The assassination attempt on Donald Trump has prevented President Joe Biden from unleashing his blows on his Republican opponent, but at the same time it has given him some respite from doubts about his age and health.
The Democratic president had to admit on Monday that he had made a ” error “ by calling for “target” Donald Trump on a call with donors earlier last week, just days before the shootings against his Republican presidential rival in November.
“I meant, focus on him, on what he’s doing.”Joe Biden explained in an interview with NBC.
In a fractured country still reeling from the shootings that could have cost the Republican candidate his life on Saturday during an election rally, Mr. Biden spoke on Sunday evening of the need to “lowering the temperature of our political life”.
Republican lawmakers have singled out Biden’s remarks for fueling a political climate that led to the shooting of Donald Trump — without mentioning the former Republican president’s inflammatory comments.
“I did not resort to this rhetoric. My rival resorted to this rhetoric, he speaks of a slaughter if he loses.”Joe Biden defended himself on Monday.
Faced with repeated questions from journalists, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre declared that it was “acceptable to talk about someone’s actions and personality”.
But the assassination attempt against Donald Trump has forced Joe Biden’s campaign team to more carefully measure the tone of its attacks, and partly deprives the Democrat of one of his main angles of attack: presenting his predecessor as a danger to American democracy.
According to Karen Tumulty, a political columnist for the Washington Post, there could not have been “no worse time for Joe Biden to be forced to redefine his strategy against Trump”.
The Democratic president, however, showed on Monday that he did not intend to hold back from criticizing his rival for very long, by explaining his delicate position.
“How do you talk about the threat to our democracy, which is real when a president says things like he says? You don’t say something just because it might incite someone?”asked Joe Biden.
– Mental acuity “damn good” –
The assassination attempt could also partially help the 81-year-old Democratic president in his fight for political survival by deflecting, at least temporarily, concerns about his ability to secure another four-year term.
After the shooting, Joe Biden sought to strike a presidential tone. He addressed the nation on Sunday, only his third time in the Oval Office in his three-and-a-half years in office.
“My mental acuity is pretty damn good”he also said in his NBC interview on Monday.
“In three and a half years, I have done more than any president has done in a long time.”he added, while acknowledging that concerns about his age were a “legitimate question”.
But after weeks of speculation about his mental and physical health following a disastrous campaign debate, calls for Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race have subsided since the attacks on Donald Trump.
“It’s clear that this is a game changer for those who are calling for Mr. Biden to step down.”Peter Loge, a political scientist at George Washington University, told AFP. “That gives Biden some time.”
