Democrats panic as Biden stumbles in bad-tempered debate with Trump

Prominent Democrats have called on Joe Biden to end his re-election bid after his faltering performance in the presidential debate with Donald Trump rekindled concerns about the 81-year-old president’s age and fitness for office.

Speaking in a hoarse voice Thursday night, Biden repeatedly stumbled over his words and gave rambling answers or appeared to lose his train of thought, while Trump accused him of being the worst president in the history of the United States.

The debate was a high-stakes opportunity for Biden to assuage widespread concerns about his age in front of a television audience of tens of millions of American voters. But one Democratic lawmaker said Biden’s performance sparked widespread panic at the Capitol.

“Tonight, many House Democrats, representing a broad spectrum of the Democratic caucus, were texting privately that Biden should announce that he has decided not to run for re-election. We need a new nominee,” the lawmaker said.

“Biden needs to show patriotism and step aside. We need an open convention that would excite the American people like we’ve never seen before.”

A Democratic Party member said after the debate that there was a “higher level of panic than I saw or thought possible.”

“He confirmed our worst fears,” said another.

David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to former President Barack Obama, told CNN that Biden had scored points on some policy issues, but added: “There will be discussions about whether he should continue.”

Former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe described it as a “DEFCON 1 moment,” referring to the highest alert level for the U.S. armed forces.

“It really pains me to say that,” he told MSNBC. “(Biden and Trump) are three years apart. They seemed about 30 years apart tonight. That’s the question that voters are really going to struggle with.”

But Biden appeared undeterred, telling reporters during a late-night stop at a Waffle House restaurant in Atlanta: “I think we did well.”

Asked about calls for his withdrawal and concerns about his performance in the debate, Biden, who said he had a “sore throat,” replied: “No. It’s hard to debate a liar.”

The Biden team had pushed for an unprecedented early presidential debate in June, more than four months before the November election, in an effort to reinvigorate the president’s fractious campaign and remind voters why they chose him over Trump in 2020.

But the calculation backfired, as Biden did little to reassure the overwhelming majority of voters who, according to polls, fear he is too old to last another four years in the White House.

In a rambling response at the start of the debate, Biden seemed to lose track of what he was saying: “Ensuring that we continue to…strengthen our health care system, ensuring that we are able to make every person eligible for what I was able to do with Covid, excuse me, dealing with everything we have to do… look, if we finally beat Medicare. »

The Biden campaign later announced that Thursday was its biggest day in terms of core, or small, donations since the president launched his re-election campaign.

But big Democratic donors on Wall Street sounded the alarm after the debate.

“The last time I saw him, he wasn’t great but definitely more coherent than in tonight’s debate,” said one negotiator. “I’m not sure there’s an alternative at the moment, but if there was ever a chance to change things, it’s now.”

In a heated exchange over abortion rights, which has proven to be a winning electoral issue for Democrats over the past two years, Biden instead turned to illegal immigration, an electoral weakness for his party.

Kyle Kondik, a nonpartisan analyst at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said: “If people were concerned about Biden’s age, I don’t think he’s done anything to alleviate those concerns.”

“I imagine there’s going to be a lot of bedwetting (among Democrats) after this debate,” Kondik added.

Still, many prominent Democrats publicly defended the president after Thursday’s debate. Gavin Newsom, the California governor widely seen as a future presidential contender, told MSNBC that questions about whether Biden should remain as candidate were “pointless” and “pointless.”

“We must support this president. We don’t turn our backs because of a performance. What kind of party does this? »

Trump, 78, is not much younger than Biden, but he appeared at ease Thursday night as he lashed out at the president and, in many cases, repeated the outlandish false claims that have become a hallmark of his own bid for four more years in the White House.

“He is not cut out to be president. You know it and I know it,” Trump said at one point, referring to Biden.

The current president’s responses grew more forceful as the 90-minute debate wore on. Asked by CNN moderator Dana Bash whether he was too old to be president, Biden responded: “This guy is three years younger and much less competent… just look at his record. Look at what I’ve done. Look at how I’ve managed to turn around the horrible situation he left me.”

In tense exchanges, Biden tried to portray Trump as unfit for office, citing his criminal convictions and myriad legal troubles. “The only person on this stage who is a convicted felon is the man I’m looking at right now,” he said.

Trump continues to lead Biden in most national and swing state polls, despite being convicted of 34 criminal charges by a New York jury last month. The former president faces three additional criminal trials, including two cases related to his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

On Thursday night, Donald Trump repeatedly dodged questions from moderators about whether he accepted the results of this year’s election. Asked a third time, the former president responded: “If it’s a fair, legal, good election, absolutely.”

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