Democratic South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn insisted on Friday that President Joe Biden’s mind is extraordinary and that his missteps pertain to his stutter rather than cognitive decline.
Biden on Thursday mistakenly called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “President Putin” and confused Vice President Kamala Harris with former President Donald Trump. Clyburn on “the TODAY Show” said Biden is exceptionally sharp and errors like this are related to his chronic stutter, not diminishment.
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Jim Clyburn Insists Biden ‘Has One Of The Best Minds’ And His Mistakes Are Related To ‘Stuttering’ pic.twitter.com/jVoLr3qvEX
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“Those of us who are real close watchers of Joe Biden, we do know that he sometimes mangle words and phrases. But all of that is almost natural for people who grew up stuttering and they do focus a little more. And when you focus a little more, you tend to lose the flow,” Clyburn said.
“But you’re not saying what we’ve seen from this president in the last three weeks is just a function of him stuttering?” NBC host Craig Melvin asked. “It’s more than that.”
Democrats have increasingly been urging Biden to step aside from the presidential race after his debate performance against former President Donald Trump led to worries regarding the president’s cognitive ability.
“He doesn’t stutter now. He is still working to overcome the stuttering of his childhood,” Clyburn continued. “I’ve been around that condition for a long time and I know exactly how it operates. But he has one of the best minds that I’ve ever been around. And the people who have been around him will tell you that. So I would hope that we will focus on the substance of this man, rather than these sometimes the misspoken words and phrases, and how he has run this country.”
Clyburn on Tuesday said he’ll back Harris if Biden bows out of the 2024 race.
“I will support her if he were to step aside. But I am going to support her going forward as sometime in the future. I want this ticket to be Biden-Harris, and then we’ll see what happens after the next election,” he said. “No, this spot should not in any way do anything to work around Ms. Harris. We should do everything to bolster her, whether she’s in second place or at the top of the ticket.”
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