Thursday was not a good night for Joe Biden. The 81-year-old president's debate performance was immediately deemed a disaster by many Democrats, sparking talk about a crisis within the party and potential efforts to get him to stand down. Aides and supporters noted he warmed up as the evening went on, declaring Trump a man with the morals of an "alley cat," for example. And Trump may have alienated undecided voters with his multiple outright falsehoods, suggesting Democrats supported infanticide, for example, and that he won the 2020 election.
Still, the negative-for-Biden takeaways were numerous: Trump appeared energetic and unusually, if only relatively, disciplined; Biden was hoarse from what White House officials described as a cold and had both a slow start and a shaky closing statement. The two men pointed fingers at each other on inflation, the economy and COVID. Analysts said the debate increased the odds that Trump will win the Nov. 5 election.
The Trump team declared victory, while surrogates for Biden, including Vice President Kamala Harris, lauded the president's record while conceding in interviews that his debate performance was lacking.
The looming question is what this means for Biden going forward. I covered President Barack Obama's unsuccessful first debate against challenger Mitt Romney in 2012; Democrats panicked after that one, too, and Obama came back swinging at the next one and ended up winning the election. So. Things can turn around. No one was talking seriously then about replacing Obama on the ticket, however. I asked a DNC official after the debate if there would be a concerted effort to get Biden to stand down. The response? "We don't know yet."
Megyn Kelly -> Pete Hegseth responds to 2017 rape accusation. 🔥 vol. 3, issue 13 | December 6, 2024 Quick Hits All the news you need in...
No comments: