It took Joe Biden three campaigns and more than 30 years to win the presidency. It should come as no surprise that he’s resisting suggestions that he give it up now, just over a week after a disastrous debate performance sharpened doubts that he can win a second term.He’s been in this position before. “Same thing happened in 2020,” he told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Friday.A recurring pattern of setbacks, defiance and recovery has been the central narrative of Biden’s career. It’s a story he frequently tells — to himself, his family and his party.“I’ve been knocked down before and counted out my whole life,” he told campaign workers Wednesday. “I learned long ago that when you get knocked down, you get back up.”In earlier chapters, his gritty refusal to be counted out was a virtue. It fueled his 2020 comeback from failures in the early primaries, when doubters said he was waging a “zombie campaign,” to victory over then-President Trump.But Biden’s signature defiance appears to be hardening into denial.In his 22-minute interview with Stephanopoulos, he batted away questions about whether his moments of incoherence at the June 27 debate signaled a deeper problem.“I just had a bad night,” the president said — five times.He dismissed the many polls that show him likely to lose to Trump, who has been convicted of 34 felonies in New York.“All the pollsters I talk to tell me it’s a toss-up,” Biden insisted.When Stephanopoulos noted that surveys show only 36% of voters have a favorable view of Biden, the president replied: “I don’t believe that’s my approval.”And he wasn’t sure whether he had rewatched the debate to analyze his performance. “I don’t think I did,” he said.It sounds like the famous chip on Biden’s shoulder has grown so big that it’s interfering with his ability to understand why so many Democrats are worried.“The president is rightfully proud of his record,” David Axelrod, who helped Barack Obama win two presidential elections, said in a post on social media. “But he is dangerously out of touch with the concerns people have about his capacities moving forward and his standing in this race.”A handful of Democrats in Congress — five House members, according to a tally by the Washington Post — have publicly urged Biden to withdraw from the race. More than a dozen others have expressed concern over whether he’s able to wage an effective campaign,
