If Joe Biden’s handlers thought a pre-recorded interview with a loyal Democrat operative would right the president’s listing campaign ship, they were sorely mistaken.

Biden did sit for a 22-minute interview with former Clinton strategist and ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, but he didn’t allay any of the fear and loathing on the Left. Sure, he sounded slightly healthier, and he looked significantly oranger than he had eight days earlier during his debate debacle with Donald Trump, and he managed to string together a few coherent sentences. But let’s face it: That’s a pretty low bar for an American president.

In short, what we saw was: same dementia, different color. He “had a bad night,” that’s all.

“Did you ever watch the debate afterwards?” asked Stephanopoulos. To which Biden weirdly answered, “I don’t think I did, no.”

Of all questions, that one seems like it calls for a yes-or-no response. Biden moved on, though, somewhat disjointedly, trying to blame Trump while at the same time saying he wasn’t blaming anyone else: “The fact of the matter is that, what I looked at, is that he also lied 28 times,” said Honest Joe of Duplicitous Don. “I couldn’t, I mean, the way the debate ran, not, my fault, nobody else’s fault, no one else’s fault.”

Stephanopoulos didn’t challenge Biden’s attack on Trump’s truthiness, even though Biden told the biggest whoppers of the debate — whoppers like the one about how no troops have died on his watch, or the one about the Border Patrol endorsing him, or about how Trump wants to cut Medicare and Social Security.

To Curious George’s “credit,” though, he did ask some tough questions. For once. But that’s only because he’s a Democrat operative at heart and because he’s already made the political calculation that Biden can’t beat Trump. And so, out came the shiv.

“Are you more frail?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“No,” came Biden’s immediate and implausible reply. But Stephanopoulos persisted:

STEPHANOPOULOS: I— I know your doctor said he consulted with a neurologist. I— I guess I’m asking— a slightly different question. Have you had the specific cognitive tests, and have you had a neurologist, a specialist, do an examination?

BIDEN: No. No one said I had to. No one said. They said I’m good.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Would you be willing to undergo an independent medical evaluation that included neurological and cognit— cognitive tests and release the results to the American people?

BIDEN: Look. I have a cognitive test every single day. Every day, I have that test. Everything I do. You know, not only am I campaigning, but I’m running the world. Not— and that’s not hi— sounds like hyperbole, but we are the essential nation of the world.

Of course, the White House hasn’t released Joe Biden’s medical records — only a weak and substance-free summary of them. And this despite the best efforts of Congressman Ronny Jackson, who served as White House physician to both Barack Obama and Donald Trump, but whose requests that Biden submit to a cognitive test like the one Trump took have been repeatedly laughed off.

Strange, though: No one seems to be laughing anymore.

In addition, Team Biden has all but put the infamous Dr. Kevin O'Connor into witness protection rather than making him available for interviews — you know, to vouch for the president’s good cognitive health.

“Mr. President,” said Stephanopoulos, sticking to the issue that matters most in his eyes, “I’ve never seen a president with 36% approval get reelected.”

Biden simply shrugged it off, saying, “Well, I don’t believe that’s my approval rating. That’s not what our polls show.”

We’re not sure what polls Biden is watching. Stephanopoulos persisted: “And if you stay in and Trump is elected and everything you’re warning about comes to pass, how will you feel in January?”

Biden’s response here made clear that he’s dug in, that he’s putting his own interests above that of his party and his country, and that he won’t leave the race voluntarily: “I’ll feel as long as I gave it my all and I did the goodest [sic] job as I know I can do, that’s what this is about. Look, George. Think of it this way. You’ve heard me say this before. I think the United States and the world is at an inflection point when the things that happen in the next several years are gonna determine what the next six, seven decades are gonna be like.”

Earlier, the devout abortionist had allowed that he “might” step aside “if the Lord Almighty comes down and tells me that.

Again, we appreciate Stephanopoulos asking the tough questions now, but he and his mainstream media colleagues are four years late to the party. They’ve finally come around to the truth about Biden’s decrepitude, and now we’re supposed to believe that they’d somehow been duped. Uh-huh.

They didn’t cover the story back then because they were thoroughly invested in defeating Donald Trump, and they knew that any talk of Biden’s cognitive state would hurt their team. And now they’re covering the story because reality has interceded to tell them that, try as they might, they won’t be able to once again drag their guy’s carcass across the finish line against Trump.

The New York Post’s Miranda Devine doesn’t think Joe Biden is going anywhere, especially not as long as Lady MacBiden and his sleazy convicted felon son are leading him around the White House. And as for the mainstream media, Devine told Fox News yesterday that they’ll "turn the Titanic back around” as soon as they come to this realization.

Which leaves Democrats with either of two awful options: Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. Because as I pointed out the other day, even if they somehow manage to change Stubborn Joe’s enfeebled mind, there’s no way for the Intersectionality Party to move beyond the person who’s next in line: the woefully unpopular Bay Area progressive of Jamaican-Indian descent who grew up in Canada and whose ancestors were slaveowners.

Finally, at the end of the Biden interview, Stephanopoulos noted the following: “ABC News also offered a one-on-one interview to Donald Trump after the debate. He declined.”

We’re sure Stephanopoulos would love a chance to do what Joe Biden couldn’t do on the debate stage in Atlanta, but why would Trump accept? He’s never been reluctant to engage the Leftmedia, but he’s no doubt familiar with the old adage: Never interfere with your opponent when he’s in the process of destroying himself and his party.