Remember, Biden took a week off to prepare. This is a guy who first took office as a Senator in 1973, then served 8 years as Obama’s VP, and has been president since 2021. You’d think he would have had this stuff down
Debate-watchers in the Biden and Trump camps seem to agree on something. Biden had a bad night
“Oh, Joe.”
That gasp, from patrons at a Chicago bar when President Joe Biden first stumbled verbally in his debate with Donald Trump, spoke for a lot of Americans on Thursday night.
In watch parties, bars, a bowling alley and other venues where people across the country gathered to tune in, Trump supporters, happily, and Biden supporters, in their angst if not dread, seemed to largely agree they had witnessed a lopsided showdown.
By the end of the 90-plus minutes, some Democrats were saying what partisans say to put the best face on things: It’s still early. One debate doesn’t necessarily sway the nation. Judge him by what he’s done and wants to do, not by how he says things.
But many were let down.
Biden “just didn’t have the spark that we needed tonight,” Rosemarie DeAngelus, a Democrat from South Portland, Maine, said from her watch party at Broadway Bowl. Trump, she said, showed “more spunk or more vigor” even if, in her view, he was telling a pack of lies.
Trump was his normal Trump self while Biden mostly looked lost. In honesty, I only watched about 3 minutes, and for most of that time he appeared as if he had no idea where he was, with a few maniacal smiles here and there. It’s never good in a debate to have negative looks. Remember Gore stalking around the debate area, making all sorts of noises? At one point Bush looked up like “why are you near me?” It was a bad look. This was disastrous.
Of course, Joe’s handlers tried to say that he had a cold. Nixon had the flu. Those who watched on TV said he lost to Kennedy. Those who listened on radio said Nixon one. Joe’s answers were so bad that no one listening would make any mistake that Biden lost and sounded lost.
Among them, Vance Gonzales, 40, a moderate Democrat, said the debate convinced him that “we need another Democratic candidate, to be honest, because this is not competitive.” He said of Biden: “He’s not on point with anything. I think it’s disappointing.”
As you peruse the news outlets you see a lot of that. Biden’s lost, and need to be replaced. At one point we got this
TRUMP: "I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don't think he knows what he said either." pic.twitter.com/YRQaxtSgIB
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) June 28, 2024
(AL.com) In one of the debate’s early moments, Biden stumbled toward the end of a response on why voters should trust him to solve the country’s immigration crisis:
“I’ve changed [immigration law] in a way that now you’re in a situation where they’re 40% fewer people coming across the border illegally, especially when [Trump] left office. And I’m going to continue to move until we get the total ban on the total initiative relative to what we can do more border patrol and more asylum officers,” Biden said.
In response, Trump said: “I don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either.”
And Joe’s look while Trump was responding is the way he looked most of the night: wondering where he is.
But, how many minds will it change? Trump should be out there saying “OK, you don’t personally like me. That’s OK. But, do you think I will do a better job? That’s the crux of the matter, folks, who will do better.”
Oh man, this is so brutal for Joe Biden.
Even the CNN poll says he lost the Debate.#CNNDebates #DebateNight pic.twitter.com/Ib8HRWGQIx
— KaizerRev (@Kaizerrev) June 28, 2024
Read: Most Agree That Biden Had A Very, Very, Bad Night At The Debates »