President Biden, the day after the most consequential political performance of his decades-long career, sought to address the panic in the Democratic Party following his disastrous debate performance in his first face-off with former President Trump.
“I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious,” Biden, who at 81 is the oldest president in the nation’s history, told supporters at a rally Friday afternoon in the crucial battleground state of North Carolina.
“My friends, I don’t walk as easily as I used to, I don’t speak as fluently as I used to, I don’t debate as well as I used to,” Biden acknowledged. “But I know what I know. I know how to tell the truth, I know right from wrong, I know how to do this job, I know how to get things done, and I know, as millions of Americans know, that when you get knocked down, you get back up.”
And the president, noting his rematch with Trump in 2024, emphasized: “I wouldn’t run again if I didn’t believe with all my heart and soul that I can do this job.”
BIDEN, WITH A RURAL VOICE, DELIVERS A TOUGH PERFORMANCE IN THE DEBATE AGAINST TRUMP
President Biden speaks at a post-debate campaign rally on June 28, 2024 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
As Biden worked to calm his party, his campaign repeatedly highlighted what it described as record fundraising both during and after the debate, apparently aiming to divert attention from a brutal narrative emerging from the confrontation in Atlanta.
WHAT THE NEW YORK TIMES ASKS BIDEN TO DO
And Biden’s campaign announced Friday morning that it had raised $14 million in funding on Thursday and Friday morning, which it noted as “a sign of the strength of our popular support.”
Biden struggled with his raspy voice and disjointed answers during parts of the debate. The president sharpened his responses as the debate progressed and criticized his Republican predecessor in the White House for numerous falsehoods throughout the 90-minute debate.
President Biden (right) and former President Trump participate in the CNN presidential debate in Atlanta. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
But Biden’s uneven and at times faltering performance grabbed the vast majority of debate headlines and triggered a new round of calls from political pundits, publications and some Democrats for the president to step aside as the party’s standard bearer. Biden’s top allies objected to such statements while defending the president and attacking Trump for lying throughout the debate.
And the Biden campaign noted that the 11 p.m. ET hour on Thursday night, the hour after the debate, “was the best hour of fundraising since the campaign launched in April 2023.”
WHAT BIDEN SAID AT HIS FIRST POST-DEBATE Rally
A Biden campaign adviser, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, told Fox News that the fundraising is “an important sign that there is a bit of a disconnect between the national narratives and where supporters are.” .
Following their rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, the President and First Lady Jill Biden traveled to New York City, where they joined superstars Elton John and Katy Perry and top Democratic Party elected officials to dedicate the city’s Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center. The grand opening was timed to kick off New York City’s Pride weekend and mark the 55th anniversary of the historic rebellion that marked a turning point for LGBTQ+ liberation.
President Biden speaks during the groundbreaking ceremony for the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center on Friday, June 28, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Biden then headlined a campaign fundraiser Friday night in New York City that his campaign touted as “the largest LGBTQ fundraiser in political history.”
On Saturday, the president was scheduled to attend two more major fundraising events in the wealthy communities of East Hampton, New York, and Red Bank, New Jersey.
“Biden’s record grassroots fundraising since debate day is critical. It helps temper criticism of Biden’s performance,” veteran political strategist and Democratic National Committee member Maria Cardona told Fox News.
Cardona, a top Biden supporter, said highlighting the fundraiser “reminds Democrats that there is enthusiasm for the president and urgency to make sure the liar and criminal Donald Trump doesn’t get anywhere near the Oval Office.”
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A Democratic strategist and veteran presidential campaigner said the Biden team’s focus on fundraising “is their best and perhaps only card to play.”
But the strategist, who was granted anonymity to speak more freely, stressed that “there’s no amount of money that can undo the damage that was done in the debate and the president confirming everyone’s worst suspicions and fears about him and his age and not being up to the job. Period.”
But Trump campaign senior adviser Brian Hughes ruled out fundraising.
“As of last week, the Biden campaign has spent $100 million on cable, television and radio. They’ve spent money on a bloated organization. But President Trump’s lead has grown in the battleground states, and we’re now seeing polls and enthusiasm on the ground put Virginia and Minnesota in play for the Republican nominee for the first time in many election cycles,” Hughes told Fox News.
The Trump campaign, which enjoyed the post-debate narrative, had no need to immediately emphasize its own fundraising.
But the campaign told Fox News on Friday afternoon that it raised $8 million on the day of the debate.
Hours earlier, in an interview on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends,” Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, an important Trump ally, had said that “the donations have been coming in, very strong, very constant. And that’s because people saw his positioning last night during the debate. The donations, especially the small online donations that we’re getting right now, are really a reflection of the enthusiasm that the president brings to the campaign.”
And Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita told Fox News Digital on Thursday night that his debate performance was “additional fuel” for the former president’s fundraising and “motivating the troops.”
Dan Eberhart, an oil drilling CEO and prominent Republican donor, is raising money for Trump after previously supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
“The donors I’ve texted with now have more confidence in a Trump victory,” Eberhart said. “For any donors who were still on the sidelines, last night was the push they needed to bet on Trump.”
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