Biden scrambles to save reelection with trip to Wisconsin, TV interview
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00:00Turning to the U.S. state of Wisconsin, where Joe Biden is set to give a televised interview
00:05this Friday, an appearance that will be closely scrutinized.
00:09The U.S. president is desperately trying to defuse a political crisis sparked by his shaky
00:13performance in last week's presidential debate.
00:16The 81-year-old is now facing growing pressure from his fellow Democrats to step aside and
00:21let Vice President Kamala Harris or some other alternative run in his place to take on Donald
00:26Trump in November.
00:28For the latest, I'm joined on set by our international affairs commentator, Douglas
00:32Herbert.
00:33Hi.
00:34Doug, hello.
00:35It's been over a week now since that debate.
00:37These calls, though, are not subsiding.
00:39If anything, they're growing louder.
00:41At the same time, the White House, the Biden campaign is pulling out absolutely every stop
00:46to try to calm extremely nervous party leaders.
00:52We've had at least three sitting House lawmakers, Democrats, calling on Biden to drop out of
00:56the campaign.
00:57We just scrolled down that that little graphic you see, and then what that is, that's the
01:01Atlantic magazine basically saying with a headline, Biden must resign.
01:06And that really sums up where a lot of the thinking still is in this party.
01:10You have donors getting not just nervous, but a little rattled and even angry at some
01:14times that their perception Biden has not done more to reassure nervous voters after
01:20what can only be called a disastrous performance in last week's debate.
01:24The White House has been trying to sort of tamp it down, tamp down the concern, saying,
01:28you know, he has good days and bad days.
01:31This was a bad night.
01:32Biden himself has reiterated that.
01:34He's tried to own the fact.
01:35Yes, I'm old.
01:36You know, I wasn't good up there.
01:38It's still not a lot.
01:39Not enough.
01:40There's a lot of noises in the Democratic Party.
01:42You've had a big poll come out this week.
01:44It was the Times-Siena poll, a nationwide poll, very, very eagerly awaited, very respected
01:50poll.
01:51And it ended up leading by six points, 49 to 43 percent among likely registered voters.
01:57And if you just take overall voters, not even likely to vote, but just overall leading by
02:01nine points.
02:02That is why they are running scared.
02:04Headlines like that in not just the Atlantic magazine, the New York Times editorial board
02:08in their own opinion columns.
02:11You have across the board, the New Yorker magazine, growing calls, Biden not doing enough.
02:15What they're demanding, what the Democrats want to see is more and more of these so-called
02:19quote off the cuff moments.
02:21That is unscripted moments where Joe Biden's not relying on a teleprompter.
02:25He's not reading it.
02:26He is unscripted.
02:28He is being natural.
02:29He is reacting basically in the heat of the moment.
02:31That's what they want to see.
02:32How does he handle that?
02:33Because the concerns are not just whether he can carry this four month campaign to term,
02:38take the fight to Donald Trump.
02:39But what does he do after that in the four years to come?
02:41Does he actually have the stamina, the endurance to to hold up another four years in the White
02:45House?
02:46So, Doug, you know, Biden seems pretty determined to hold on to his candidacy.
02:50How long is the White House going to be able to keep this up?
02:53Coming days are going to be really critical.
02:55Now, Joe Biden is said to acknowledge this.
02:58He knows that he has to do more.
03:00He says, look, I am in it to win it.
03:01That's his official statement, right?
03:03White House press communications team basically saying he's clear eyed and lucid.
03:08He's staying in the race.
03:09Is he dropping out?
03:10Absolutely not, was the response this week from the White House press secretary when
03:14asked pointedly by a reporter that question.
03:16But at the same time, you said at the top he's going to Wisconsin.
03:19That is not coincidental that he's going to Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.
03:23He is going there because it is a key battleground state in this election.
03:26It is a state he narrowly won in 2020.
03:30It is a state he desperately needs to win now.
03:33There's a whole bunch of people who are going to be gathering around top Democratic leaders
03:37in that state.
03:38He has to give in.
03:39It's a rally.
03:40He has to speak.
03:41He has to look unscripted.
03:42He has to look natural.
03:43He has to look energetic.
03:44He has to look vital.
03:45It is a tough call.
03:46And as you said, he's also going to be sitting down recording in Wisconsin that interview
03:49with ABC News, which is, yes, it's going to be recorded.
03:52But ABC News, I can almost guarantee you, is going to reassure voters that they did
03:55not edit it.
03:56They did not touch up this interview.
03:58They did not take out his uhs, his pauses or whatever they may be.
04:01They have to show it.
04:02And they're going to show it Friday night, primetime in the United States.
04:05Watch this space.
04:06A lot more to come.
04:07Sunday, he'll be in Pennsylvania.
04:09Next week, he's hosting a summit of NATO in Washington, D.C.
04:11All right.
04:12High pressure for Joe Biden in the coming days.
04:14We'll be keeping a close watch.
04:15Doug, thank you so much for that.
04:16That's our international affairs commentator, Douglas Herbert.