This is Eve. Last night’s presidential debate will likely go down in history as important as the Kennedy-Nixon debate. But instead of showing how good looks and swagger were prized by the youthful media of the time, as is often the case with older men, it showed how the two men have become more and more like themselves — and not in a good way.
After last night’s performance, there is no way Biden will get a second term in office. Biden himself may be short-sighted, but having at least a semi-functioning incumbent president is important, and voters and donors understand that. Reagan’s Alzheimer’s disease was not obvious when he ran for a second term, and it was well hidden. But a big reason for that was a strong cabinet, which Biden totally lacks. The members of his top team are often, in their own ways, as weak as he is.
None of this will mean that Trump will become president — he might choke to death on a hamburger, or suffer an assassination attempt like George Wallace or worse, or Democrats might do the impossible and field a last-minute candidate like Jay Pritzker or Gretchen Whitmer with success — but there’s a pretty good chance that Trump will return to the White House.
I expect Lambert will report on the panic within the Democratic Party and the suddenly urgent need to remove Biden from office as quickly and gracefully as possible and identify a viable replacement with minimal intraparty fighting.
Some Twitter users, and perhaps other commentators, have speculated that party brass lured Biden into this debate to sink him, but that seems unlikely. Biden seems to have surrounded himself with yes-men and is vigorously attacking anyone who dares to disagree. The following tweets are taken from a June 26 New York Times article: Joe Biden: Old School Politician for a New Era.
They call it the best leadership style in presidential history. pic.twitter.com/axYdf7jCmV
— Ettingermentum 🥥🌴 (@ettingermentum) June 26, 2024
So even if the idea of an early debate wasn’t Biden’s, it’s hard to imagine him being pressured into it.
The end of the debate offered a sad picture of Biden’s weakness.
Zoom video of Jill Biden escorting Joe off the debate stage.
This is madness. pic.twitter.com/RB8Jd6ue7s
— ⚜️🔱☬༒अखण्ड ♥️भारत☬༒ 🔱⚜️ (@choturavan9) June 28, 2024
However, the Financial Times reports: I thought Biden gave a great performance.Is this an effect of the medication?
But Biden appeared undeterred, telling reporters during a late-night stop at a Waffle House restaurant in Atlanta, “I think we did a good job.”
Asked about calls for him to resign and whether he had concerns about his performance in the debate, Biden said he had a “sore throat” but added, “No. It’s hard to debate a liar.”
In today’s link, Lambert highlighted an article from Axios. Democrats may want to replace Biden, but that’s up to him to decide.Main sections:
The Big PictureBiden has already Democratic National Convention That’s because Biden won his state’s primary election, and unless Biden withdraws early, those delegates must vote for him on the first ballot.
- Democrats plan to hold a formal nominating process in the weeks before their Aug. 9 convention, so new candidates would likely have to emerge before that online roll call.
- To win the Democratic nomination on the first ballot, one needs to win a simple majority of an estimated 3,933 delegates — a threshold Biden is well above.
Reality check: It is highly unlikely that Biden would agree to step down as the Democratic nominee.
As Bette Davis warned, “Fasten your seat belts; tonight is going to be a rough night.”
Now, for the main event.
Updated 10:30am EDT. Right around the time this post started, The Hill White House, Biden campaign denounce post-debate talk of transitionFrom the story:
President Biden’s campaign staff and key surrogates rushed Friday to deny rumors that he might withdraw from the race following his disastrous debate defeat against former President Trump.
While campaign officials have denied rumors that Biden is dropping out, Democratic officials seen as potential successors to Biden have moved to dispel any talk of a presidential transition.
And Russian missiles are running out, that’s right!
Biden must survive the second debate, and perhaps his team still believes we can make life better through chemical reactions.
Article by Mary Kate Carey, Adjunct Professor of Political Science and Director of Think Again, University of Virginia, and Karin Busby Anderson, Professor of Communication, Colorado State University. conversation
With 4 months left Election Day, The fastest general election debate in history Two presidents, one incumbent and one former, appeared on the floor and many scathing personal attacks were made. Joe Biden’s unanimously poor performance came as a surprise. Democrats panickedDonald Trump was more forceful. If it’s not true – performance.
