WASHINGTON — President Biden again read carefully from teleprompters Tuesday while discussing extreme weather and took no questions on his political fate — after the first elected Democrat in Congress urged him to step aside following his disastrous Thursday debate against former President Donald Trump.
The 81-year-old president spoke for 10 minutes at Washington, DC’s local Emergency Operations Center shortly after Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) called on Biden to step aside to prevent Trump, 78, from retaking the White House.
“Extreme heat is the number one weather-related killer in the United States. More people die from extreme heat than floods, hurricanes and tornadoes combined,” Biden said after arriving about 40 minutes late to the facility.
He ignored a reporter’s question about Doggett.
Biden similarly gave a 4-1/2 minute speech Monday night and also took no press questions.
Although he largely avoided stumbles, Biden at one point misread his script to declare “the first ever White House summer [sic] on extreme heat” when he meant to say summit — drawing ridicule on social media.
He also mentioned Hurricane Beryl, the Category 5 storm in the Caribbean that’s on a projected course toward Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
“Everyone who willfully denies the impacts of climate change is condemning the American people to a dangerous future and either is really, really dumb or has some other motive,” Biden said.
Doggett’s on-the-record call for Biden to allow Democrats to pick another nominee ahead of the Nov. 5 election followed days of party insiders saying privately that a swap was needed to prevent a potential Trump landslide victory.
Biden repeatedly appeared confused, lost his train of thought and made undecipherable remarks such as “we finally beat Medicare” during his debate with Trump — stoking panic among allies.
“I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson,” Doggett said Tuesday.
“Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw. President Biden should do the same.”
The Democratic National Committee currently plans to electronically nominate Biden as the party’s presidential candidate by Aug. 7 to comply with an Ohio ballot access deadline — leaving just over a month for skeptics to persuade Biden to go despite winning this year’s state primaries and caucuses.
