US President Joe Biden had a terrible debate. He’s done little to turn things around since and appears to be in denial over the damage done to his campaign.

That’s the story of a critical 10-day period in the US presidential race, which kicked off with Biden’s historically bad debate performance.

Biden’s poor performance led to a Democrat freak out and growing calls for Biden to step aside. In a sign of the public mood, BI’s list of the Democrats who could replace Biden saw a sudden and dramatic spike in readership shortly after the debate.

In the days since, there have been excuses, new Biden flubs, and fresh calls from donors and House Democrats for Biden to step down. Republican rival Donald Trump has been posting furiously on social media throughout.

Biden remains defiant. In a Friday interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, he dismissed his low approval rating and questioned polling data that shows Trump is growing his lead in the race.

Crucially, Biden said that only God could get him to drop out, and that he’d be OK with losing to Trump “as long as I give it my all.”

Neither sentiment is likely to satisfy the many Democrats who have serious concerns about Biden’s mental acuity and electability.