The Conversation asked two scholars, Mary Kate Carey and Karin Busby Anderson, to watch the debate and analyze the passages and moments that stood out to them. Anderson is a communications scholar. She specializes in gender, presidential, and political pop culture. Cary teaches political speechwriting He worked as a White House speechwriter for President George H. W. Bush, writing over 100 speeches.
Karin Busby Anderson, Department of Communication, Colorado State University
One of the first definitions of a good speech I learned as a college debater and student of rhetoric was: Quintilian, ancient Roman scholar and teacher of rhetorichis Volume 12, “Education in Rhetoric”Quintilian said that the ideal orator was a good man who spoke well, and he was particularly concerned about the danger to society of skilled orators who lacked character.
A presidential debate should showcase the ideal speaker – someone who is both a great speaker and a great person. In the June 27 debate, voters were presented with a two-choice scenario.
Former President Donald Trump was an aggressive, confident and disciplined man, but his comments A constant stream of lies, half-truths and misinformationPresident Joe Biden has focused on Trump’s criminal and political record, but he has failed as a speaker and shown none of the charisma and leadership he displayed during the presidential campaign. Recent State of the Union Addresses Exactly four months ago.
The contrast was made clear early in the debate when CNN’s Dana Bash asked Trump if he would block access to abortion pills. Trump responded that he would not. He then went on to discuss whether Roe v. Wade could be overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022, Eliminated federal protections for abortion rights“Everyone, without exception, wanted it back to the United States.”
Trump then went on the attack, accusing Democrats of “taking away the lives of children who are eight months old, nine months old and even just after birth.”
Biden’s response was initially clear and firm: “What you did was terrible,” he said. Then, refuting the absurd claim that “everyone” wanted Roe v. Wade overturned, he said, “The idea that states can do this is like saying we’re giving civil rights back to the states and letting each state have different rules.”
But the rest of Biden’s response was confusing.A puzzling change of directionBiden added a “” to the story of a woman killed by an illegal immigrant and stated three times that he supports people’s right to choose. The decision should be left to the doctorNot a pregnant person,
Trump repeated the blatant lie in even stronger terms at the end of the segment: “So what I’m saying is that he can take the life of a nine-month-old baby, because in Democrat-run states, they take babies right after they’re born.” Associated Press Fact Check The rationale for this claim is simple: “Infanticide is a crime in every state, and no state has enacted laws permitting the killing of babies after birth.”
After nearly a decade of being subjected to Trump’s habitual misinformation, the lie that states are killing babies might not seem all that shocking in a presidential debate, and it certainly would have been an easy argument for Biden to refute.
But Quintilian would remind us that if the people must choose between a good man and a man who speaks well, then a man who speaks well but has no sincerity is dangerous.
The consequences for the Republic could be disastrous.
Mary Kate Carey, Political Science Department, University of Virginia
I believe America is witnessing history being made.
Within 10 minutes, President Joe Biden has a very hoarse voiceWhen asked about the budget deficit, he lost his train of thought and ended his answer by muttering something along the lines of “defeating Medicare.” It was awful.
Biden I was confused and didn’t understand what was going on.Though I took notes of key exchanges, Biden’s embarrassing anecdotes, incomplete sentences and incoherent turns of phrase are too numerous to mention. When asked why an octogenarian should be president, Biden’s answer somehow veered off into a discussion of computer chips being made in South Korea.
Former President Donald Trump He himself made mistakes.But overall he was relatively sharp and restrained when provoked. He scored some points on the issues and their The first debate four years agoI think Trump did better than many people expected.
Our challenge tonight is to find a moment to respond and then put it in context. I’ve been to many presidential debates, I’ve watched many presidential debates on television, and I’ve never seen anything like this.
Is there any way Democrats can make a convincing case for keeping Biden as their nominee?
Bottom line: Moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash did a great job of asking substantive questions and controlling the debate, Trump missed a chance to win big but survived, and Biden will likely be a disaster for the Democratic Party.
