President Biden’s rough performance at the CNN presidential debate has sent shockwaves across the media world, ranging from “disastrous” critiques to calls from the left for him to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.
CNN’s John King highlighted the “intense panic within the Democratic Party” that began in the opening minutes of the debate.
“This debate was a game changer in the sense that there is now serious, widespread, very intense panic within the Democratic Party. It began within the first few minutes of the debate and is continuing,” King said. “You’ve got party strategists, elected officials, fundraisers involved. They’re talking about the president’s performance, they think it was disastrous and will hurt the lesser candidates in the party, and they’re talking about what to do about it.”
King’s CNN colleague Casey Hunt similarly wrote to X, “The contrast in the voices, open-mouthed expressions and looks of President Biden and former President Trump is almost beside itself as I watch this debate and talk to Democrats.”
Media calls on Biden to drop out of 2024 race after ‘disastrous’ CNN debate performance: ‘It’s over now’
President Joe Biden participates in the CNN presidential debate at CNN Studios in Atlanta, Georgia on June 27, 2024. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
NBC News’ Chuck Todd acknowledged that Biden “seems like a caricature” painted by conservatives, especially when it comes to his intellectual acuity. The debate came after a flurry of liberal anger against Biden. Wall Street Journal report Earlier this month, doubts were raised about the president’s viability.
“And there was no footage tonight, right? You saw it right in front of your eyes,” Todd said.
“Despite lying and living in an alternate reality, Trump has controlled the momentum of this debate, leaving Biden looking like merely a somewhat absent-minded punching bag,” Bloomberg Opinion editor Tim O’Brien wrote on X.
Media members shocked by Biden’s ‘terrible’ debate performance: ‘A total disaster’
Host Joy Reid, one of the faces of MSNBC’s political coverage, which has unabashedly supported the president, bizarrely complained that the Biden campaign made the fatal mistake of “putting him on the right side of the stage.”
“Why did you put him on the right?” Reid asked. “Because Biden likes to look at the moderator and then look away. If he was on the left, he would have been facing Donald Trump… He appeared to be looking away from the camera! Every decision they made made the problem worse!”
President Biden’s performance against former President Trump was widely criticized. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
But the most shocking outcome of the first presidential debate was the influx of media calls for Biden to step down.
Thomas Friedman, a New York Times columnist and longtime Biden ally, wrote that the debate “moved me to tears” and that Biden realized it was time to step aside.
“In my lifetime, I cannot recall a more heartbreaking moment in American election politics precisely because it became clear that Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, is unfit to run for reelection.” He wrote.
“We hope that Biden will reflect on his performance in this debate and announce his decision to withdraw from the race, leaving the choice of Democratic nominee to the national convention,” said a colleague. The New York Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote about X:
“Someone like Gretchen Whitmer or Sherrod Brown or Secretary Raimondo could still come out and beat Trump,” Kristof added, referring to Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and Biden’s Commerce Secretary, Gina Raimondo.
Biden criticized for ‘old’ appearance and ‘weak’ voice during first presidential debate: ‘Very disturbing’
“If Biden truly believes democracy is at stake, he should step aside and let another Democrat run against Trump. Put country first,” said Alyssa Farrah Griffin of “The View.”
“Joe Biden should stand by his accomplishments by ending his candidacy,” Vox correspondent Eric Levitz wrote.
“This is a disaster,” Financial Times editor-in-chief Edward Luce panicked online. “The Democrats need to stop self-censoring Biden and fix this. The convention is two months away. Other countries have general elections in less time.”
“It’s over. Biden looks and speaks old. He has lost his train of thought. He speaks in a barely audible whisper. He must be taken down!!!” exclaimed Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks.
Mark Leibovich of The Atlantic Wrote the piece Early Friday morning, it was titled “It’s Time to Go, Joe.”
“Biden must step aside for his own dignity, for the sake of his party and for the future of his country,” Leibovich told readers.
The comprehensive website Drudge Report ran a headline: “Operation: Replace Biden.”
“130 DAYS TO GO, DEMOCRATS FLASH! DEBATES ARE A DISRUPTION,” the Drudge Report wrote in capital letters, including a poll question asking who would be the best candidate to replace Trump: Hillary Clinton, Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, Kamala Harris or “other.”
“Operation: Replace Biden,” ran the headline after the CNN presidential debate. (Screenshot/Drudge Report)
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CNN commentator Van Jones Tears of joy were shed When Biden won the 2020 presidential election, he made an emotional plea with the president to step down.
“I respect that he’s a good man. He loves his country. He’s doing the best he can. But tonight he had to rise to the challenge of restoring the trust of his country and his base, and he didn’t do it,” Jones said. “And I think there are a lot of people out there who would like to see him consider choosing a different path now.”
“The convention is still a long way off and the party has time to think about other ways to move forward if he allows it, but that’s not what we wanted from Joe Biden,” he added. “And it’s personally painful for a lot of people. This isn’t just panic. It’s pain over what we saw tonight.”
