Joe Biden’s first interview since his disastrous debate was released Thursday–an almost 14–minute radio session with a Black Philadelphia station.
As the 81-year-old opened his time with WURD’s Andrea Lawful-Sanders, he brushed aside his performance against Donald Trump saying “I had a bad debate,” and moved quickly on to a laundry list of what he and his administration see as achievements focused on the Black community.
Lawful-Sanders did not ask him directly if he plans to drop out and while the president sounded hoarse and at times had minor verbal stumbles, the White House is likely to be relieved at the overall performance.
Biden hit a series of anti-Trump talking points, saying, “Show up and vote for your own safety’s sake.” He accused Trump of “talking down to people,” and listed some of Trump’s most racially insulting moments, including that he “questioned the humanity of George Floyd, led the birther movement and accused the Central Park Five, they should be in jail.”
Lawful-Sanders started by asking, “A lot of people are talking about the debate and your performance. Is there any reason for the American people to be concerned?” Biden previewed what is likely to be his approach when asked about the debate and his cognition by ABC News George Stephanopoulos on Friday, in what will be his first TV interview, and said, laughing on the first sentence, “No, I had a bad debate. But 90 minute on stage does not erase what I have done for three-and-a-half years. Proud of the record and we’ve just got to keep moving.”
Biden was also due to conduct an interview with Earl Ingram of Civic Media’s The Earl Ingram Show in Wisconsin, a second critical swing state to which he will travel Friday and where he will be interviewed by Stephanopoulus.
Biden listed to Lawful-Sanders a series of policies, including Covid relief checks, small business measures and canceling some student debt as reasons for Black voters to turn out for him. But he attacked Trump strongly, calling him “this guy,” calling his rhetoric “shameful,” and highlighted making Ketanji Brown Jackson the Supreme Court’s first Black female justice, calling her “one of the best appointments ever.”
“The next president of the United States, by the way, will get to appoint two Supreme Court justices,” he said, a campaign talking point which has an unclear factual base but appears rooted in the ages of Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito (76 and 74) and whispers of health concerns about Sonia Sotomayor. “Imagine what that does on the Supreme Court,” he said.
He also spoke of being proud to serve the first Black president and having the first Black vice president, although he did not mention Kamala Harris by name.
The positive reception for Biden from Lawful-Sanders–who ended by saying, “We are so thankful for your time with us and we look forward to hearing more from you”–will boost immediate hopes among aides that Biden can turn round his crisis.
But he faces a more testing time with Stephanopoulos on Friday–although the Beast revealed Thursday night that ABC News is concerned that the sit-down could last as little as 15 minutes. Executives are hoping that by being with Biden in Wisconsin they will be able to have more time. The White House and ABC News both denied it would be 15 minutes but neither suggested how long it will be. The first clips from the taped sit-down will air on Friday’s World News Tonight at 6.30 p.m. EST. It will then feature in a primetime special at 8 p.m., replacing Jeopardy! Masters, then run again on This Week on Sunday morning.
Whether interviews will be enough to settle Democrats’ roiling crisis will not be immediately apparent. On CNN Thursday morning, Michigan’s Rep. Debbie Dingell, a reliable Biden ally but one with a more vulnerable seat than some House members, told Kasie Hunt that Biden had to be seen out more. “He has to get out there on a sustained basis and be spontaneous. One interview is not going to reassure folks.”
