Source: Andrew Harnik / Getty
CNN’s 2024 Presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump had a lot of words trending last night. If you were on Twitter (we hate calling it “X”, Elon can pound sand), you undoubtedly saw “sick”, “Black job”, and “WTF CNN” numerous times as you scrolled the timeline. One phrase that would have been trending if not for the cussin’ would be “s**t show” because that’s exactly what an estimated 60 million Americans watched last night.
From the very beginning, President Biden was on the ropes. Before the debate, his surrogates waxed poetic about how hard they prepared for this battle of…octagenarian intellects. Hell, the Biden team ASKED for this 1 v 1, and much like Drake v Kendrick Lamar, their zeal appears misguided in hindsight. President Biden didn’t do himself, the democratic party, nor his anxious supporters any favors with his speaking voice. According to The Wall Street Journal, a campaign source revealed that he has been suffering from a cold. While catching a bug is not a disqualifying feature that would prevent one from doing the job, it certainly inflamed the narrative that Biden is old and weak.
Another criticism of the POTUS’ performance was that he did little to no on-the-spot fact-checking of the multitude of lies and mischaracterizations that Donald Trump told from his podium. That same criticism was levied against CNN as their “debate” format did not allow the moderators to interrupt either candidate and recalibrate the discourse to it’s factual center. Hence the “WTF CNN”
One of the most jarring moments of the night came when President Biden seemed to lose complete track of his thoughts. It was so bad that even Trump called it out.
It was SO bad that even the Biden surrogates like Gavin Newsom tried to clean up aisle 6 the best they could.
Even Vice President Kamala Harris had to pop out and show voters that she still supports President Biden despite admitting that he had a “slow start.”
Most recently, #44 entered the chat to offer his former Vice President assistance as best he could…
“Bad debate nights happen,” wrote President Barack Obama. “Trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself. Between someone who tells the truth; who knows right from wrong and will give it to the American people straight — and someone who lies through his teeth for his own benefit. Last night didn’t change that, and it’s why so much is at stake in November. http://joebiden.com
and President Biden told supporters at a campaign rally to focus on his truth-telling despite last night’s events.
“I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious,” he told a crowd in Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday. “I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know: I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. And I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done. And I know like millions of Americans know, when you get knocked down you get back up.”
“I would not be running again if I did not believe with all my heart and soul that I can do this job,” he added.
What say you? What did you think about President Biden’s performance?
