We’ll hear about Joe Biden’s abysmal debate performance on Thursday night for days. The president and his crew touted this showdown. They gave off impressions that they were ready; Joe was prepared. And when the bell rang, former President Donald Trump delivered a Mike Tyson-style knockout. Biden could not throw a punch and seemed paralyzed when defending his record. He looked and sounded his age, something the Biden camp has been trying to neutralize. An appalling allocation of resources was devoted to spinning this point when the American public—86 percent of whom—agreed that Joe Biden was too old to run again for president.
Don’t believe your lying eyes blew up in the Democrats’ faces, and they’re understandably in full meltdown mode. It’s also entirely their fault. Axios reporter Alex Thompson did a victory lap of sorts on Thursday night. He wasn’t shocked at what happened to the president in his first bout against Trump. He noted that the White House response every time Joe had a senior moment was to deflect, gaslight, and not tell the truth.
Strong words from @AlexThomp: "As someone that's reported on Biden's age quite a few times, I can tell you that the WH's response every single time it has come up, for three and a half years, has been to deflect, to gaslight, to not tell the truth..." pic.twitter.com/1xfRcMdMBN
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 28, 2024
Thompson later stated the obvious: Biden has limitations at age 81. It’s why there haven’t been as many press conferences or interviews. If you want to find the point where this crisis reached critical mass, it was when Biden declined to give an interview on Super Bowl weekend, where he could have defended his record in front of one of the largest, if not the biggest, television audiences for the year.
He later added that we saw what the Democrats have been trying to obscure for years.
Democrats have been discussing replacing Biden, but we’re far past that point. The delegates are pledged, and all the money Biden raised can only be transferred to Kamala Harris should he drop out. Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, and other names floated as potential new candidates would be in a state of political poverty as we approach the critical months of this election. And we didn’t even discuss the wrath from Kamala Harris’ camp over being passed over. It would be a beautiful mess, and Trump would benefit from it again.
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