President Biden must use the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., this week to make his case that he is fit to serve as his party’s nominee, while the Democrats remain skeptical following his debate performance, according to experts.
“This week is pivotal for President Biden, not only because of the intense interest in what he will be saying at his press events but also because this summit provides a clear example of restored American global leadership in support of our nation’s defense,” Joel Rubin, a former State Department official during the Obama administration, told Fox News Digital.
“The long-term bipartisan investment in NATO is paying off, and the president will have a chance, at this summit, to remind the American people about why his approach of building security coalitions with global partners advances both America’s security abroad and our economy right here at home.”
Biden has faced growing resistance to his campaign for re-election ever since his debate against the presumptive GOP nominee, former President Trump, which many deemed a disaster for showcasing the president in a worse light than many anticipated. Trump at one point said, “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence” as Biden appeared to trail off during one of his answers.
The response to the seeming shortcoming proved resounding. Biden-friendly media outlets, including major newspaper editorial boards, started publishing op-eds to urge the president to hand off his campaign to another candidate. And rumors abound that Democrats in the House and Senate will present letters to the president urging him to reconsider his insistence on running for a second term.
All of that scrutiny will continue in greater magnitude during this week’s NATO summit, which Biden leads in the nation’s capital and must use to show the American public that he can still get the job done, according to a number of members of Congress.
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital that Biden “must show the American public that he has the ability to serve out the remainder of this term, let alone a future one” as the “eyes of the world” watch the NATO summit.
“It is on President Biden to show he’s capable and up to the task,” Lawler said. “What we’ve seen in recent weeks doesn’t cut it.”
A spokesperson for Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., referred to recent statements the senator made about Biden and his fitness to serve in which Fetterman called out party members for allegedly looking to abandon Biden after his poor debate showing. During an appearance on Fox News this month, he called the reaction “the dumbest s— I’ve ever heard.”
“I mean, if you are more inclined to vote for a Democrat or be a Democrat, if you’re willing to walk away from Joe Biden, you’re, by defecting, helping Trump,” Fetterman told Fox News Sunday anchor Shannon Bream, pointing to his own difficult debate that preceded a historic win as proof that it’s possible to recover.
Fox News Digital’s Peter Aitken contributed to this update.
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