‘Big Boy’ Presser Won’t End Biden’s Campaign

Biden didn’t totally crap the bed, but he didn’t shine enough to convince the doubters he should stay. Instead his muddled performance didn’t move the needle one way or another.

As President Biden arrived (more than an hour late) to his NATO press conference the world watched with bated breath. Biden faces mounting calls from within his own party to step aside, would this presser be the thing to finally give the naysayers an out to knock him off the ticket? Sadly for them, no. 

But that doesn’t mean it was good. 

Biden’s signature gaffes were out in full force. Before the presser even began, Biden raised more than a few eyebrows when he introduced President Zelenskyy of Ukraine as President Putin. “And now I want to hand it over to the President of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination,” Biden prefaced before face planting, “Ladies and gentlemen — President Putin.”

To his credit, Biden did correct himself immediately afterwards saying “He’s gonna beat President Putin, President Zelenskyy.”

The same cannot be said of a goof he made right at the top of the presser where he referred to “Vice President Trump” when discussing his VP Kamala Harris. “Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if I think she’s not qualified to be president,” Biden mumbled before moving on. The looks on Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Llyod Austin’s faces said it all. 

At the end of the presser, one of the reporters in the pool noted that former President Trump was using the gaffe to mock Biden on Truth Social and asked the president to comment. Biden gave his trademark grimace, whispered “Listen to him” and shuffled off. 

Objectively, the press conference was a disaster. But Biden’s bar is so low that it isn’t actually disqualifying. If I were a Democratic strategist concerned with winning the 2024 election, I would have wanted to see an apocalyptic level failure from Biden last night.  Another catastrophic night would have given the Biden removal camp enough ammo to shove the President aside, likely for Vice President Trump. Er, Harris. 

But by the incredibly low standards Biden now has for public appearances, the presser was right down the middle. He didn’t totally crap the bed, but he didn’t shine enough to convince the doubters he should stay. Instead his muddled performance didn’t move the needle one way or another meaning the status quo is most likely to prevail. 

And that status quo is Biden remaining in the race. As I’ve written before, Biden has no reason to drop out. His closest advisors are all encouraging him to stay, and the incentives that would adequately tempt him to drop out don’t yet exist. Even as more Democrats come out of the walls to call for Biden to resign, like Washington Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez just did, the math doesn’t change all that much. 

The way to get Biden to drop out is to align his incentives with the Democratic Party, which seems like something only the Lord Almighty could do. How do you align the wants of a man who knows the only way he gets to remain president is if he wins a longshot general election in November with a party that knows the only way they get the presidency is if he leaves? You don’t, bar divine intervention. 

Forcing Biden out isn’t an option as it would create fissures within the party that would consume whoever they dredge up to replace him. Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer with a Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro might sound good on paper to Democrats desperate for relief, but they’d be fools to think the news cycle wouldn’t be consumed by the first ouster of a president in modern U.S. history. 

Biden and his family wouldn’t go quietly either, keeping the story alive. When the timeline is already so tight and each second matters, that type of infighting would be the death knell for Democrats’ chances. 

And that’s assuming they could agree on a candidate before the election anyway. Should the party skip over VP Harris, there would be internal mutiny. Areva Martin, a California Democratic delegate, threatened to “blow up the party” if Democrats passed over Harris for a white man.  

Biden will have to be involved in any potential ticket switches, and there lies the problem. After his performance last night, Biden can sit back confident that he holds all the cards and that the party is chained to him. He just needs to survive till August and then they can’t stop him. 

So I suppose congratulations are in order for President Biden and his big boy press conference. You failed and demonstrated you’re a mindless muttering mess of a leader, but you didn’t fail as hard as you could’ve. 

In the words of esteemed puppet master Jill Biden, “You did such a great job!” Well, maybe not great, but good enough.