MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski challenged Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to defend president Joe Biden's debate performance in a contentious morning-after interview.
The Democratic governor, who's been floated as a future presidential candidate himself, appeared Friday on "Morning Joe" to praise Biden's accomplishments as president and express support for his re-election, but Brzezinski pressed him to say the 81-year-old president was the best option to take on Donald Trump's threat to democracy.
"I understand the stakes," Brzezinski said, "but people are talking right now about Joe Biden, and whether or not he's okay, and they're asking the question, is he okay? Can he do this? Can he run this race? They are asking this question in a big way. Some are saying he needs to resign from the race. Does he need to prove that he's okay, and if he's not should he resign, and someone else take over?"
Shapiro said his official duties had put him in close contact with both candidates, and he expressed confidence in Biden's abilities.
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"I can tell you Joe Biden is up to the job," he said. "I worked with the former president, and most of the work I had with him was when I was in court suing him because he was trying to rip away our fundamental freedoms. The good news is we won, and we defeated him, and when it comes to Joe Biden, I've acknowledged at the top, he had a bad debate night, but it doesn't change the accomplishments, and it doesn't change the fact that there is a clear contrast between where these two people want to take us in the future of this country. I'm scared of what will happen if Donald Trump is given the keys to the White House again, and so forgive me, but sitting here and hand-wringing, sitting here and fretting is not the answer. What we got to do is work."
Brzezinski bristled at his remarks, saying she remained confident in the president but was concerned about his performance.
"I'm not hand-wringing," she said. "I'm the one person on the show today that believes in Joe Biden. I agree with you, I think he had a bad night."
"I mean you no disrespect," Shapiro offered.
"Please, no – let's get at it," Brzezinski continued. "I want to get into this, but I need to ask you though, because everyone is talking about what was going on with him. He couldn't finish a thought, he couldn't land an answer and his closing thoughts were even botched. I mean, come on. There are people going, what the hell is going on? It's a fair question given that it's not just a bad night. It's one of the most important nights of this election cycle, and he was terrible. How do people move forward and get a sense that he's going to be okay, that it was just a bad night? What needs to happen?"
Shapiro said those concerns could apply to either candidate.
"It's hard for me to know if you're talking about Joe Biden or Donald Trump," Shapiro said. "I mean, Donald Trump had a terrible night. The guy's a pathological – he's a pathological liar. He was talking about how proud he is that he overturned Roe v. Wade and making up some nonsense about killing babies after they were born. I think anybody that looked at that, looked at Donald Trump and saw that he couldn't commit himself, again, to accepting the results of the election, anybody who looked at that realized that what he was spouting through the lies was really, really dangerous for our nation."
"I acknowledged now multiple times, Joe Biden had a bad debate night and he's got a burden on him to show people that he is still able to move forward in these debates and then make prosecuting the case against Donald Trump," the governor added. "I believe he can do that. I also believe that we all have a responsibility to help him do that. That's why I'm here talking to you this morning and why I'll continue to talk to the good people of Pennsylvania and this nation about the things that we have been able to accomplish with Joe Biden together, the historic investments in infrastructure, the historic ways we have been able to address the challenges that people are facing all across this nation. We've got a lot of work to do, and that's what I intend to do."
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