US President Joe Biden in an interview with NBC News On Monday, he said it was a “mistake” to say he wanted to target the Republican candidate and his political rival Donald Trump, although he warned that the latter remained a threat to democratic institutions.
“It was a mistake to use that word. I didn’t mean… I didn’t say ‘spotlight.’ I meant ‘target.’ I meant focus on him. Focus on what he’s doing. Focus on his policies. Focus on the number of lies he told in the debate,” Biden said.
Biden responded to a question about their conversation during a private call with donors last week. The president had declared that he was “done” talking about his poor debate performance and that it was “time to put Trump in the spotlight,” as Trump has received very little scrutiny over his stances, rhetoric and lack of campaigning.
He NBC The interview came after a brief pause in Biden’s election campaign following the assassination attempt against Trumpwhere he was injured in the right ear, after a shooter, identified as Thomas Matthew CrooksHe was shot during an election rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
On Trump’s rhetoric
Biden criticized Trump, saying: “How can you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says? You can’t say anything because it might incite someone? I have not used that rhetoric.”
“My opponent has resorted to that rhetoric. He talks about there being a bloodbath if he loses. He talks about how he will pardon everybody… in fact, I assume he will suspend the sentences of everybody who was arrested and sentenced to prison for what happened at the Capitol,” Biden added.
“It matters whether you accept the outcome of the election or not. It matters whether, for example, you talk about how you’re going to deal with the border instead of talking about people as vermin and all that; I mean, those things matter. That’s the kind of language that’s incendiary,” the president said.
Concerns about Biden’s candidacy
Biden also addressed concerns about his candidacy that arose after the June 27 Presidential Debate.
“The idea that I’m the old man, I am. I’m old. But I’m only three years older than Trump, first of all. And second of all, my mental acuity has been pretty good,” Biden said.
“I’ve accomplished more than any president in a long, long time in three and a half years. So I’m willing to be judged on that. I get it. I understand why people say, ‘Gosh, he’s 81. Wow. What will he be when he’s 83 or 84?’ It’s a legitimate question,” he added.
Biden on Trump’s vice presidential nominee
The president also criticized Trump’s choice of running mate, Senator J.D. Vance Biden said the Ohio senator would “do everything in his power to support Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda.” He called him “a Trump clone on the issues” and refused to differentiate him from Trump.
If Trump wins, Vance will become vice president of the United States. The 39-year-old senator is scheduled to speak at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Wednesday.
Biden stressed that he was not the one saying he would be a “dictator from Day 1” and said it is Trump, not Biden, who is using such rhetoric, referring to Trump’s past comments about a “bloodbath” if the Republican loses to Biden in November. “Look, how do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says?” Biden said. “Do you just not say anything because you might incite somebody?” he added.
