Former chief of staff for the Biden White House Ron Klain dismissed concerns over President Biden’s debate performance, stating it doesn’t say anything about his ability to serve as president or to beat former President Trump in November.
Klain appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Friday and called for Democratic lawmakers and voters to unite behind Biden’s candidacy as many have been questioning whether he should be replaced as the party’s presidential nominee following the debate late last month.
“We’re not hiring a debater-in-chief, we’re hiring a commander-in-chief,” Klain told show co-host Willie Geist.
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The two discussed Biden’s fitness for office, with Klain touting Biden as the right man for the presidency and beating Trump throughout the conversation, even amid the increasing calls for the president to abandon his race.
After several minutes of Klain touting Biden’s accomplishments in the White House – though he did admit Biden had a “bad” debate night – Geist pushed the former Biden official on whether people are rightly worried about his fitness following the performance.
“Ron, can you see though why the idea that the President of the United States couldn’t perform almost two weeks after he got home from Europe in a 90-minute debate might reinforce the questions that people have about his ability to do the job?”
“No,” Klain replied, “because – look, I think, Willie, you see him doing the job and you just saw him get through this grueling week of NATO meetings with NATO leaders saying he did an excellent job with the NATO producing the Ukraine declaration at the end of it – a new breakthrough for NATO and its confronting Russian aggression.”
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However, Biden did experience some verbal stumbles and gaffes while addressing the NATO summit in D.C. on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, Biden referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin.” He quickly caught himself, adding, “President Putin? He’s going to beat President Putin. President Zelenskyy. I’m so focused on beating Putin. We got to worry about it. Anyway, Mr. President.”
During his press conference later that evening, Biden accidentally called Vice President Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump,” prompting more questions about his mental acuity.
Despite such missteps, Klain assured Geist that Biden’s public performances were not as important as his policies. He said that Americans are looking for “someone to lead our economy here at home, lead our domestic policy, stand up for freedom around the world, stand for freedom here at home in the face of Republicans trying to roll back women’s rights, and I think that people see Joe Biden doing that.”
“I think that’s the measure of his fitness to be president – is the way he is president,” Klain concluded.
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