Biden’s supporters want to ‘let Joe be Joe’ — but his stumbles are now under a bigger spotlight

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is on a public and private blitz to shake off concerns about his cognitive capacities.

But with public doubts about his fitness to serve unabating, Biden’s every move is now under a withering microscope as any potential stumble risks becoming magnified and delivering another blow to his candidacy.

To wit: As he introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a NATO summit event Thursday, Biden flubbed and called him “President Putin,” prompting audible gasps from the audience. He corrected himself, saying, “I’m so focused on beating Putin” before ceding the lectern. Shortly after, at a news conference, Biden errantly referred to “Vice President Trump” — a gaffe that overshadowed what his aides felt was otherwise a commanding performance.

And a significantly hyped interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos a week earlier was meant to show Biden could handle scrutinizing questions from the media but only flared more concerns from Democrats about whether he could continue to serve as the party’s nominee.

“If you are going to raise the stakes on one interview, it can’t be another example of you being hard to understand — not because he’s soft, not because he’s mumbling, but because his train of thought doesn’t make sense,” former Obama White House aide Jon Lovett said on his podcast, “Pod Save America,” this week, referring to the Stephanopoulos interview.

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