Biden's debate is a "DEFCON 1" moment for Democrats
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Guests at the Old Town Pour House in Chicago watch Thursday's debate. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
ATLANTA — Voters, Democrats very much included, have consistently worried that 81-year-old Joe Biden is too old for the job. Last night, Biden showed why.
Why it matters: Just minutes into Thursday night's presidential debate, panic consumed the Democratic Party as it became clear that its presumptive nominee was off his game — by a lot.
- With breathtaking speed, private discussions about Biden's expected performance against Donald Trump went from optimism to shock and even questions about whether Biden could continue his campaign.
Democrats were aghast.
- A "disaster," one former Biden administration official called it.
- "It's sad but it also makes me so mad to think of all the smart people lying and trying to make this work," a former Biden White House official said.
- A "catastrophe," an influential Democratic campaign veteran told Axios.
- "DEFCON 1 moment" David Plouffe, former President Obama's campaign manager, said on MSNBC. "The "concern level is quite high."
Driving the news: From the start of the debate, Biden was slow, hoarse and seemingly unable to counter many of former President Trump's falsehoods and misrepresentations.
- Afterward, Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged to CNN, "Yes, there was a slow start," but argued that Biden finished strong.
- Democrats' worst fears about Biden's age — the subject of repeated attacks by Trump and other Republicans — appeared to be playing out on the biggest night of the campaign so far.
The intrigue: The finger-pointing began quickly among some White House officials over how Biden's inner circle had conducted the president's debate prep.
- "He was over-prepared and relying on minutiae when all that mattered was vigor and energy," one person in Biden's orbit told Axios. "They prepared him for the wrong debate. He was over-prepared when what he needed was rest. It's confounding."
- A former White House official argued that people needed to be fired, but lamented that probably wouldn't happen because Biden rarely dismisses people.
- "It was a really disappointing debate performance from Joe Biden," Biden's former White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said on CNN.
Between the lines: The debate was Biden's idea.
- He wanted to debate, his team proposed the timing of it, and set the ground rules.
- Those close to Biden were split on whether they should accept Trump's challenge to debate "anytime, anywhere, anyplace," but Biden — who at times doesn't realize how old he can come across — wanted to face-off against Trump.
- Soon after Biden went public with that desire in an interview with Howard Stern, Biden's team nailed down the logistics — and they bet that they would see their polling numbers improve when voters realized Trump could be president again.
Zoom in: The only question late Thursday was whether the deep concerns about Biden's candidacy will penetrate the president's inner circle — or would soon.
- The feeling was that there was just one person who could end Biden's campaign — Joe Biden.
- But even if he decided to do so — and there's no sign of that — the process to pick a replacement would be messy and divisive.
- The alternative also is terrifying for many Democrats. For more than 90 minutes, they watched former President Trump deflect and dissemble — and suggest that if he wins in November, he'd prosecute Biden.
What we're watching: If Biden were to leave the race, several ambitious Democrats would have a very compressed calendar to make their case to be the party's nominee. The party's divisions would play out in the open.
- And then there's the question of Vice President Harris.
- Many Democrats privately question her ability to connect with voters, but passing over the first Black and woman vice president would create a different set of problems for the party.
Zoom out: The question for the next 72 hours or so is how many Democrats will go public with their concerns — especially those in elected office.
- Congressional Democrats expressed concern late Thursday that Biden staying on the ticket could cost them seats in November.
The other side: Trump surrogates in Atlanta for the debate either gloated or acted sorry for Biden.
- "I don't know what they did for six or eight days in Camp David getting ready for this," Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said.
- Senior Trump adviser Chris LaCivita said that "it was a good debate that gave both President Trump and President Biden the ability to lay out and and and talk about their vision. The problem was, Biden couldn't do it."
