President Joe Biden hoped to generate new momentum for his re-election bid by agreeing to debate two months before being formally nominated. Instead, his halting and disjointed performance on Thursday sparked a wave of panic among Democrats and reopened the discussion about whether he should be the nominee.
Over the course of 90 minutes, a hoarse-voiced Biden struggled to deliver his lines and counter a sharp but deeply dishonest former President Donald Trump, raising questions about the sitting president’s ability to run a vigorous and competitive campaign. four months before the election. Instead of allaying concerns about his age, Biden, 81, made it the central issue.
Democrats who have defended the president for months against skeptics, including members of his own administration, exchanged frantic phone calls and text messages within minutes of the debate starting, when it became clear that Biden was not at his best. Some took to social media to express their shock at their problems, while others privately discussed among themselves what it would mean for the party and whether it was too late to persuade the president to step aside in favor of a more senior candidate. young.
“Biden is about to face increased calls for him to step aside,” said a veteran Democratic strategist who has staunchly endorsed Biden publicly. “Joe had a deep affection among Democrats. It’s over.”
“Parties exist to win,” continued this Democrat. “The man who was on stage with Trump cannot win. Fear of Trump stifled criticism of Biden. Now that same fear is going to fuel calls for him to resign.”
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By agreeing to a general election debate earlier than at any other point in presidential history, Biden hoped to reframe the contest as one between himself and a criminal who had tried to rig an election and would destroy American democracy if he were ever given the opportunity to serve as president. Biden, by contrast, left CNN’s studio in Atlanta facing a referendum on himself and his abilities that will reverberate for days, if not longer.
Trump, 78, appeared to get through the debate easily, even as he told lie after lie without being effectively challenged. He appeared confident but avoided the overbearing behavior that damaged him during his first debate with Biden in 2020, apparently content to let his opponent wallow in his own difficulties.
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“Guys, Democrats should nominate someone else before it’s too late,” Andrew Yang, who ran against Biden for the nomination in 2020, wrote on social media before the debate ended.
Van Jones, a former Obama White House adviser and one of the biggest progressive voices in the Democratic Party, warned that there will be a reinvigorated discussion of Yang’s warning. “There are a lot of people who are going to want Biden to consider taking a different path,” he said on CNN after the debate.
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Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump White House adviser who later fell out with him, said, “It’s worse than a lot of people imagined.”
Biden’s closest advisers have always rejected any discussion of the need for him to step aside, dismissing the possibility as unwarranted nervousness, even as the president trails Trump in the states he needs to win. Biden’s entourage and his allies insist on challenging the polls and warn that predictions of Democratic defeats in the most recent elections were wrong.
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No sitting president has renounced the nomination this late in the campaign, and there is little consensus on what would happen if Biden stepped aside now. Last night, Democrats were imagining scenarios that would require party doyens, like Sen. Charles Schumer or Rep. Nancy Pelosi, to intervene to convince the president.
Other Democratic leaders said they feared it was too late for that and that Biden would not listen to anyone today except his wife, Jill, who fervently supports his candidacy. The president’s team ended the night knowing that the task that awaits them in the coming days will be to silence calls for his resignation and align the party behind its besieged leader.
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