Joe Biden gave a stumbling performance in a 90-minute showdown with Donald Trump – the first televised debate of the 2024 presidential election campaign.
Democrats expressed concern at the president’s performance – with party insiders saying his early answers triggered panic.
Top Biden allies told the BBC his campaign team overworked the president, and senior White House officials said they are meeting to discuss options.
But Vice-President Kamala Harris defended Biden, saying it “was a slow start, but there was a strong finish”
Trump repeatedly attacked Biden on the economy and his foreign policy record, while Biden took aim at his rival’s criminal conviction and alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump also repeated falsehoods – from abortion, to taxes and the deficit – and at first avoided answering if he would accept the 2024 election result.
Biden called Trump a “sucker”, a “loser,” and said he had the “morals of an alley cat.”
After Joe Biden’s poor debate performance, one of the few Democrats willing to challenge him for the party’s presidential nomination is choosing silence over criticism.
Dean Phillips, a Democratic congressman from Minnesota who launched a long shot presidential bid last year, had called for Biden to step aside for younger leaders. He raised concerns about the president’s mental fitness.
But he appears to believe that his past commentary isn’t necessary in this moment.
He writes on X, external: “Speak only if it improves upon the silence” attributing the quotation to Gandhi.
Phillips ended his campaign and endorsed Biden in March. The Democratic congressman failed to win a single state during the primary, including his home state of Minnesota.
(BBC)
