Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro Said President Biden’s Friday ABC interview ‘wasn’t good enough’
“The most frightening thing was [George] Stephanopoulos asked him, “What if you lose? [former President Trump,] “I asked him, ‘How does that make you feel?’ and President Biden said, ‘Well, as long as you did your best,’ and he basically thought it was OK,” Castro said Friday on MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight.”
“For the American people, that’s not enough,” Castro continued. “Given the possibility that Donald Trump will win, that’s not enough.”
The president’s interview on Friday came after more than a week of uncertainty among Democrats in the aftermath of his shaky performance in last Thursday’s debate, when Biden stuttered and stuttered during the CNN debate, raising questions among Democrats about whether he should remain the party’s nominee.
Castro said Biden was “more calm than we saw in the debate” during Friday’s ABC interview, but was “basically in denial” about issues such as his “personal decline” and his poll numbers.
Biden continued to push back against claims that he should drop out of the race.
“If the Almighty God came down and said, ‘Joe, step aside,’ I’d step aside. The Almighty God is not going to come down,” Biden said in the interview.
Castro is one of the few Democrats who has publicly said the president should drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
“Joe Biden was a good man and a good president,” Castro said. Said Tuesday on social platform X. “But last week’s debate demonstrated a disturbing inability to effectively prosecute the case against Donald Trump, much less inspire and mobilize voters to the polls.”
“Unfortunately, President Biden is not a campaign strategist like he was in 2020 and there is a very good chance he will lose to Trump, who is one of the weakest candidates in presidential history,” he continued. “I am confident that many other Democrats, including Vice President Harris, have a better chance of winning.”
The White House and Biden’s allies have pushed back against those who have expressed doubts about the president’s ability to continue campaigning.
The Hill has reached out to the Biden campaign.
