Biden reassures Michigan he’s ‘OK’ after debate meltdown sends Democrats second-guessing

President Joe Biden will preview Democrats’ counterprogramming of next week’s Republican National Convention during a campaign event Friday in Michigan, portraying the Heritage Foundation‘s Project 2025 as “a nightmare.”

Former President Donald Trump has sought to distance himself from the conservative think tank’s policy proposals, with the Republican convention’s platform representing his own positions. But Biden will describe Project 2025 as “a project built for Trump” being “run and paid for by Trump people,” according to excerpts of his remarks as prepared for delivery in Detroit.

“Folks, Project 2025 is the biggest attack on our system of government and on our personal freedom that has ever been proposed in the history of this country,” Biden will say. “And here is the nightmare it would unleash.”

“It’s time for us to stop treating politics like its entertainment or a reality TV show,” he will add. “Another four years of Donald Trump is deadly serious. Project 2025 is deadly serious.”

Biden’s trip to Michigan, his fourth this year, is his first post-press conference stop as he tries to convince Democrats they should keep him as their nominee after last month’s debate and last week’s interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA) on Friday became the 19th Democrat to implore him to step aside before next month’s Democratic National Convention despite Biden’s steadier press conference on the sidelines of the 75th NATO summit.

During an earlier unannounced event at Garage Grill and Fuel Bar in Northville, Michigan, Biden told attendees he is “OK” amid concerns about his age and mental acuity caused by the debate.

“We have real opportunities, and so we’ve got to finish the job,” he said. “I promise you, I am — I’m OK. Thank you.”

Biden is expected to also lay out his plan for the first 100 days of his hypothetical second term, including introducing a bill to restore Roe v. Wade, adding he intends to sign the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and Freedom to Vote Act into law.

“We’re going to end medical debt,” he will say. “We’ve already made sure medical debt can no longer be put on your credit report. We can wipe out all medical debt for pennies on the dollar.”

“We’re going to raise the federal minimum wage,” he will continue. “We’re going to pass the PRO Act and end union-busting once and for all. We are going to ban assault weapons. We are going to keep leading the world on climate and clean energy.”

Michigan is a must-win battleground state for Biden that is part of the so-called blue wall that Trump cracked in 2016 against then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Biden’s own team underscored its importance in a memo this week.

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“Right now, winning the blue wall states — Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania — is the clearest pathway to that aim, but we also believe that the sunbelt states are not out of reach,” Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon and campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez wrote.

Biden has another interview next week, this time with NBC’s Lester Holt, while he is in Austin, Texas, on Monday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. He then travels to Las Vegas for the 115th NAACP National Convention on Tuesday and the UnidosUS Annual Conference on Wednesday.