Biden Campaign Stunned - ‘Americans Deserve to Feel Their President Is Fit’

A Democratic congressman has become the first from the party to call on President Joe Biden not only to end his reelection campaign but to resign.

“I’ve spent the past two weeks listening to my constituents express their concerns about the President’s age and health. Like most people I represent in Southwest Washington, I doubt the President’s judgement [sic] about his health, his fitness to do the job, and whether he is the one making important decisions about our country, rather than unelected advisors,” said Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in a statement.

“Americans deserve to feel their president is fit enough to do the job. The crisis of confidence in the President’s leadership needs to come to an end. The President should do what he knows is right for the country and put the national interest first,” she added.

Earlier this month, the first-term congresswoman criticized Biden’s debate performance against former President Donald Trump on a CNN stage in Atlanta, observing that “about 50 million Americans tuned in and watched that debate. I was one of them for about five very painful minutes.”

“We all saw what we saw, you can’t undo that, and the truth I think, is that Biden is going to lose to Trump,” she added. “I know that’s difficult, but I think the damage has been done by that debate.”

Biden held a NATO press conference on Thursday night, his first press conference with questions in months.

The conference was originally scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. ET but was pushed back to 6:30 p.m. and then after 7 p.m. The event is widely seen as high-stakes, as it will show whether or not the president can prove that his shaky debate performance was an anomaly.

Biden made it clear that he had no plans to drop out of the race and that he believed he was the most qualified to win against Trump.

This comes as a growing number of prominent allies, including Vermont Sen. Peter Welch, more than a dozen House Democrats, and megadonor George Clooney, have called for Biden to step aside.

Biden began his press conference with a response to a question with a blunder — mistaking Vice President Kamala Harris for “Vice President Trump.” He was also asked if he was concerned about Harris’ ability to beat Trump.

“I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if I didn’t think she was qualified to be president,” he said.

Earlier, during a post-NATO meeting press gathering, Biden mistakenly introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin,” mistakingly referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Biden’s struggles come as the Cook Political Report has shifted five significant swing states and Nebraska’s swing district in favor of Trump in its most recent prediction for the 2024 presidential election.

Amy Walter, the editor-in-chief of the non-partisan election forecaster, explained the changes to their electoral map, noting that “As of July 9, the Democratic Party is living in a state of suspended animation. Despite growing calls from many in his party to leave the contest, President Joe Biden has made clear he has no intention of dropping out.”

Walter continued her article by acknowledging that although many of the insiders she has spoken to are still optimistic that Biden will notice his abysmal polling numbers and decide to withdraw, the likelihood now seems “remote.”

According to its most recent Electoral Map prediction, Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada have all moved from being classified as “toss-up” to “lean Republican,” giving Trump 268 electoral votes in his column.