NBC’s Kristen Welker grilled Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Sunday about President Joe Biden’s mental decline.
The Meet the Press host played a clip of Schumer from February 2024 in which the New York Democrat said he spoke to the president “regularly, sometimes several times a week.”
‘His mental acuity is fantastic. It’s fine. It’s just as good as it’s been over the years. “All this right-wing propaganda that his mental acuity has declined is wrong,” Schumer said at the time.
Welker then asked what Schumer had to say to Americans who believe Democrats “misled” them about Biden’s mental abilities ahead of the president’s disastrous debate in June.
“Look, we didn’t do that,” the New York Democrat insisted. “And let’s look at President Biden. He has a great track record.”
Schumer compared Biden’s record to that of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society and pointed to the 235 judges confirmed during the Democrat’s term.
“And he’s a patriot. He’s a great guy,” Schumer continued.
“And when he resigned, he did so on his own, because he thought it was better not only for the Democratic Party, but for America,” the Senate leader added. ‘We must all salute him. We must all salute him.’
NBC’s Kristen Welker (left) pressed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (right) on whether Democrats were “misleading” the American people about President Joe Biden’s mental acuity, ahead of his disastrous June debate that ultimately knocked him out of the race. 2024 forced
At the same time, Schumer didn’t bite when Welker asked whether he believed Biden, now 82, could have served a full four-year term had he stayed in the race and been successful in November.
Schumer would not answer whether he believed 82-year-old President Joe Biden (pictured) could have served a full four-year term
“Well, I’m not going to speculate,” Schumer said.
“Like I said, I think his record is great. And he will go down in history as a truly outstanding president,” the New Yorker Democrat added.
Biden will also go down in history for helping President-elect Donald Trump win back the White House.
Welker’s interview took place a day before the official certification of Trump’s victory on January 6.
The Meet the Press host pointed to a recent New York Times op-ed by veteran Democratic strategist James Carville, in which he argued that his party’s loss was due to their losing the message on the economy.
She asked Schumer if he agreed with that assessment.
He did not immediately agree, saying instead that the party was facing “very heavy headwinds.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats had a bad 2024 because they didn’t show enough “empathy and concern” for the plight of working Americans and instead “talked about the mechanics of the legislation.”
Schumer also said Democrats performed better than expected in the Senate races, winning or retaining seats in the swing states of Michigan, Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin.
At the same time, Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris lost to Trump in those four states.
Schumer ultimately made the point — as did Carville — that it was a messaging problem.
“All too often, Kristen, we talked about the mechanics of the legislation and the details of the legislation,” Schumer said. “And we really didn’t show the kind of empathy and concern, or show enough of it, to the average working families who didn’t realize how much we had done and how much we cared for them.”
“So what we’re going to do is spend a lot of time talking to working families, showing them how much we care about them, and not just talking about legislation, but talking about the conditions that so many working families are concerned about. their future,” Schumer said. “And that’s going to be a big change.”