Biden faces a formidable test for his candidacy

Joe Biden, who is now gambling on his political survival. every public appearance, will face Thursday à a formidable test for his candidacy à the presidential election by giving a press conference, an exercise of which he is not fond of.

And it will be “a big boy press conference”, promises the White House, without further details on the duration or the progress.

This curious expression is undoubtedly intended to distinguish this meeting from the short, well-marked question-and-answer sessions that the American president usually takes part in, during which journalists designated in advance ask questions.

At 6:30 p.m. local time (10:30 p.m. GMT) – the time has been pushed back by one hour compared to the initial program – at the conference center which is hosting a NATO summit in Washington this week , Joe Biden will have to have repartee, express himself clearly, with a confident voice, without notes and without a teleprompter.

He was unable to do so on June 27 during a debate against his Republican predecessor Donald Trump, whom he remains determined to face in the November presidential election.

Since becoming president, Joe Biden has given 36 press conferences, according to researcher Martha Joynt Kumar, quoted by Axios. Among his six predecessors, only Republican Ronald Reagan had done fewer.

– Mitterrand and Kohl –

The Democrat, a former stutterer, has never been a flamboyant speaker, especially when he improvises. With age, his speech becomes more and more laborious.

It is sometimes difficult to understand him because he swallows words, stammers or speaks in a muffled voice.

His failures are sometimes spectacular: in February, he spoke in quick succession about former French President François Mitterrand, who died in 1996, instead of Emmanuel Macron, and mentioned the late Helmut Kohl instead of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

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Such mistakes on Thursday would be fatal for the 81-year-old Democrat, who has so far resisted calls for withdrawal coming from his party but also from celebrities and wealthy people from the world of entertainment.

Let us cite the actors George Clooney and Michael Douglas, the director Rob Reiner, the writer Stephen King, the co-founder of Netflix Reed Hastings..

New York Times editorialists have already called on him twice to step aside.

On Thursday, they changed their target by calling on voters “to recognize the dangers of a second term for Trump and to reject them” in November, in an article published before the convention opening next week to nominate the billionaire 78 years old.

– Tied game –

An Ipsos poll released Thursday by the Washington Post and ABC gives Joe Biden and Donald Trump are tied with 46% of voting intentions each at the national level.

But 67% of those questioned believe that the American president should withdraw his candidacy . Among Democratic voters alone, this is also the majority opinion, in smaller proportions, at 56%.

Questions about the endurance and energy of the Democratic leader has for two weeks stifled all attempts by her campaign team to redirect attention to Donald Trump, presented as a danger to democracy.

Thursday, she for example published, in connection with the NATO summit, a video describing the billionaire as a “poodle” of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A dozen elected democrats in the House of Representatives and a senator have now openly called on their candidate to abandon, even if it means launching a potentially chaotic nomination race.

Democratic Party parliamentarians fear that Joe Biden does not drag them down during the legislative elections which are being held at the same time as the presidential election.

Their leader in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, told the Punchbowl News site on Thursday that he wanted to speak with “each” of the elected officials after which “we will meet at the level of the leaders of the group and we will decide on the next step.”

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