President Joe Biden’s allies scrambled on Friday to contain the fallout from his faltering performance at the first 2024 U.S. presidential debate after he struggled to stem a barrage of attacks and false claims from his Republican rival Donald Trump.
The Biden campaign had hoped that a strong debate would quell concerns among voters that the 81-year-old Democratic incumbent is too old to serve a second four-year term.
Instead, a hoarse-sounding Biden stumbled over his words at times, especially in the early stages of the debate.
One Biden donor, who asked for anonymity to speak freely about the president, called his performance “disqualifying” and predicted that some Democrats would revisit calls for Biden to step aside in favor of another candidate ahead of the party’s national convention in August.
Panicking Democrats exchanged messages wondering whether Biden would consider stepping down.
One senior Democratic strategist said that it would be unprecedented for an incumbent to pull out this late in the election cycle, but that there would be calls for Biden to do just that.
Interviews with undecided voters confirmed that it was a bad night for Biden. They described his showing as feeble, embarrassing and difficult to watch.
Two White House officials said mid-debate that Biden had a cold, but that only further reflected his aides’ anxiety about his performance.
Source: Reuters