"I'm going to run!"

Biden energetic: announcement to critics during appearance

Despite all the critics, Joe Biden wants to run in the US election.

(Bild: AP ( via APA) Austria Presse Agentur/Carlos Osorio)

Joe Biden's mental fitness is currently the focus of hyper-focus. The US President clearly does not want to let this get in his way. During a campaign appearance in the US state of Michigan, he made an announcement to his critics.

"So much for my campaign falling apart," said the 81-year-old Democrat during an appearance in Detroit. As at the press conference after the NATO summit, the President showed no signs of self-doubt. He wants to and will beat his Republican challenger Donald Trump again, Biden made clear.

He read his speech from a teleprompter, improvising only slightly. At one point, he seemed to lose the thread, but quickly distracted from it with an anecdote.

Democrats fear debacle
Meanwhile, the Democratic minority leader of the US House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, announced that he had met with the US President personally on Thursday evening (local time) and conveyed the concerns of his party colleagues to him.

Prior to this, the New York Times had reported, citing two unnamed sources, that some Democratic Party donors were withholding an estimated 90 million US dollars in campaign support as long as Biden remained a candidate.

Now in the spotlight: Hakeem Jeffries

(Bild: Getty Images/Tierney L. Cross)

Last week, there were already reports that a wealthy Disney heiress wanted to withhold her financial support for the party until Biden withdrew from the race.

Boos for critics
In Detroit, there seemed to be no sign of any of this. Biden's audience was animated, cheering loudly over and over again "We've got your back", "Don't give up" and "We love you". When Biden addressed the negative headlines of the past few days, there were boos, but the Democrat put a stop to them and defended the "good men and women" in the press.

He nevertheless criticized being unfairly put through the wringer because he sometimes mixes up names. "I say Charlie instead of Bill. But you know what? Donald Trump has been given a free pass." He said the focus should be on his opponent, whom he described as a criminal, fraudster and rapist. He shouted to the crowd: "I'm running!" He would listen to the electorate and not to experts, the press or major donors. 

In the rest of his speech, Biden focused primarily on the Republican challenger. In the auto industry city of Detroit, he described Trump as an opponent of trade unions and the working class. The core message: he himself takes care of people's problems, while the convicted felon Trump only drives around on his golf course.

Jeffries refuses public support
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote in a letter to the Democratic members of his House chamber after his meeting with the president that he had "directly expressed to Biden the full range of insights, candid perspectives and conclusions" of his caucus.

It's up to Biden

• Biden is to be officially chosen as the Democratic candidate at the party's convention in August.
• He has already won the necessary delegate votes in the primaries.
• Therefore, only he can decide to drop out of the race.

It was striking that he did not mention that he had expressed his support for Biden's presidential candidacy.

All eyes are also on the US President among members of Congress: Since his disastrous performance in the TV duel against Trump, around 20 Democratic MPs have openly opposed Biden.

Not only the presidency is up for election
Many Democratic members of Congress are worried that a lack of support for Biden could also cost them re-election. In addition to the presidency, all seats in the House of Representatives and a third of the seats in the Senate will be put to the vote in November.

There are fears among Democrats that the Republicans could take control of both chambers of Congress and the White House after the election.