The US president has said it would take “some medical condition” to force him out of the race for the White House
US President Joe Biden has said he would suspend his reelection campaign if doctors told him he had a “problem.” Doubts about Biden’s mental competency have plagued his campaign ever since his disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump last month.
In an interview with BET News filmed earlier this week, Biden was asked whether anything would make him reconsider staying in the race for the White House.
“If I had some medical condition that emerged, if doctors came and said ‘you’ve got this problem, that problem’,” Biden responded, before going on to defend his ability to “get the job done.”
Republicans have long alleged that Biden lacks the mental fortitude for the presidency, but the president’s performance at a CNN-hosted debate with Trump last month put his apparent frailty on display for members of his own party, too. Biden mixed up words and numbers, struggled to complete his sentences, and left himself open to Trump’s one-liners and verbal put-downs.
As the White House offered a range of excuses for Biden’s poor showing, liberal pundits and Democrat donors began calling on the president to suspend his campaign, as did nearly two-dozen Democrat lawmakers in Congress. Despite further verbal flubs and gaffes – including referring to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump” – Biden has insisted that he is “not going anywhere” and is “the best candidate to beat Donald Trump.”
In a speech at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) convention on Monday, Biden again struggled to complete sentences, despite reading from a teleprompter. Alternating between whispering and shouting, Biden rattled off several fake statistics, claiming at one point that gunshot wounds are the number one killer of children in the US.
Biden has repeatedly ruled out taking a cognitive test, arguing that the demands of the presidency test his abilities enough. He has also swatted away claims that he suffers from Parkinson’s disease, although White House records show multiple visits from a neurologist specializing in the condition since last summer.
READ MORE: Biden rejects extra debate with Trump
Concerns about Biden’s mental fitness were temporarily relegated from the headlines by the attempted assassination of Trump on Saturday. However, efforts to oust the president have apparently continued, with the New York Times claiming on Wednesday that a group of Democrat megadonors are “dangling money to members of Congress” willing to publicly call on Biden to step aside.
