President Joe Biden blamed his globetrotting ahead of Thursday’s disastrous debate for his poor performance.

The 81-year-old president made the concession during a fundraiser in the ritzy D.C. suburb of McLean, Virginia Tuesday night.

He told the crowd he ‘wasn’t very smart’ for ‘traveling around the world a couple times’ before his showdown with presumptive Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump.

‘I decided to travel around the world a couple of times … shortly before the debate …I didn’t listen to my staff … and then I almost fell asleep on stage,’ the president said

He added, ‘It’s not an excuse but an explanation.’

Biden had an entire week holed up at Camp David to prep for the debate after spending the Juneteenth holiday at Rehoboth Beach.

Before that he did back-to-back trips to France to mark the D-Day anniversary and then to Italy for the G7.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that Biden was so drained from the jet-setting that advisers cut debate prep short by two days – in order to fit in the beach trip.

And then while at the presidential retreat, debate prep didn’t start before 11 a.m. and Biden was given time each day in the afternoon to take a nap.

The fundraiser was scheduled after press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was forced to give her own explanation about the president’s poor debate performance from the White House podium.

The tense exchanges show how the issue of a declining president will overshadow the rest of this year’s election, as nervous Democrats begin openly calling for Biden to step aside.

‘We’re not taking away from what you all saw or what the American people saw,’ said Karine Jean-Pierre.

The poor performance has dominated news headlines ever since, triggering panic among Democratic donors who fear his campaign is sleepwalking into disaster.