Sure, it might sound like hyperbole, but I can’t think of a more devastating presidential debate performance than the one Joe Biden had in his first meeting with Donald Trump. Indeed, even with abnormally low expectations, Biden tripped over them as if they were sandbags. After watching post-debate reaction, it’s safe to say no modern presidential debate has ever rattled a political party quite like this one.
The scratchy and frail voice. The speedy mumbling — it was like watching a TV at 2x speed. The overall incoherence. The confused and angry stares. The jumbling of thoughts —“I was recently in, in, in, um, France for D-Day, and I spoke to — all about those heroes that died …” and so on — was relentless. It was difficult to watch.
Recall, as well, that Biden’s team, down in the polls, pushed for this debate. Remember that video the president cut mocking and challenging Trump to face him? The Biden team reportedly fought for the strict rules implemented by CNN. Then the president took an entire week off from his job just to prepare for the contest. Letting him debate was political malpractice. Letting him run for the presidency is a dereliction of basic decency.
You remember all that solemn talk about 25th Amendment during Trump’s presidency? Where are these patriots now?
Incidentally, CNN’s debate format was — whether the former president liked it or not — good for Trump. It reined in many of his worst inclinations, while leaving Biden to wander off into verbal dead ends. And though CNN’s Jake Tapper tried to save Biden once or twice, it’s fair to say, on balance, the questions weren’t terrible.
Many left-wing talking heads, who’ve apparently been living in a hermetically sealed partisan bubble, claim to be shocked by Biden’s performance. Maybe had deluded themselves, as Biden had risen to big occasions in the past. None of it, though, was surprising.
In 2020, the media insulated Biden and let him run his campaign from the comfort of his home. The press has been covering up his increasingly fragile mental and physical state since then. And in the past year, Biden’s acuity has taken a nose-dive, which was evident to anyone who witnessed the octogenarian president awkwardly freezing up on stage or wandering off into fields or shaking hands with ghosts. Even a week ago, every media outlet was still gaslighting the country about Biden’s struggles. This time, the president couldn’t hide.
Some in the left-wing Twittersphere ludicrously blamed CNN for failing to fact-check Trump — as if the Republican was the only one on that stage lying. Even when coherent, Biden was as mendacious as ever. He lied about his son Beau. He lied about Trump calling neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville “very fine people.” He lied about withholding weapons from Israel. He lied about his border policies. He lied when he claimed that no American soldiers had died under his watch — ignoring the 13 servicemen who were murdered during his administration’s incompetent Afghanistan withdrawal. And that was just the start.
It’s worth noting that even without Biden’s competency issues, Trump was already leading in most polls and on most issues. Now, I’m generally skeptical that presidential debates move enough votes to make much of a difference. This may be an outlier. Trump may still lose, but no sentient voter still believes Biden is OK. And that’s not only a problem for Democrats, it’s problem for the country.
