President Biden is seeking to bounce back from a lackluster performance in his first debate with former President Trump and is running new ads in key battleground states aimed at changing the brutal narrative that emerged from last week’s showdown.
The 60-second spot does not feature footage of the president’s rough speech and halting answers from the debate in Atlanta, which was watched by an estimated 50 million people across the country.
Instead, the ad shows footage of a cheery Biden at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, the following day.
“Followers, I know I’m not young. But I know how to do this job. I know right from wrong. I know how to tell the truth,” Biden says in the ad. “And as millions of Americans know, I know that when you get knocked down, you can get back up.”
Biden campaign goes on the offensive after debate setback
The ad is aimed at defending Biden’s chances of a rematch with Trump in the 2024 presidential election and easing widespread panic within the Democratic Party after his performance has prompted calls from political pundits, commentators and some Democratic politicians and donors for Biden to step down as the party’s standard-bearer.
The commercial also continues an argument made by the Biden campaign since Thursday’s debate: that Trump repeatedly spread falsehoods throughout the debate.
“Did you see Trump last night?” Biden says in a video ad from the Raleigh rally.
New post-debate poll shows Biden in worrying numbers
“I say this wholeheartedly: I have never told so many lies in one debate. Trump lied about the great economy he created. He lied about the pandemic he failed to protect. And the biggest lie of all, he lied about having nothing to do with the insurrection on January 6th,” the president said.
The ad comes as the president and his campaign fight back against a wave of criticism and calls for Biden to abandon his bid for a second term.
President Biden and former President Trump will participate in the CNN presidential debate in Atlanta on June 27, 2024. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“Americans deserve a president who won’t run away from a fight, and that’s Joe Biden,” campaign communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement.
The ad is the latest element of a multi-pronged effort by the president, his campaign and allies.
Two Democratic Party officials confirmed to Fox News that Biden campaign officials attended a planned private meeting with the party’s top donors in Atlanta on Friday to try to ease concerns and fears.
The Biden campaign held a conference call on Saturday with Democratic National Committee members and other officials, two Democratic Party officials confirmed to Fox News.
The call was described as an effort to reassure party leaders and show the Biden team was in touch with allies.
And starting with Thursday night’s debate, the Biden campaign repeatedly touted record-breaking fundraising throughout the weekend, both during and after the debate.
President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden walk off the stage after speaking at a campaign rally, Friday, June 28, 2024, in Raleigh, North Carolina. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The Biden campaign announced Saturday morning that it had raised $27 million between Thursday and Friday, highlighting it as a “sign of the strength of grassroots support.”
A campaign announcement Sunday morning highlighted a surge in campaign funds to $33 million.
A Biden campaign adviser, who requested anonymity to speak more freely, told Fox News that the fundraising is “a major sign that there’s some disconnect between the national tone and where his supporters are.”
The Democratic strategist and presidential campaign veteran said the Biden campaign’s focus on fundraising “may be their best and only trump card.”
But the strategist, who was allowed to speak more freely because he was anonymous, stressed that “no amount of money can undo the damage that was done in the debate, and that the president confirmed everyone’s worst suspicions and fears about him, his age and his unfitness for the job. Period.”
The Biden campaign is taking aim at criticism from within its own party.
Biden campaign chair Jennifer O’Malley Dillon released a memo on Saturday evening refuting “any fears” and reiterating that “this will be a very close election.”
And the campaign touted a “weekend of action” on Monday, calling it “a mobilization blitz that engaged voters at more than 1,500 events in battleground states, making it the most successful organizing weekend of the campaign this term.”
Former President Trump walks off stage after speaking during a rally at Greenbriar Farm in Chesapeake, Virginia, on June 28, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“This is a monster,” President Trump said of the debate in a nationally syndicated radio interview broadcast Monday morning.
“That was very significant,” he added, sitting alongside conservative radio host and Trump ally John Fredericks.
The remarks were Trump’s latest in a string of victory declarations following Thursday’s debate.
“He studied so hard he had no idea what the hell he was doing,” Trump said of Biden’s week-long debate preparations, speaking at a mass rally in Chesapeake, Virginia, on Friday.
Trump attacked his Democratic rival and called the president “grossly incompetent.”
Click here to get the FOX News app
Speaking to Fox News about what’s to come, Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said: “From a campaign standpoint, this is just more rocket fuel. It’s going to be a huge help in terms of fundraising and morale for the troops, but it’s also going to obviously create problems for the Democratic candidate.”
When asked if Fox News would begin running ads using footage from the debate, LaCivita replied, “I don’t discuss advertising strategy, but yeah!”
But as of Monday morning, neither the Trump campaign nor MAGA Inc., the main super PAC supporting the former president’s campaign, had launched new ads using footage from the debate.
“How much more do we have to do while they’re busy killing themselves,” a Trump political source told Fox News when asked if there would be any more ads.
Get the latest 2024 election campaign updates, exclusive interviews and more on Fox News Digital’s election hub.
