Last night's Trump-Biden debate has turned into a disaster for the Democrats.
About two-thirds in Biden is clearly deteriorating. I guess his meds were losing their power. His speech got sloppy. His reactions were mechanical and unemotional.
Every news outlet seems to have come up with these observations:
President Biden hoped to build fresh momentum for his re-election bid by agreeing to debate nearly two months before he is to be formally nominated. Instead, his halting and disjointed performance on Thursday night prompted a wave of panic among Democrats and reopened discussion of whether he should be the nominee at all.
Over the course of 90 minutes, a raspy-voiced Mr. Biden struggled to deliver his lines and counter a sharp though deeply dishonest former President Donald J. Trump, raising doubts about the incumbent president’s ability to wage a vigorous and competitive campaign four months before the election. Rather than dispel concerns about his age, Mr. Biden, 81, made it the central issue.
Such pieces come to the same conclusions:
President Joe Biden’s debate performance has set off alarm bells among top Democrats, leaving some to openly question whether Biden can stay atop of the Democratic ticket.
“He seemed a little disoriented. He did get stronger as the debate went on. But by that time, I think the panic had set in,” longtime Democratic operative and CNN senior political commentator David Axelrod said.
Axelrod also gave voice to a conversation happening among many Democrats on Thursday night: “There are going to be discussions about whether he should continue.”
Scanning the rather uniform news I suspect that the common negative critic of Biden's performance from the Democrats was preconceived.
Rod D. Martin @RodDMartin – 3:29 UTC · Jun 28, 2024
Thing we know:
- The insiders knew Biden was like this.
- They didn’t have to agree to any debate at all. They certainly didn’t have to propose and show up for the earliest debate in history.
- So they humiliated Biden deliberately, but only after the primary voters get no say, yet early enough pre-Convention for the insiders to pick his successor before the fall campaign.
This has been the plan for a long, long time.
Indeed. Plans to replace Biden before the convention have been discussed publicly for several months now.
There are however hurdles that will be hard to take:
Dan Rivers @danriversitv – 5:20 UTC · Jun 28, 2024
That was a catastrophe for the Democratic Party. Biden’s halting, rambling mumble fest will totally eclipse Trump’s outrageous lies and rewriting of history. Now the panic and internal arguments will erupt inside the Democratic Party. But the only one who Biden will listen to is the First Lady. And there’s no sign she’ll tell him to stand aside for a successor.
Which other candidate have the Democrats in mind when they plan to replace Joe Biden?
