President Biden was handed a private note during a recent call with Democratic House lawmakers telling him to “stay positive” — and he read it out loud.
A staffer gave the 81-year-old president a note card with tips as he attempted to persuade members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus on Saturday that he was fit to serve and able to defeat former President Donald Trump on Election Day, the New York Times reported.
“Stay positive, you are sounding defensive,” Biden said on the call, seemingly reading directly from his staffer’s short missive.
One lawmaker told the New York Times that the moment represented how “stage-managed” calls between the president and lawmakers concerned about his re-election chances have seemed.
Biden has long been known to rely on note cards for press conferences, summits and private fundraisers, instructing him where to sit, what to do and who people are.
Still, the lawmaker also interpreted the moment as the president “poking fun at his aides” rather than accidentally reading the private memo.
The president has a history of blurting out instructions meant for his eyes only, including when he read “pause” off a teleprompter during a campaign speech in April.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chair of the CPC, said the call with Biden was “productive and engaging.”
“We spoke frankly to the President about our concerns and asked tough questions about the path forward. We appreciate his willingness to thoughtfully answer and address our Members,” she wrote on X.
Biden’s call with the CPC came on the same day he reportedly held a “tense” Zoom call with moderate Democrats that was “even worse than the debate,” losing credibility with those on the video chat, according to people in the meeting.
“He was rambling; he’d start an answer then lose his train of thought, then would just say ‘whatever.’ He really couldn’t complete an answer.I lost a ton of respect for him,” one person on the call told Puck.
“The president was rambling, dismissive of concerns, unable or unprepared to present a campaign strategy,” added a second person, who is a member of Congress.
Biden has faced mounting calls from Democrats imploring him to end his re-election campaign in the aftermath of his disastrous June 27 debate against Donald Trump, with several polls showing the incumbent trailing the 78-year-old former president.