Joe Biden has now claimed that he was so exhausted after foreign travel that he almost “fell asleep” during the presidential debate against Donald Trump on July 27. The president, however, did get as many as 13 days to rest after his most recent foreign trip, including a full week at Camp David where he is believed to have enjoyed afternoon naps.
Biden’s latest excuse comes amid growing calls for him to drop out of the race.
“I decided to travel around the world a couple of times… shortly before the debate,” Biden told Democratic donors in McLean, Virginia, according to New York Post. “It wasn’t very smart [to be] traveling around the world a couple times.”
“I didn’t listen to my staff… and then I almost fell asleep on stage,” he added.
Joe Biden’s recent foreign tours
Biden made just two brief trips abroad in recent times. He travelled on June 5-9 to France to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day, and was in Italy from June 12 to 14 for the annual G7 summit.
Biden spent the entire first day of his French trip at his hotel, and reportedly had to attend no public events. Before travelling to Camp David, he was at his Rehoboth Beach getaway June 18-20. The week before the debate, he stayed here, away from the public eye. Meanwhile, a report by The New York Times stated that debate prep sessions “never started before 11 a.m. and Mr. Biden was given time for an afternoon nap each day.”
Biden’s debate performance was dubbed disastrous, but he still vowed to return for a second debate against Trump. According to CNN senior White House correspondent Kayla Tausche, an adviser insisted that the president will return to the debate stage in September.
The Democratic Party was alarmed after the president’s debate performance, where he stumbled, froze and stared blankly, and misspoke. There are concerns from even his own party members, but Biden is reportedly determined not to drop out.
