Amid widespread reports of a Biden campaign in "crisis," President Joe Biden turned to his targeted Black voting audience and the key Milwaukee battleground to appeal to help his campaign "get back up."
"I had a bad night," Biden told Black Milwaukee radio host Earl Ingram in a Thursday morning interview on WAUK's "The Earl Ingram Show." "And the fact of the matter is that, you know, it was — I screwed up. I made a mistake."
Biden did not elaborate on the "mistake" or mistakes he might have made, but he repeated his vow to "get back up" after being knocked down a peg.
"I learned from my father, when you get knocked down, get back up," Biden said.
"I didn't have a good debate."
Sabato's Crystal Ball has named Wisconsin the 2024 presidential election's must-have state among the biggest of the battlegrounds, and the Republican National Convention will be held in Milwaukee starting July 15.
Biden pitched himself as the president for the Black and minority communities, trying to regain ground he lost in the debate.
"That's 90 minutes onstage. Look at what I've done in 3.5 years," Biden said in a meandering interview.
Biden turned his ire on presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, as his own party has turned skeptical of his age and cognitive ability to serve as president after the debate.
"I'm sorry to get so worked up," Biden told Ingram. "But he is just — he's done terrible things in the community. And he has about as much interest and concern for Black, minority communities as the man on the moon does."
Biden hailed his giving the judiciary the most Black representation in presidential history and added, "I am proud I had the first Black woman vice president in history."
Despite calls for Biden to step aside — even by prominent donors and Democrats — the White House and president have been defiant and stressed he has no intention to step away from a 2024 presidential rematch against Trump.