Panic among US Democrats
Cranky Biden dismantles himself in TV duel against Trump
By Roland Peters, New York
28.06.2024, 07:03 a.m.
It is a memorable television debate that will have consequences. With a frightening performance against challenger Trump, US President Biden confirms many fears about his health. What now?
Painful. That’s how you can sum up the first televised debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden in the presidential election campaign. Painful for viewers because challenger Trump fired one true salvo of lies after another into millions of households to convince them to vote for him. But it was much, much more painful to watch President Biden confirm almost all of the fears Americans had about his health with a terrifying performance.
The 81-year-old sounded hoarse during the 90 minutes in the CNN studio in Atlanta and spoke unusually quietly. He looked down, especially at the beginning, when his opponent spoke and seemed absent. He lost the thread, gave Trump a substantive opportunity and hardly converted any of the ones the Republican offered him. On this evening, the first of two planned television debates, Biden was a shadow of his past days. Erratic, rickety and far from the strong leader that Americans would like to elect in November.
Many other Democrats would have debated Trump that evening. Not Biden. Trump, who is three years younger, only had to run through his usual routine while the president struggled with himself. Analysts were visibly shocked by the performance afterwards. According to CNN, panic broke out among high-ranking Democrats and others. “We have a problem,” a source from Biden’s party was quoted as saying. “We’re screwed,” another. High-ranking Democrats in key states for the election believe that it is impossible to campaign with Biden in this state.
“It will explode”
Even before the televised debate, around 80 percent of Americans thought Biden was too old to lead the country for another four years. According to US media, leading Democrats are now talking about how Biden can be persuaded to give way to a younger candidate. “This man cannot win,” a Democratic election strategist is quoted as saying by the New York Times. Biden is now facing a crescendo of calls for his resignation: “Joe had a deep affection among the Democrats. That has dried up.”
The most logical option would be Vice President Kamala Harris, but she is even more unpopular than Biden. His approval rating is only 40 percent; no one has ever won an election with that. Both major parties will officially nominate their candidates, the Republicans in July, the Democrats a month later. After this appearance, content has become secondary. From now on, the election campaign will mainly revolve around Biden’s age. “Tomorrow it will explode,” said a Democratic representative in the House of Representatives about the situation in his party.
Four years ago, Biden had looked better than Trump mainly because he outplayed him, drew clear lines, addressed the audience directly and thus presented himself as more presidential than his opponent; more experienced, more capable, more reasonable. This time, Biden stooped to his opponent’s level, sometimes even lower. He called Trump a moron, a liar and a loser. When Trump spoke about his golf skills in order to declare himself fit for four years in the White House, Biden started a back and forth about his handicap and tee shot that even Trump found too much. “Let’s not act like children,” he ended the argument almost graciously.
Old men argue about nonsense
At times, Biden tried to point to his political successes during his first term, but he was far from convincing. Trump was more alert overall, more coherent, calm and self-confident despite his constant lies and diversionary tactics. At one point, the otherwise blustery Republican even politely asked the moderator if he could answer. He made a few jabs at Biden’s age, but they hit home. “I don’t know what he said at the end of his sentence, I don’t think he knows either,” he said after Biden lost the thread.
As the debate progressed, things got a little better for Biden, but he remained alarmingly weak. On the subject of abortion rights, for example, which is by far the most important issue for the Democrats and many other voters, he was unable to argue clearly. He also did not seem to be up to par on other issues because he expressed himself unclearly. At the same time, Trump ignored almost all critical questions about social policy and managed to lure Biden into a bitter argument between old men about nonsense: for minutes, the only issue was who had been “the best” or “the worst” head of state.
Voters probably don’t care. They have seen a TV debate that will confirm their opinion: a majority of them do not want to see either Trump or Biden in the White House. The Republicans are unlikely to nominate anyone other than their designated candidate and the Democrats have long suppressed any public discussion about Biden’s age. But now they will have to think carefully about what conclusions they will draw from the president’s disastrous performance.