Senator Chris Coons, a staunch ally of Joe Biden, said the current president is the only one who can beat Donald Trump in November, after calls for him to step down following his performance at a car crash debate.
Despite these calls, even Trump thinks it is too late for Democrats to choose another candidate.
The former president also admitted during his post-debate rally on Friday that no other candidate in contention is outperforming Biden.
‘[Biden] is our candidate for November. And he has the best chance of beating him [Trump]” Sen. Coons (D-Del.) said in an interview Sunday with ABC News This Week host Jonathan Karl.
In the three days since the CNN debate in Atlanta between Trump and Biden, a chorus of Democrats and their top donors have come out calling on the 81-year-old president to step aside.
Senator Chris Coons says President Joe Biden is still the only Democrat who can beat Donald Trump in November
“You don’t think Joe Biden is the only Democrat who can beat Donald Trump, do you?” Karl asked Coons.
But the senator responded, “I think he’s the only Democrat who can beat Donald Trump.”
In Chesapeake, Virginia, just 17 hours after the debate, Trump told a cheering crowd that he doesn’t think the Democratic Party will abandon Biden because they don’t have a better option to replace him.
Neither Trump nor Biden are the official nominees of their parties. It will become official at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, next month and at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, in August.
And while both are seen as their own parties’ nominees, Biden’s viability as a candidate has been called into question after he stumbled over his words and lost his thread several times during Thursday night’s debate.
Trump is not convinced Democrats will remove him, saying other options such as Vice President Kamala Harris, California Governor Gavin Newsom and former First Lady Michelle Obama are polling poorly.
“A lot of people are saying that Joe Biden is pulling out of the race after his performance last night,” Trump said at a rally in Chesapeake, Virginia, on Friday afternoon.
He continued: ‘But the fact is I don’t really believe that, because he [Biden] “Doing better in the polls than all the Democrats they’re talking about.”
At his rally in Chesapeake, Virginia, the day after the debate, Trump said, “A lot of people are saying that Joe Biden is leaving the race after last night’s performance. But the fact is, I don’t really believe that, because he [Biden] doing better in the polls than any Democrats they’re talking about.”
Biden completely botched his debate performance against Trump in Atlanta on Thursday, leading to calls to sideline him in his re-election bid
Although Harris is second in line for the presidency, some reports indicate that if Biden drops out of the race, she will not be considered as his replacement for the 2024 slate.
“These polls are coming up with names like Governor Newsom. He can’t run California – one of the worst governors. He’s a bad governor, he can’t run California,” the former president told a crowd of thousands of supporters who had come to watch his victory.
“Then of course Kamala is someone who is on — It might have been Joe Biden’s best decision to make her vice president,” he joked sarcastically. “Maybe his best decision, because nobody wants that. I do. I would be very happy about it.”
‘But they don’t gauge as well as this man. I don’t want to contradict myself, but they poll everyone. They polled Michelle Obama. Her reading is very poor,’ he insisted.
But in the end, Trump conceded, “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”