Bice: From softball questions to a bungled attack, takeaways from Biden's first post-debate interview
President Joe Biden spoke to a Milwaukee radio host in his first public interview since his disastrous performance at the Atlanta debate with former President Donald Trump last week.
Here are five takeaways from Biden's interview with radio host Earl Ingram on WAUK-AM (540) on Thursday:
Biden is finally acknowledging just how bad he was at the debate
In the week since the debate, Biden and his team have been offering up a lot of excuses. He had a cold. He had jet lag. He was over-prepared.
But Biden is now acknowledging what the American public saw with their own eyes on TV last week.
"I had a bad night," Biden told Ingram in the 18-minute interview. "And the fact of the matter is that I screwed up. I made a mistake."
But he still couldn't resist trying to minimize the significance of his underwhelming performance.
"I didn't have a good debate," Biden said. "That’s 90 minutes on stage. Look at what I’ve done in 3.5 years.”
Biden got what he wanted from Ingram — a softball interview
Look, Ingram is an institution in Milwaukee and the Black community. He tells it the way he sees it.
But Ingram, who has been doing radio for nearly 15 years, is a huge Biden fan. He said he even predicted that President Barack Obama would pick Biden as his veep.
Indeed, Ingram ended his show by saying on behalf of Civic Media's collection of small radio stations, "We support you, we love you, and keep up the good work."
No wonder Biden's team chose Ingram for the interview.
This marks the second prerecorded interview that Biden has done in Wisconsin. In May, Biden did a pre-taped interview with Milwaukee’s 101.7 “The Truth," during which he aimed to speak directly to Black voters. Trump, it should be noted, sat down for a face-to-face interview with the Journal Sentinel around the same time.
The president doesn't appear to be going anywhere, despite the calls for him to drop out
One thing came across loud and clear from Biden's interview.
He still really hates Trump.
And the Democratic incumbent is going to do all he can to defeat his Republican opponent — despite the growing number of Democrats urging Biden to step aside.
"We cannot, cannot, cannot let this guy win," Biden said. "It would just be a disaster for America."
Then he made it more personal: "I have nothing but an incredible disregard for everything he stands for."
Despite the friendly format, Biden mangled one of his favorite Trump attacks
In the interview, the first-term president had everything going for him, but he still wasn't error-free.
Early in the interview, it sounded like he was reading a list of his accomplishments. His voice sounded gravelly throughout, but it was hard to tell if that was due to the subpar sound quality of the recording.
But Biden's only major mistake came when he accused Trump of once calling military members who had died in battle "losers" and "suckers," as reported by the Atlantic. It's a frequent line of attack for Biden.
Even so, he bungled it.
"This guy's talking about these guys being losers and whiners," Biden told Ingram. "He has no respect for anybody. I really mean it."
Whiners? Biden even repeated the flub.
For what it's worth, Trump has repeatedly denied the report.
Biden knew his audience
Ingram has a loyal following in the Black community, and Biden made it clear that he was aware of that.
First, he touted recent investments his administration has made in Wisconsin's Black community and noted his work appointing Black officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
"I've appointed more Black judges, more Black women judges, than every other president in American history combined," Biden said.
Then he turned the focus on the presumptive Republican nominee, saying he has done nothing for the Black community. He also attacked Trump for comments he recently made about "Black jobs."
"This is the guy that questioned George Floyd's humanity, led the birther movement against Barack Obama," Biden said. "This is the guy who said 'Barack Obama, that Black guy, he wasn't born in America.' And he kept it going, lying like hell."
He then added of Trump, "He has about as much interest and concern for Black, minority communities as the man on the moon does."
The man on the moon? Well, it wouldn't be a Biden interview without at least one Bidenism.
Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or [email protected]. Follow him on X at @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bice: 5 takeaways from President Biden's first post-debate interview