DM Monitoring
WASHINGTON: As the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO) summit is just around the corner, diplomats and world leaders are expressing concerns about US President Joe Biden’s age and health.
To defeat Donald Trump in the November 5 election, Biden is required to prove that he’s ready and strong at the summit, which will be held in Washington next week.
According to Politico, allies want Biden to compete for his second term against Trump, but they are concerned about his ability to defeat the former president in the forthcoming elections.
Following the 81-year-old’s poor performance in the first presidential debate against the Republican, some European officials have voiced doubts about Biden’s stamina and leadership capabilities.
“It doesn’t take a genius to see that the president is old. We’re not sure that, even if he wins, he can survive four years more,” one of the officials of the European NATO stated.
Another EU official remarked: “We all want Biden to have a second term to avoid dealing with Trump again, but this isn’t really reassuring.”
Moreover, NATO allies are concerned about how long Biden can keep US support for European defence, since Trump is sceptical about extending support for other countries.
“We’re having more conversations about our own defences since it looks like Trump is coming back,” an official from one NATO country said after the debate. Despite all these concerns, many allies prefer Biden over Trump but are uncertain about Biden’s long-term prospects due to his age.
Democrats, with some reportedly considering urging Biden to withdraw from the race. The president, however, has stated publicly that he remains committed to running for re-election.
Earlier, President Joe Biden is under pressure from some Democratic donors who have warned they will withhold funds unless he is replaced as the party’s candidate in the wake of his disastrous debate performance last week, according to the BBC.
Pressure on the 81-year-old Biden to quit the Nov 5 presidential race has grown following several instances during the debate where he lost his train of thought.
While he admitted that he “screwed up” that night, he has vowed to stay on as his party’s standard-bearer taking on Donald Trump. Scrutiny on his public appearances has markedly risen since the debate.
In a White House speech to military families on Thursday to mark July 4 Independence Day, he stumbled over his words when referring to Trump as “one of our colleagues, the former president”.
And in an interview with a radio network in Philadelphia, he lost his thread and appeared to say he was proud to be the first black woman to serve with a black president.
Donors have been reconsidering their bets. Abigail Disney, an heiress to the Disney family fortune, told business news channel CNBC that she did not believe Mr Biden could win against Trump.
She said her decision to pull support was rooted in “realism, not disrespect”.
