David Axelrod, an adviser to former President Barack Obama, criticized President Biden in an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos after the debate, accusing him of “denial, delusion and defiance.”
“It’s not surprising that Biden wants to put his terrible debate performance behind him, and his purpose in speaking with reporters on Friday was to try to quell the panic that has gripped the Democratic Party,” Axelrod said. He wrote in an op-ed for CNN. “He didn’t make it.”
President Biden told Stephanopoulos on Friday that he is the best person to beat Donald Trump in November and that he would only step aside if “Almighty God” came down and told him to do so.
“Denial. Delusion. Defiance,” wrote the political activist. The article was headlined “Biden’s Defiant Delusion.”
“As Biden has stated, the stakes are high. And if he believes that, which is what I believe he does, he will ultimately do what duty and patriotism demands and step down,” Axelrod said.
President Joe Biden stands at the podium during the first presidential debate of the 2024 presidential election between himself and former President Donald Trump, Thursday, June 27, 2024, at CNN studios in Atlanta, Georgia. (Kevin D. Lyles for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
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“If they do not, Biden’s age, not Trump’s moral and ethical failings, will determine the remainder of this most crucial race, tarnishing the president’s historic legacy,” Axelrod wrote.
Axelrod made various criticisms during the ABC interview, including when he was asked whether he had watched the debate.
“No, I don’t think they did,” Biden told Stephanopoulos.
“When Mr. Stephanopoulos asked the President whether he would undergo an independent medical evaluation, including neurological and cognitive testing, and make the results public, Mr. Biden hesitated and deflected,” Axelrod wrote, criticizing Biden’s response to an ABC News host’s question about cognitive testing.
President Joe Biden participates in the CNN presidential debate at CNN Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, June 27, 2024. President Biden and Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump, face off in the first presidential debate of the 2024 election campaign. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
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Axelrod said Biden “will be defeated in a big way by a lawless and unpopular former president.”
ABC’s Jon Karl shared similar concerns, saying Friday that the interview did little to ease Democrats’ fears.
“While Biden certainly looked better and more consistent than he did in the debates, there was nothing in this interview that would calm the nerves of Democrats who are worried that Joe Biden is on a trajectory to lose this election, to lose to Donald Trump,” Kahl told Stephanopoulos after the interview.
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“In fact, for some people, this interview raises new concerns, particularly the fact that he’s in a dire situation in terms of the campaign, that he doesn’t want or doesn’t know that in the view of many Democrats and frankly in the polls that you cited, he’s losing to Donald Trump,” he said.
