Watch Video: Trump Breaks Silence After Presidential Debate, Launches Attacks on Biden, Harris

Dubai: Former Republican President Donald Trump, who has been remarkably quiet since the presidential debate, broke his silence on Thursday with a powerful comeback, launching attacks on Democratic incumbent President Joe Biden and US Vice President Kamala Harris in a leaked video that he later posted on his own Truth Social account.

In the video, Trump, sitting in a golf cart holding cash, with his son Barron at his side, said Biden was withdrawing from the race because of his performance in the June 27 debate.

The 78-year-old asked: “How did I do in the debate the other night?”

“I kicked that old, crumbling pile of shit” during the debate, Trump, seen sitting in a golf cart, says in the video.

“He’s dropping out of the race. Yes, I took him out of the race. And that means we have Kamala,” Trump said. “She’s so bad, she’s so pathetic.”

His comments come as pressure on Biden to drop out of the US presidential race intensifies with a shock report in the New York Times that he had conceded the possibility to a key ally, as well as a movement within his own party to demand his withdrawal.

As Americans gather for their Independence Day celebration, concern is growing about the 81-year-old president’s mental acuity, with rumors within his party that a search is underway for a replacement candidate before the November election.

As international concern grows over Biden’s standing, The Economist, joining the New York Times and the Boston Globe, has become the latest major publication to urge the president to withdraw from the race.

Uncertainty simmered ahead of the embattled president’s highly anticipated television interview Friday with ABC News, an event that most politicians in Washington — and perhaps the nation — will be watching closely to see if Biden can indeed bounce back from his faltering debate performance.

All eyes will also be on Biden’s campaign rally scheduled for Friday in Madison, Wisconsin, one of the key battleground states considered crucial to Biden’s victory.

Meanwhile, two polls released Wednesday reinforced the concern, including a post-debate Times poll that showed Trump with his biggest lead over Biden — 49% to 43% of likely voters.

A Wall Street Journal poll gave a nearly identical result, with Trump ahead 48 percent to 42 percent. That’s Trump’s biggest lead in the primary race in either poll.

Polls suggest that concerns about Biden’s age are driving the shift. Nearly three-quarters of voters surveyed by the Times said the 81-year-old president is too old for the job, up 5 percentage points from a poll conducted before the debate last week. And the Journal poll found that the share of voters who say Biden is too old to run has increased 7 percentage points since February, to 80%.

The Biden campaign is facing discouraging poll numbers as efforts are made to quell dissent from Democratic lawmakers and donors who are urging him to cede the field to another candidate to challenge Trump.

After a disappointing performance in last week’s debate, concerns have grown about Biden’s ability to serve another four-year term. Campaign leaders, in a memo to staff Wednesday, acknowledged the potential shifts in the race reflected in recent polls, cautioning that polls are snapshots subject to fluctuation. Campaign chairwoman Jen O’Malley Dillon and campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez stressed that a full assessment of the race would take weeks, not days.

However, this trend is largely confirmed by a number of other national polls conducted last week, with the averages of the major polls systematically moving in Trump’s favor.

Those national numbers may understate Biden’s problems. Presidential elections are won in the Electoral College, and key-state polls show Trump widening his average lead over the past week in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Wisconsin remains the tightest battleground, with Trump and Biden tied in the RealClearPolitics average.

Molly Murphy, a pollster for the Biden campaign, said in a statement that the Times poll “does not fundamentally change the course of the race.”

“President Biden continues to drive down support for Trump among independents, and we have work to do to bring our coalition back to power – while Trump seems unable to expand his coalition,” she said.

The Times surveyed 1,532 registered voters from June 28 to July 2, with a margin of sampling error of 2.8 percentage points. The Journal poll surveyed 1,500 registered voters from June 29 to July 2, with a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.

Meanwhile, Harris finds herself navigating a delicate balance: publicly supporting Biden while positioning herself as a leading contender for the presidency if he chooses not to run again.

Former Congressman Tim Ryan, while expressing admiration for Biden, said in a Newsweek article that “the Democratic nominee in 2024 should be Kamala Harris.” In public, Harris has remained steadfastly loyal to Biden. In an interview with CBS News, she said, “Joe Biden is our nominee. We beat Trump once, and we will beat Trump again, no doubt.”

She expressed pride in being on the current list with the president. Immediately after the debate, Harris quickly defended Biden on television, acknowledging his slow start but hailing his solid victory over Trump.

As the first woman, first Black person and first person of Asian descent (her mother is from India) to hold the office, Harris is a central figure who is one step away from the presidency, as Americans often note.

While Harris would take over the presidency if Biden died or became incapacitated, there is no guarantee she would replace him if he withdrew from the race. Biden has said he has no intention of stepping down.