President Joe Biden tried to spin his abysmal debate performance last Thursday night by claiming he was essentially sleep-deprived. I’m not kidding. It’s not that he’s over 80 and has a history of mental health episodes that were on full display as former President Donald Trump grounded him into dust before a national audience.
At a fundraiser at McLean, Virginia, the president tried to downplay his potentially election-killing performances, claiming he went through scores of time zones, didn’t listen to staff, and should’ve rested properly (via WaPo):
Biden at McLean fundraiser says he “wasn’t very smart” for “traveling around the world a couple times” pre-debate.
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) July 2, 2024
“I didn’t listen to my staff … and then I almost fell asleep on stage.”
“It’s not an excuse but an explanation,” he said.
“I wasn’t very smart,” President Biden says in McLean. “I decided to travel around the world a couple times, going through I don’t know how many time zones — for real I think it 15 time zones...I didn’t listen to my staff.”
— Matt Viser (@mviser) July 2, 2024
“And then I came back and nearly fell asleep on stage.“
Back in reality here on planet earth, Biden took a full week off and was on vacation the entire week before the debate. https://t.co/MjBwdIqg3U
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) July 2, 2024
Biden, at a fundraiser in McLean, Va., on Tuesday, expressed confidence as he downplayed his debate night struggles.
“I know I didn’t have my best debate night,” he said. But citing the $38 million his campaign has raised since the debate, he added, “So far so good. I’m feeling good about what’s happening.”
He noted that in the days before the debate, he made a trip to France for a D-Day commemoration and Italy for Group of Seven summit.
“I wasn’t very smart,” he said. “I decided to travel around the world a couple times, going through I don’t know how many time zones — for real, I think it was 15 time zones … I didn’t listen to my staff. And then I came back and nearly fell asleep onstage. At any rate, that’s no excuse, but it is an explanation.”
The Democratic Party has been embroiled in a crisis in recent days, after longtime concerns about Biden’s age and stamina were crystallized by the debate performance in which he sometimes struggled to complete sentences. Some Democrats have complained that Biden has not responded with sufficient urgency, saying he needs to hold more public appearances and engage more with party leaders.
If taking two trips abroad wipes you out that much for a debate that was over a week after you returned to America from the second one, you have no business being president of the United States. https://t.co/Q2HpG4hves
— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) July 2, 2024
Just checked, Biden hasn’t been out of the country since Saturday, June 15th — nearly 2 weeks before the debate. He was at his Delaware beach house/Camp David with little to no events from the 19th until he left for the debate on the 27th…. https://t.co/lF07JXQ9CH
— Ben (@BenBartlettt) July 2, 2024
It's unhelpful for the White House to offer excuses that are simply unconvincing. The president was back from Europe 12 days before the debate and spent a week at Camp David preparing for it. I don't know what happened in the debate, but it wasn't jet lag. https://t.co/gvskPAxXlg
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) July 2, 2024
How’s the saying go? That dog won’t hunt. This talking point died within an hour, maybe less. The Biden campaign has disrespected not just the voters but core allies and top donors within the Democratic Party with this ‘Baghdad Bob’ strategy of not wanting to address the president’s failing mental health, which is clear as day. They don’t even want to hear concerns from donors. Instead, they’ve delivered pre-packaged anecdotes about how robust Biden’s health is—it’s not working. Also, Biden had a week of rest at Camp David, where he reportedly had nap time penciled into his debate preparation sessions.
98-year-old dunks on 81-year-old https://t.co/Z1cpY0m6Ne
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) July 2, 2024
Folks, this is a problem: https://t.co/q4Ww2d9a29
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) July 2, 2024
The White House wants to turn the page. It’s impossible since there are lingering questions regarding the president’s mental state. Second, for months, they’ve dismissed and downplayed reports on Biden’s mental woes, even going so far as to claim unedited footage of the president looking lost and wandering off, as he did in Italy at the G7 Summit, as selectively edited. The media was in on it, too. That got torched last week.
Biden is now blaming his disastrous debate performance on a flurry of international travel — even though he spent a full week holed away at Camp David before the debate.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 2, 2024
CNN's MJ Lee: "I find it a little bit puzzling." pic.twitter.com/RXPjPzM2gr
CNN:
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) July 2, 2024
“Top Democratic leaders, former administration officials, current administration officials, major donors are all telling us… publicly, that they think that President Biden needs to step aside for the good of the party, for the good of the country.”pic.twitter.com/k0oFD4J3s4
CNN: The motivation behind that press conference was clear because KJP said it: we want to turn the page. She said it 3 times.
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) July 2, 2024
The page is not turning because there was a lack of answers to the critical question being asked: What happened? pic.twitter.com/odPTT5fuy0
There’s no way to spin it, no way to salvage it. And denying it ever happened, which seems to be what the administration is testing/doing half-heartedly, is beyond incompetent. Talk about the latest entry in the Streisand Effect. My word.
It's a complete and total mystery. https://t.co/3TiA7agbKE
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 2, 2024
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