President Joe Biden downplayed concerns about his presidential campaign, but a series of high-profile gaffes during the NATO summit on Thursday renewed concerns about his age and acuity.
Biden drew gasps — and instant mockery online — when he mistakenly introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Russian President Vladimir Putin at an event on the sidelines of the NATO summit.
He then mistook his vice president, Kamala Harris, for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during the answer to his first question at his highly scrutinized press conference.
"Look, I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president "- did I think she's not qualified to be president?" Biden said. "So let's start there. Number one, the fact is that the consideration is that I think I'm the most qualified person to run for president."
Biden subsequently downplayed his verbal miscues, pointing to world leaders who had praised the NATO conference as successful.
But the press conference was a crucial test for Biden's teetering campaign, and perhaps a final chance for the beleaguered president to demonstrate his competence and acuity before world leaders and lawmakers departed Washington. Republicans immediately seized on the missteps, posting video clips of mistakes to social media.
Trump himself got in on the act, tagging clips on his Truth Social site with: "Great job, Joe!"
Even as the president spoke confidently in responding to questions about China policy and the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, it was hard to imagine the performance dramatically changing the dynamics that have dominated Washington since his debate performance.
Thursday's appearances followed reporting earlier in the day by the New York Times that several longtime advisers to the president were discussing ways to persuade Biden, 81, to exit the race — and that his campaign is polling how Harris would fare against Trump if she were to take over the top of the ticket.
Spokespeople for Biden insisted his team remained behind him, but the signal that the president's own confidants may be joining the chorus of outside lawmakers, donors, and strategists calling on Biden to exit the race amounted to a potentially terminal blow after a bruising week.
Biden repeatedly signaled his steadfast intention to stay in the race, despite the mounting calls on him to step aside.
"I'm determined on running, but I think it's important that I allay fears by letting them see me out there," he said.
The president brushed aside concerns voiced by his allies that his mental and physical decline is irreversible due to his advanced age. He also said he'd be willing to undergo more neurological testing if a doctor recommended it — but that his medical team had not seen reason for concern.
"If I slow down and can't get the job done, that's a sign I shouldn't be doing it, but there's no indication of that yet, none," Biden said.
The president said his schedule had been "full bore" but said that while he needed to do a better job of pacing himself. He said he was not in the race "for my legacy."
"I'm in this to complete the job I started," Biden said.
"Where's Trump been? Riding around on his golf cart? Filling out his scorecard before he hits the ball?" he added.
Wary lawmakers
Top White House and campaign officials were dispatched to Capitol Hill on Thursday in a bid to shore up wary lawmakers. Many trickled out of a luncheon for Democratic senators declining to answer questions about the president posed by reporters.
The huddle came a day after two of Biden's closest congressional allies — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — appeared to be nudging Biden toward the door.
Pelosi told MSNBC that Biden, who for days has flatly declared his intention to remain in the race, needed to decide "if he is going to run." Axios reported that Schumer privately signaled to donors he was open to dumping Biden, though the New York senator subsequently said he backs the president.
Other former Biden allies were less restrained. Actor George Clooney called on the president to exit the race just weeks after co-hosting a $30 million fundraiser for the president. On Capitol Hill, more than a dozen Democrats, including Vermont Senator Peter Welch, said Biden should step aside even before the press conference.
Two-thirds of Americans, including a majority of Biden's own supporters, want the president to end his bid, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll, even though he was essentially running neck-and-neck with his Republican opponent. Some 85 per cent of those surveyed said Biden was too old for a second term.
And Biden drew further fire after a Milwaukee radio station said host Earl Ingram "- who previously acknowledged using questions provided by the president's campaign "- had edited out remarks in which he touted having "more Blacks in my administration than any other president." The station said Biden's campaign asked to have the segments removed.
Hopeful messaging from Biden's campaign did not appear to stem the bleeding. After some lawmakers implored Biden's team to explain how his campaign remained viable, top advisers released a memo calling the contest "a margin-of-error race" in battleground states and saying there is "no indication" another Democrat would run better against the Republican. The document said Biden still has a path to victory through the so-called "Blue Wall" states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Foreign allies
Biden's performance at the NATO summit did little to stop the torrent of bad news.
Allies described Biden as livelier and more engaged than at recent gatherings of world leaders. New UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer defended Biden's abilities, telling the BBC the US president was "on good form" in their White House meeting Wednesday.
Despite the mounting pressure on Biden, critics have few options to force him from atop the ticket.
Biden holds a commanding delegate lead ahead of the Democratic convention in August. He has repeatedly said he has no interest in stepping aside, and chided fellow party members to cease their push to find a new nominee, calling it a betrayal of the will of primary voters.
The president will continue his rescue mission in the coming days, starting with a trip Friday to Detroit for a campaign event.
Biden on Monday is scheduled to travel to Texas for an event marking the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act at the Austin presidential library of Lyndon Johnson, a president who abandoned his 1968 reelection bid amid historic unpopularity.
From there, Biden will travel to Las Vegas to give speeches at the annual conferences of Black and Latino interest groups.
