Biden supporters divided after NATO news conference
- Biden misspoke several times at a news conference Thursday
- The errors compounded worries about his ability to serve another term
- Biden, however, says he won't drop out and is hitting the campaign trail
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(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden is hitting the campaign trail Friday in the wake of public gaffes at his solo news conference.
Democrats continue to grapple with concerns surrounding Biden’s fitness to serve after Thursday’s news conference at the NATO Summit in Washington, D.C. Some of the president’s most steadfast supporters say they’ll back him no matter what.
Others say he should drop out, while a third camp of Democrats are harboring doubts they haven’t expressed publicly, according to reporting from NewsNation’s Joe Khalil and Kellie Meyer.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., met with Biden Thursday to discuss those concerns.
“In my conversation with President Biden, I directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus has shared in our recent time together,” Jeffries said in a statement.
The news conference was a pivotal moment for some Democratic Party members on the fence about the president’s ability to serve a second term. The party remains divided after Biden confused the name of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with that of Russian President Vladimir Putin and referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump.”
The president’s campaign isn’t deterred, however. Biden will continue on the campaign trail with his next stop Friday in Detroit before heading to his home state, Delaware, this weekend.
Some of Biden’s strongest allies continue to support the president despite calls for the Democratic incumbent to drop out of the 2024 race.
“I am all in,” Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., told NBC. “I’m riding with Biden no matter what direction he goes, no matter what method he takes. I’m with Joe Biden.”
Clyburn also said he would support Harris if Biden backed out of the race.
An internal Biden campaign memo obtained by NewsNation ahead of the conference laid out a plan to defeat former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. Data and polling, it said, point to a margin of error race in key battleground states.
As for lingering questions surrounding Democrats’ nominating process, the campaign must convince voters their distaste for Trump outweighs any concerns about the 81-year-old incumbent’s age, the memo stated.
