Biden is in denial about the scale of this crisis

Joe Biden’s interview on Friday evening was designed to set aside concerns about his age that have plagued him since the first presidential debate last week.

Those close to him said that if he was challenged on national television, he would come across as clear and coherent, and his campaign’s fightback could begin. Voters would forget about the stuttering, confused man they saw on stage with Donald Trump.

In a 20-minute interview with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos, the 81-year-old president did not commit any more major gaffes, although he did speak in rambling sentences that did not always address the questions he had been asked.

What will be more concerning to Democrats on Capitol Hill is that he is clearly in denial about the scale of the crisis he is facing.

Those on the brink of calling for Mr Biden to abandon his re-election campaign have said he needs to acknowledge their concerns, and demonstrate a clear strategy to reassure the public.

But Mr Biden’s answers on Friday suggest he thinks the narrative about his mental decline has been cooked up by the media and unreliable pollsters. In short, he said there is nothing to see here.

Asked whether he would consider taking a mental agility test to dispel claims he may have Alzheimer’s, Mr Biden responded that he had one “every day” in “everything I do”.

He blamed his performance at the debate on contracting a cold, on Trump talking over him, and on a busy travel schedule.

Asked about polls that show he is slipping against Trump, he said his own data showed it was a “toss up” and that public opinion analysis is not “as reliable as it used to be”.

Then when questioned on what he would do if his allies turn on him, as they have privately threatened, the president said: “I’m not going to answer that question. It’s not going to happen.”

If anyone could push him out of the race, it would be the “Lord Almighty”, he said, adding: “The Lord Almighty’s not coming down.”

That last phrase may stick with Mr Biden. Throughout this crisis, he has been repeatedly accused of having a messiah complex, believing he is the only candidate who can beat Trump.

Friday’s interview showed a testy president who is frustrated that the public cannot see he is doing a good job, cannot see the real story of Trump’s lies and the threat they pose. To him, the threat posed by a president losing his mind in office is imagined by his critics.

Unfortunately, that view is not shared among Mr Biden’s colleagues in the Democratic Party. Tweeting after the interview, the Obama strategist David Axelrod said the president was “dangerously out of touch” with the public and pointed to polling that showed him six points behind Trump.

Far from feeling reassured, Democrats are tonight feeling that Mr Biden is not concerned enough about this crisis to engage with it seriously.

That impression is a dangerous one for the president. If senior party figures feel that public statements condemning him are the only way to get their point across, that is what they will do.

By getting through the interview without a serious incident, Mr Biden cleared a very low bar. There were no gaffes. But in the mind of a president looking increasingly on the brink, it seems there never are.