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Thoughts on a Very Scary Debate

The President's performance in the most critical moment raised real questions about whether he can beat Trump

Dan Pfeiffer

Jun 28

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I offer these thoughts on very little sleep; and I am rattled by what I just witnessed. In the coming days, I will have more to say about what comes next for the President, the party, and the campaign. I will have ideas on how the Biden Campaign can respond to this performance. This is a hugely consequential moment. Within hours of the debate ending, reports surfaced that some in the party are hoping Biden will drop out. I have no idea if anything will happen. This is a very fluid situation. The next 48 hours will be critical, but here are my raw and unfiltered thoughts on the debate.

Was Biden That Bad?

Not sure what else to say. Joe Biden was bad.

The President wanted this debate on this timeline. It was a high risk move. Given the dynamics of the race, I thought it was the right risk to take. But Biden didn’t deliver. He looked and sounded old. He mixed up his words and misstated his own policies. The split screen was very hard for Biden, who often seemed like he was staring off into space as opposed to looking at the camera.

President Biden could not clearly defend his record or prosecute the very obvious case against Trump. Yes, Trump lied incessantly with little to no pushback. Debating a shameless liar is a difficult feat, but Biden didn’t meet the very low expectations set by Trump and the Right Wing media.

Biden got better towards the end, but the first 20 minutes of the debate are exponentially more important than the next 70.

Joe Biden’s main task was to convince the 70% of voters who think he is too old to be President. And he missed his biggest and best opportunity to assuage those concerns. In fact, he almost certainly exacerbated them. Maybe this performance was an anomaly. He had a cold. Maybe he simply choked at a big moment or couldn't figure out how to deal with Trump’s lie. We have seen him be much better, but this was the most important moment in the entire campaign and he failed to deliver. The reasons why don’t really matter.

I have no doubt about Joe Biden’s ability to be President, but last night raised serious questions about his ability to be a candidate who can make a clear and compelling case against the most flawed politician in history.

Was Trump Actually Good?

Absolutely not.

Trump was incoherent. He defended unpopular policies. He lied incessantly and obviously and refused to answer basic questions. Trump’s antics and rhetoric was a huge turn off for persuadable voters. ...