President Biden reveals why his performance in the election debate was so lackluster

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By Kim Novak

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President Joe Biden has spoken out after people criticized his performance in his most recent debate with Donald Trump.

GettyImages-2158959171.jpgJoe Biden's (right) debate with Donald Trump (left) had some people unimpressed. Credit: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Things are heating up in the race between Biden and Trump before the election takes place in November.

Biden is hoping to secure another term in office, while Trump is hoping to oust him and take back the presidency again.

Many people were left unimpressed after the pair went head to head on Thursday, with the 81-year-old president admitting he "almost fell asleep on stage".

Viewers also noticed his raspy voice and that he paused for long periods of time, even appearing to lose his train of thought.

Now, he has spoken out to explain why he seemed to perform so poorly, explaining that it was down to being tired after a hectic schedule which had him traveling "around the world a couple of times" in the days before the debate.

Biden told reporters at a private fundraiser in Virginia on Tuesday evening that it "wasn’t very smart" of him to have traveled so much before the debate.

GettyImages-2158937079.jpgJoe Biden has been doing a lot of traveling of late. Credit: Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images

He said at the event: "I decided to travel around the world a couple of times... shortly before the debate... I didn’t listen to my staff... and then I almost fell asleep on stage."

Biden had indeed had a hectic few weeks ahead of the debate, in which he'd traveled both nationally and internationally.

He'd been in Los Angeles on June 16 - 2,000 miles from the debate venue in Atlanta - hosting a fundraiser that raised $30million for his campaign, with stars including Barbra Streisand, George Clooney, and Julia Roberts in attendance.

Days earlier, he'd visited his family home in Wilmington, Delaware, after a guilty verdict was found against his son, Hunter Biden.

Prior to that, he had been in France on June 6 to join other world leaders for the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

He also traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina, the day after the debate to hold a campaign rally on the Friday, where he appeared to be in better shape than he'd been the night before.


Biden added that his comments were "not an excuse but an explanation" for how he performed in the debate, after concerns were raised about his advancing age.

He is currently the oldest-ever serving president, and would be 82 by the time he would take his second oath of office in January 2025 if he wins the election.

If elected, he would serve a further four years, meaning he would have a lot of grueling travel commitments to come.

Many senior allies of his, including Nancy Pelosi, have voiced their concerns about Biden's health and ability to continue serving, with the former House Speaker saying that voters’ questions on the subject were “legitimate” and called for both him and Trump to undergo testing.

Pelosi told MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell: "I think it’s a legitimate question to say, 'Is this an episode or is this a condition.'"

Featured image credit: Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images