President Joe Biden bet that a debate with Republican Donald Trump would boost his moribund re-election campaign. His bet failed. A tired president seemed every day of his 81 years. Instead of showing voters that he had the stamina for another four-year term, everything that could go wrong did.
Biden misspoken on numerous occasions, citing incorrect facts and figures since his first response. His speech was soft, punctuated by bouts of sickly coughing, and meandering, prone to repetition. He stared into the distance as Trump launched one volley after another, and froze at the end of an incoherent response.
Democrats expressed alarm, both publicly and privately, and his anger at a candidate and a campaign that have long dismissed concerns about the president’s age and acumen as exaggeratedThe question of whether the president should continue in the race was raised, although he told reporters that evening that he intended to remain in the candidacy.
Shortly after the debate, a Democratic lawmaker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that The president seemed like a shell of his former self and that the party needs to have a conversation about replacing him on the ballot.. Trump, whom polls gave a small but steady lead at the start of the night, now appears to be the clear favorite to win a second term in the White House.
“Joe Biden had a disappointing debate performance. I don’t think there’s any other way to put it,” Kate Bedingfield, the president’s former communications director, said on CNN. “The most important thing he had to prove to the American people was that he had the energy and the stamina, and he didn’t do that.”
Strong themes
Trump was not without his own weaknesses, with his trademark responses riddled with falsehoods and exaggerations, and he refused to commit to accepting the results of the November election. But Biden repeatedly failed to capitalize on or repel the attacks..
When asked about abortion, one of the Democrats’ strongest issues, Biden pivoted to one of his weakest areas, immigration. He dramatically underestimated Trump’s work history, and he was drawn into a meandering fight over golf handicaps and Trump’s weight.and at one point claimed that he had “finally defeated Medicare.”
The president has a cold, according to people familiar with the matter.
“The Biden team has never heard of espresso, or honey lemon tea,” said Democratic strategist Jon Reinish.
A Trump victory would have seismic consequences for American trade policy, the tax system, civil rights, and the nation’s relationships with allies and adversaries.Markets had already anticipated Trump’s push. The dollar rose against major currencies as the candidates traded barbs, and the Mexican peso and Japanese yen weakened.
Biden’s team wanted to face Trump in June – the earliest date in modern US political history – to turn the race from a referendum on his presidency to a contrast with his predecessor.. Instead, it was Trump, 78, who managed to put Biden on the defensive over the disastrous US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the border crisis and inflation. He avoided the kind of outbursts that plagued his first debate with Biden four years ago, when he repeatedly spoke over Biden and appeared overly aggressive..
Painful to see
Trump pounced when Biden stumbled.
“I don’t really know what he said at the end of that sentence, and I don’t think he knows what he said either,” Trump said in response to one of Biden’s answers about the US-Mexico border.
Twelve of the 14 people who participated in a group of undecided voters organized by Republican pollster Frank Luntz said they were more likely to vote for Trump after seeing what they described as a stumbling Biden in the debate.
Karen Kierpaul of Michigan was the only one of the dozen who leaned more toward Biden, but said, “It’s been very painful to watch Biden tonight.”
Later in the debate, Trump’s extreme views and his false claim that he won the 2020 election got the best of him. The former president defended the US Capitol and the rioters on January 6, 2021 and tried to claim that he had not said that there were good people on both sides of the Charlottesville white nationalist rally, two of the lowest moments of his presidency.
Biden did take jabs at Trump, arguing that the former president is a convicted felon who poses a threat to American democracy.
“He has the morals of an alley cat,” Biden said of Trump.
Nevertheless, Biden’s mission before one of his biggest audiences of the year was to reassure the public of his strength and resilience, appease nervous Democrats uncomfortable with the president’s decision to run for re-election, and draw them back into his fold. On almost every front, the president fell short. Biden spent more than a week out of the public eye before the debate, preparing with a small group of longtime aides who have spent the past year angrily batting away questions about the president’s mental acuity and age.
A slow start
More than three-quarters of American adults said they were concerned about Biden’s ageaccording to a Gallup poll released this month.
Publicly, Democratic elected officials seemed to agree with Bidenwith likely future presidential contenders Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and California Gov. Gavin Newsom defending his performance.
“Absolutely, he’s our candidate. Nothing has changed tonight,” Newsom said. “Quite the opposite. He won substantially, that’s what matters at the end of the day.”
Vice President Kamala Harris said on CNN that “it was a slow start but it was a strong finish.”
Biden got animated 50 minutes into the debate, when he criticized Trump’s past statements about seeking retaliation and later when he discussed Trump’s tax cuts and deficit management. Biden also sought to take swipes at Republicans’ stance on Social Security and Medicare, Trump’s record with black voters and Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accords.
“Have you ever heard a president say he’s looking for retribution?” Biden said at one point. “This guy has no sense of American democracy.”
Biden’s shaky speech, however, did him no favors.
Maria Shriver, a descendant of the Democratic Kennedy dynasty and one of First Lady Jill Biden’s guests at this year’s State of the Union, He said “this evening has been heartbreaking in so many ways.”
“There’s panic in the Democratic Party,” he continued in a post on X. “It’s going to be a long night.”
Following the proud tradition of many who have had a bad night in Atlanta, Biden left the debate to visit a nearby Waffle House. There she told reporters that her throat hurt and acknowledged perceptions of her performance.
“It’s hard to debate a liar,” Biden said.
