Shortly before Vice President Kamala Harris reacted to Joe Biden’s performance in the debate with a white lie (“There was a weak beginning but a strong ending. Biden is extraordinarily strong”), the governor of California, Democrat Gavin Newsom, one of the main collaborators of the president’s campaign, had already described as “useless” and “unnecessary” the abruptly opened debate among the Democrats due to the poor performance of the re-election candidate against Donald Trump. Political commentators such as John King, from CNN, were quick to openly raise the existence of a current in the Democratic ranks willing to request that Biden step aside before the November elections, which would open an unknown scenario, yet another in a campaign also starring a candidate who is a convicted felon.
That is why Newson, who has frequently sounded like a generational replacement in the Democratic leadership, has tried to tone down the criticism, without much success. “I think it’s useless and unnecessary,” he said on MSNBC. “We have to get in, we have to keep our heads up and, as I say, we have to cover this president’s back. He doesn’t turn his back on him for a single performance,” no matter how disappointing it was. But, apart from social networks, with an unforgiving barrage of comments and memes about the confusion of the 81-year-old Democratic candidate, commentators, politicians and campaign strategists have unanimously sounded the alerts. The CNN analyst assured that the Democrats with whom he was able to speak are in “total panic mode,” and that some of them will dare to suggest to the White House an honorable withdrawal of Biden before it is too late. Abby Phillip, also from CNN, said that “the panic” he is sensing tonight is “not even close” to what was sensed until now. “There is a real concern that [el debate de esta noche] It’s made for a real year that can’t be undone,” Phillip said.
A Biden aide who requested anonymity told the political news portal The Hill: “This is a real nightmare. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. “I’m watching us lose this election in slow motion.” “Tonight people’s fears have been confirmed” about the suitability of Biden who, at 81, aspires to a second term in the White House, according to David Axelrod, who was one of Barack Obama’s top advisors.
As the debate wore on, Democrats grew increasingly restless, with some wondering whether it was too late for Biden to drop out. They were also thinking about other candidates. “There’s been a lot of talk in our circles about Newsom,” said one Democratic strategist, referring to the California governor.
Biden’s hoarse voice and trembling lips, with clear hesitations, were subsequently attributed by the White House to a cold, but some in the president’s closest circle refused to put hot cloths in the face of manifestly clear cognitive signs: babbling, deviations from the topic that was being analyzed, when not clear confusion or an almost blank mind, as when he declared “We have finally defeated Medicare” when what he really wanted to say was that the United States had managed to defeat covid-19. A Democratic strategist, also protected by anonymity, defined the president’s intervention as “political suicide.” “There is no other way to say it. It was not a good debate for Joe Biden,” Kate Bedingfield, who was the president’s longtime communications assistant, told CNN.
“We are going to lose 20 seats in the House if this is what happens,” said a Democrat from the House of Representatives, who, in statements to the portal Axios, also spoke on condition of anonymity. “I’m in shock,” said another.
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“Just thirty minutes into the presidential debate, I have already heard from three veteran Democratic presidential campaign officials, and they all had the same reaction to President Biden’s performance: This is a disaster,” recapitulated Democratic shock jock Patrick Healy in the daily The New York Times.
For renowned commentator Chris Wallace, who moderated the first debate between the two in October 2020 at the conservative Fox network, Biden “has sunk his campaign tonight.” The reaction of Sarah Ishgur, commentator for ABC News, was more than graphic: “Sadness.”
The alleged movement of some Democrats to convince Biden to abandon the race was a rumor among many coreligionists. A Democratic member of the House of Representatives from one of the seven swing or undecided states expressed it this way, in statements collected by The Hill: “It has been a disaster. “Biden’s team has to convince him to withdraw and hold an open convention.” “We need a real debate about how this goes,” said one Democratic donor. “We cannot continue to avoid this discussion about age. We have to get serious. There is a lot at stake here and what the hell are we doing?”
Among the few who downplayed Biden’s failure, Biden campaign analyst Geoff Garin said on Social Network X that the “hysteria generated by the debate is greatly exaggerated,” arguing that Trump was increasingly “incoherent and unhinged” as it progressed. But the bad taste in the mouth of the night allowed for an even more bitter day to come. “By tomorrow, this is going to explode,” said one of the House Democrats to Axios.
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