Biden leans into limelight as Democrats urge ‘no-holds-barred’ damage control

President Joe Biden is refusing to step down as the Democrats’ presumptive 2024 nominee and appears to be heeding calls for more unscripted moments to prove he’s fit for office following his poor debate performance.

Some of Biden’s allies have advised town halls, media interviews, and press conferences to negate the damage of Biden’s lackluster display onstage against former President Donald Trump. A small but growing group of Democrats have asked him to stand aside and let Vice President Kamala Harris take the reins.

The president is appearing to move full steam ahead, preparing to ease voters’ concerns with events throughout the Fourth of July holiday in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Biden will sit down with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos for an exclusive interview this week and hold a call with Democratic governors. 

Responding to concerns Biden had been too walled off from media questions, Biden will hold a press conference next week to face multiple reporters, the White House also said Tuesday.

The effort to get Biden, 81, out in public more also carries inherent risks. Another notable gaffe or memory lapse could sink the campaign that has until now weathered acute concerns about Biden’s age and mental fitness following special counsel Robert Hur’s report that assessed Biden shouldn’t be prosecuted for mishandling classified documents because a jury would perceive the president as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

The White House has cast the debate as one bad night but not a lingering condition. Biden apologized to donors for his poor debate performance and offered up his travel schedule as an explanation. 

“I decided to travel around the world a couple of times … shortly before the debate,” Biden told donors at a campaign reception Tuesday evening as he spoke without a teleprompter.

“I didn’t listen to my staff … and then I almost fell asleep onstage,” Biden said.

Biden had a five-day trip to the G7 conference in Italy and to campaign in Los Angeles that ended June 16. Biden, however, spent six days before the June 27 debate holed up at Camp David where his rehearsals reportedly never started before 11 a.m. and he had time for afternoon naps.

In the immediate aftermath of the debate that sent Democrats into full-blown panic for Biden’s meandering answers, dazed look, and confusing responses, Biden has largely stuck to the teleprompter and avoided questions this week.

This is not unusual, as the president has frustrated the press many times throughout his presidency for not doing sit-down interviews with publications like the Washington Post and the New York Times and limiting his press conferences. 

In the wake of the debate and his ability to only perform well when directed, congressional Democrats are debating how Biden should approach upcoming appearances: whether he should be more unleashed, with sit-down interviews and town halls, or retreat to “basement Biden” tactics he favored during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Monday, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), a co-chair of the Biden-Harris campaign, called for the president to have more unscripted appearances, which could prove to be a risky strategy given Biden’s knack for making gaffes and attempting off-topic quips.

“We do need to see more unscripted and off-the-record moments. That is something I’m encouraging,” he said in an interview with CNN This Morning.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said on MSNBC on Tuesday she thinks that Biden should do more “no-holds-barred” interviews with “serious journalists.”

“Not one, maybe two. I think that is essential for them to do that,” Pelosi said.

However, Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist and former Senate leadership aide, told the Hill in an interview that he thinks Biden’s campaign should change his strategy now that polling is showing the president is the underdog in the 2024 race. A CNN poll released Tuesday found that voters nationwide favor Trump over Biden by 6 points, 49% to 43%.

“Any Democrat who doesn’t think he’s an underdog at this point of time needs to get their head examined,” Manley said. “There’s a real problem here. Hopefully the Biden folks understand that and are trying to figure out what to do.”

On Tuesday, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) became the first sitting House Democrat to call on Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.

“The president failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies,” Doggett said in a statement. “Recognizing that unlike Trump, President Biden’s first commitment has always been to our country, not himself, I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully call on him to do so.”

Other lawmakers have not denied that the performance reflected badly on the Democratic Party as a whole. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) noted that Biden’s debate “wasn’t just a horrible night” for the president and Biden must “be honest with himself” as he considers his place on the ballot in 2024. 

“I won’t go beyond that, out of my respect and understanding of President Joe Biden, the very proud person who has served us extraordinarily well for 50 years,” Quigley told CNN. “I just want him to appreciate at this time just how much it impacts not just his race but all the other races coming in November.”

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For Biden’s part, he insists he can still win the election as the White House seeks to turn the page on the debate.

“The president has been out there. He’s been listening to supporters,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “I think it matters that he’s going to do an interview on Friday. I think it matters that he’s going to go to Wisconsin and do that, right, engage with everyday people.”