"I messed it up"

Final test? Biden admits mistakes

"The fact is, I blew it," the US president now declared.(Bild: AFP/Jim WATSON)

The incumbent US President Joe Biden is severely counted out in the middle of the all-important battle for his re-election. In a final test, he is now trying to turn the tide - and is now admitting mistakes.

While Biden is still trying to limit the damage after the debacle in the TV debate with challenger Donald Trump, the debate about a possible successor for the Democrats has already begun. 

Biden is unvarnishedly honest
But Biden does not want to admit defeat completely. "I had a bad night. And the fact is that I messed up, I made a mistake," said the Democrat in a radio interview. But he had learned from his father that you always have to get back up, said the 81-year-old, adding that 90 minutes on a TV stage was nothing compared to what he had achieved over the past three and a half years.

One last nail in the coffin for him seems to be the planned TV interview with the ABC channel on Friday - this will ultimately be broadcast at prime time (2.00 a.m. CEST on Saturday night in Germany).

"The fact is that I messed up," the US President explained.(Bild: AFP/Jim WATSON)

Reaction shows how serious the situation is
The interviewer George Stephanopoulos is a long-standing face of the channel. In the 1990s, he worked for the then Democratic President Bill Clinton. Biden rarely gives TV interviews. The fact that he now feels compelled to do so shows how serious the situation is. Biden's appearance is likely to play a decisive role in whether the doubters in his party fall silent or gain even more momentum.

Biden wants to secure a second term in the US election in November and prevent Trump from returning to the White House. However, after his disastrous performance at the TV debate in front of an audience of millions, the 81-year-old has to face the question of whether he is still the right candidate - or whether he should make way for a younger alternative.

Things are already happening behind the scenes
Things are bubbling in the Democratic Party, initially only behind the scenes. Eventually, however, critics began to speak out publicly. Biden finally picked up the phone himself for crisis talks and spoke to the party leaders. He also connected with more than 20 Democratic governors at a meeting in the White House and via the internet and telephone to secure support.

Biden told the governors, according to US media, that he had undergone a medical examination after the TV debacle and that he was doing well. Hours earlier, Biden's spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre had sounded somewhat different. "He has not been examined by a doctor. It's a cold, people. It's a cold," she said.

Credible explanation for TV debacle?
Biden spoke in a raspy voice at the debate and appeared hoarse. Afterwards, he said that he had had a cold. He also tried to explain his disastrous performance, in which he frequently misspoke and lost his train of thought, with stress due to long trips abroad before the debate.

All eyes on speech to the nation
Biden spent Independence Day, which is traditionally celebrated in the USA on July 4th, with his family at the White House. In the evening (2.00 a.m. German time on Friday night), Biden will give his traditional speech to mark the holiday.

Once again, all eyes are likely to be on the 81-year-old. During such speeches, however, Biden usually does not answer any questions and reads his speech from a teleprompter. This reduces the chance of verbal slip-ups.

Nervousness among Democrats on the rise
In recent weeks, Trump and Biden have been neck-and-neck in the polls. The Republican was always one to two percentage points ahead - despite his scandals and conviction in a New York criminal trial.

Since the televised debate, however, Trump has been able to significantly increase his lead among voters, as current polls show. This is increasing nervousness among the Democrats - and apparently also their willingness to consider another candidate. The focus is increasingly on Biden's deputy Kamala Harris.

Biden can only decide for himself
The Democrats will officially choose their presidential candidate during a party conference in Chicago in August. Biden has already collected the necessary delegate votes in the primaries, which means that he has actually secured his candidacy. He had no serious competition and was considered a shoo-in from the outset.

Therefore, only Biden himself can decide to throw in the towel. Observers assume that if the Democrat really does drop out of the race, he will show no sign of weakness until the last moment, as this would be devastating for the polls.