President Joe Biden’s debate performance has set off alarm bells among top Democrats, leaving some openly wondering whether Biden can remain atop the Democratic ticket.
“He seemed a little disoriented. He got stronger as the debate went on. But by that point, I think the panic had already set in,” said David Axelrod, a Democratic incumbent and senior CNN political commentator.
Axelrod also voiced an ongoing conversation among many Democrats Thursday night: “There will be discussions about whether or not this should continue.”
After a rocky start to the night, campaign and party officials highlighted Biden’s rebuke of former President Donald Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol as a moment when the president found his groove. They also highlighted Biden’s comments on climate change and the exchange over Trump’s offensive terms toward veterans as highlights and argued that the president improved as the night went on. Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged that the president had a “slow start.”
“What we saw tonight is the president making a stark contrast to Donald Trump on all the issues that matter to the American people. Yes, it was a slow start, but it was a strong finish. And what became very clear throughout the evening is that Joe Biden is fighting on behalf of the American people, on substance, on policy, on performance,” Harris said in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
Pressed by Cooper on Biden’s performance, Harris offered a defense of her boss.
“People can argue about style, but ultimately this election and who is going to be president of the United States has to be about substance. And the contrast is clear,” he said, pointing to his broader resume in office.
“It was a slow start. That’s obvious to everyone. I’m not going to argue that point,” Harris said.
Biden has been answering persistent questions about his age since deciding to run for the White House for a third time in 2019. At 81, he is the oldest president in history, and would be 86 at the end of a potential second term. Thursday’s presidential debate on CNN offered the president a key test of his energy and vigor — and Democratic sources who responded to the debate described emotions ranging from concern to outright panic over Biden’s greater vulnerability.
From the start of the debate, the president appeared to struggle with his voice. Biden repeatedly cleared his throat or coughed, a condition his doctor had previously said was caused by acid reflux. He has also been battling a cold in recent days, multiple sources told CNN.
Biden often simply stared and gaped while Trump spoke. At times he struggled to finish his thoughts or punch points, giving ground on issues like abortion, where Democrats have an advantage.
Biden brushed off concerns about his debate performance, telling reporters he thought he did well when he visited customers at a Waffle House after the debate.
“I think we did well,” Biden said.
Biden appeared to struggle with his delivery at several points during the debate. He cleared his throat or coughed multiple times, a condition his doctor has previously said was caused by acid reflux. Austin Steele/CNN
Asked about calls for his withdrawal and whether he had doubts about his debate performance, Biden attacked former President Donald Trump.
“No, it’s hard to argue with a liar,” Biden said, adding that he has a sore throat.
Thursday’s debate took place before both Biden and Trump were formally nominated at their respective party conventions. The Democratic National Convention meets Aug. 19 in Chicago.
No serious Democratic challenger has come forward to run against Biden, and at this point in the campaign, Biden would have to decide to step aside if Democrats were to choose another candidate. If Biden were to drop out, the Democratic nomination would be decided on the floor.
“It’s hard to argue that Biden should be our nominee,” said one operative who has worked on campaigns at all levels for more than a decade.
Democrats even weighed in on who it might be instead: “If I were Gavin (Newsom) or Gretchen (Whitmer), I would be making some calls tonight,” one said.
After the debate, Newsom rejected calls to remove Biden from the Democratic ticket.
“I will never turn my back on President Biden. I will never turn my back on President Biden, I don’t know a Democrat in my party who would,” he said when asked about a murmur of Democrats potentially open to replacing Biden as the nominee of the party.
“Disaster,” one lawmaker told CNN. “Trump seems reasonable even though he lies at 60 miles an hour. Biden is incomprehensible.”
And one Democrat who worked on campaigns across all areas of the ballot simply said, “We’re screwed.”
Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s former White House communications director and 2020 deputy campaign manager and a CNN political commentator, described Thursday’s confrontation as an “atypically bad performance” for Biden.
“The biggest thing he had to prove to the American people was that he had the energy and the stamina. And he didn’t,” Bedingfield said, although he described the performance as a bad night with plenty of campaigning left to do.
Other Democrats expressed reactions to Biden’s delivery style.
“Biden looks and sounds terrible. He’s inconsistent,” said one Democrat who spent time working in the Biden administration.
“Horrible,” said another Democrat.
Democratic lawmakers who watched the debate expressed concern that the president was not more forceful against Trump’s falsehoods, nor clear enough about his vision and what he has done for the country.
A Democratic member of Congress present at a viewing party on Capitol Hill along with other members told CNN that the moment, near the beginning of the debate, when Biden was talking about the national debt and seemed to lose track of the conversation and he paused for several seconds before giving a garbled response it was incredibly harsh.
The room, the member said, was silent in shock, and the lawmaker’s initial reaction was to want to jump off a bridge. When asked to describe the review group’s reviews, the member said he and his colleagues generally felt that Trump looked young and Biden looked old; and that Trump was playing mostly offense, while Biden was playing mostly defense.
“He and Jill need to listen to what people are saying” after the debate, “rather than deny it,” said one senior Democrat.
Democrats are particularly concerned that Trump appeared more measured than usual, while Biden did not “reply” to Trump’s lies.
“I think Joe is doing better than he did in the first 15 minutes, and Trump is just lying during the debate. But I wish Joe was a lot stronger in his response,” one lawmaker said midway through the debate.
“It wasn’t great. But that’s why you do it in June. A thousand things will happen between now and Election Day,” said another senior Democrat.
Democratic Party officials have questioned why Biden has missed other opportunities to criticize Trump’s comments, particularly on the issue of abortion.
Another Democratic lawmaker summed up the evening in a text: “Strong in substance, but heartbreaking in presentation.”
Biden’s advisers had hoped ahead of the debate that many Americans would watch and see more than just the short clips of Biden on social media that paint him as weak and feeble. There is now serious concern that that moment when he seemed to lose his train of thought will now be one of those clips that go viral. [CNN]
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