democracy. I will defend it,” Biden had said.
For the time being, officials in the Democratic Party appear committed to sticking with Biden, despite growing misgivings about his strength as a candidate. “People were just concerned. And I told everybody being concerned is healthy, overreacting is dangerous,” said Representative Emanuel Cleaver, a Democratic lawmaker. “And I think I wouldn’t advise anybody to make rash decisions right now.”
Biden has admitted he “screwed up” in last week’s debate against Trump but has vowed to fight on in the election race and moved to reassure key allies. He told a Wisconsin radio station he made a “mistake” with his stumbling performance but urged voters to instead judge him on his time in the White House. On Wednesday, as reports suggested he was weighing his future, he worked to calm senior Democrats including state governors and campaign staff. “I’m the nominee of the Democratic Party. No one’s pushing me out. I’m not leaving,” he said in a call to the broader campaign, a source told BBC News.
Vice-President Kamala Harris reiterated her support during the call. Speculation has mounted over whether she could replace the president as the party’s candidate ahead of the November election. A fundraising email sent after the call by the Biden-Harris campaign was also bullish. “Let me say this as clearly and simply as I can: I’m running,” Biden said.
Questions have been swirling around whether the 81-year-old will continue with his campaign following a debate marked by verbal blanks and a weak voice. It sparked concern in Democratic circles around his fitness for office and his ability to win the election. Pressure on Biden to drop out has only grown as more polls suggest his Republican rival’s lead has widened. A New York Times poll conducted after the debate, which was published on Wednesday, suggested Trump was now holding his biggest lead yet at six points. And a separate poll published by the BBC’s US partner CBS News suggested Trump has a three-point lead over Biden in the crucial battleground states.
Despite this, the White House and the Biden campaign have vehemently denied reports he is actively weighing his future and say he is committed to defeating Trump for a second time on 5 November. The New York Times and CNN reported on Wednesday that Biden had told an unnamed ally he was aware his re-election bid was in danger. His forthcoming appearances – including an ABC News interview and a Friday rally in Wisconsin – were hugely important to his campaign, he reportedly said.
A spokesperson rejected the reports as “absolutely false”, shortly before White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said reports that he may drop out were untrue. Among the senior Democrats Biden met on Wednesday was a group of 20 state governors from around the country, including California’s Gavin Newsom and Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer. Both have been tipped as potential replacements if Biden were to stand aside. “The president has always had our backs, we’re going to have his back as well,” Maryland Governor Wes Moore told reporters after the meeting.
CBS confirmed reports that Biden told governors that he needs to get more sleep and curtail public events and meetings that stretch after 20:00, according to a participant in the meeting. Should Biden step down, Harris is still considered the most likely replacement. The 59-year-old has been hampered by poor approval ratings, but her support has increased among Democrats since the Biden-Trump debate.
Amid the speculation, comments made by Trump indicated he could be switching his attention to attacking Harris. In footage obtained by the Daily Beast – and shared online by Trump himself – he can be seen in a golf cart pouring scorn on Biden, whom he describes as “broken down”. He suggests that Harris would be “better”, though still “pathetic”.
The vice-president gave an immediate interview on CNN after the debate, projecting calm as she expressed full support for the president. “She has always been mindful to be a good partner to the president,” her former communications director Jamal Simmons told BBC News. “The people who ultimately will make the decision about who the nominee should be mostly are people who are pledged to him. Her best role is to be a partner to him.”
A source close to Harris said nothing had changed and she would continue to campaign for the president. Members of the Democratic National Committee are charged with voting to officially make President Biden the party’s nominee at the August convention, putting him on the ballot nationwide. One member, who has spoken to other delegates and requested anonymity to speak frankly about sensitive discussions, told the BBC that the nomination should go to Vice-President Harris if Biden opted not to run. “If we open up the convention, it will cause pure chaos that will hurt us in November,” they said.
A report by the Washington Post, meanwhile, said Biden and his team recognized that he must demonstrate his fitness for office in the coming days. He has planned trips to Wisconsin and Philadelphia later in the week and is due to appear on ABC News on Friday for his first televised interview since the debate. His full interview with Wisconsin’s Civic Media is also due to be published on Thursday. While acknowledging that he had “screwed up” with his performance, he told the station: “That’s 90 minutes on stage. Look at what I’ve done in 3.5 years.”
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies
