Joe Biden’s campaign was prepared to come out swinging after tonight’s debate against Donald Trump.
Instead, they were backed into a corner. The campaign’s top surrogates wound up pinned at one end of the debate spin room by a mob of reporters on Thursday night, fielding questions about ousting 81-year-old Mr Biden at the top of the ticket and whether tonight’s performance fuelled more concerns about his fitness for office.
California Governor Gavin Newsom was asked whether the Democratic Party should replace the president as its candidate. The 56-year-old Democrat responded that he was “old fashioned” and cared more about the “substance and facts” discussed rather than a frenzy over Mr Biden’s energy.
It was not the conversation that Democrats hoped to have after the debate. But Mr Biden’s subdued performance during the 90-minute event, during which he sometimes stumbled through answers and spoke with a cold-induced rasp, sent Democrats into an immediate panic as they were pressed on how his campaign would recover.
Voters’ concerns about his age already weighed heavily on the debate, and even Mr Biden’s staunchest supporters acknowledged the performance would likely not help.
David Plouffe, a Democratic strategist who managed Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, called it “a Defcon 1 moment”, referring to the US military phrase for the highest level of a nuclear threat. They seemed about 30 years apart tonight,” he said of the two candidates, who are fewer than four years apart in age. “And I think that’s going to be the thing that voters really wrestle with coming out of this.
Andrew Yang, who challenged Mr Biden in 2020’s Democratic primary and dropped out early in the race, wrote on X that the president should “do the right thing” by “stepping aside and letting the DNC choose another nominee”. He added the hashtag #swapJoeout. It is unlikely that Mr Biden will be replaced as the Democratic Party’s nominee for a number of reasons: he’s the incumbent president, there are only a handful of months left before the election and the chaotic process of choosing another nominee could derail the party’s chances of winning the White House in November.
Yet the debate was “an important reminder of why, after we save democracy and defeat Trump, we’ve got to end the gerontocracy”, Amanda Litman, who works to recruit young Democratic candidates, told the BBC.
“I think his job just became a little bit harder,” David Axelrod, another top Obama lieutenant, said on CNN.
Source: eNCA
In other news – Watch: Kefilwe Mabote renovates her garage to suit her luxurious cars worth millions
Popular Mzansi media personality, and businesswoman, Kefilwe Mabote, the renowned South African digital entrepreneur and fashion icon, is once again in the spotlight.
This time, it’s not just her impeccable style or successful business ventures making headlines, but a personal project that reflects her sophisticated taste and love for luxury. Read more
