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Presidential Debate: Biden Stumbles, Dems Panic

Trump plays offense against Biden's record

June 28, 2024

TGIF! We made it through the first presidential debate of 2024! And the winner is… Not Biden.

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📌 BIDEN’S NO GOOD, VERY BAD PERFORMANCE FREAKS SENIOR DEMOCRATS OUT

President Biden and former President Trump faced off for 90 minutes last night in a potentially game-changing debate. Biden was looking to reassure Americans that he’s up to the job for four more years, and frame this election about electing a felon who tried to overturn democracy on Jan. 6.

Instead, Biden’s rambling answers and shaky delivery has now made this election referendum about himself, and raised even more concerns about his age. Even senior Democratic leaders say they’ve got a bigger problem now, less than two months before the nominating convention.

  • In typically Biden-friendly media outlets (MSNBC, CNN, NY Times, etc.), top Democratic strategists, liberal pundits and former Biden staffers admitted that Biden not only lost the debate, but put his nomination in jeopardy.

    • Former Obama Senior Adviser David Axelrod: “There is a sense of shock at how he came out at the beginning of this debate….he seemed a little disoriented. ... There are going to be discussions about whether he should continue.”

    • CNN’s Van Jones effectively eulogized him: “That was painful. I love Joe Biden. I work for Joe Biden. He didn't do well at all. I think there's a lot of people who are going to want to see him consider taking a different course now.”

    • Former Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill said her party is facing a “crisis,” and she isn’t sure whether Biden will even end up being the nominee.

  • According to the reaction over on the Mo News feed— voters are feeling underwhelmed and disappointed by both President Biden’s performance, and former President Trump’s lack of direct answers.

  • However, this was Biden’s debate. He asked for it to take place this early, given his campaign’s need for a boost in the polls. Remember: Debates traditionally don’t typically take place until after the summer nominating conventions. Now, Biden has Democratic donors and senior officials freaking out.

  • The Trump campaign was out on social media last night with a brutal ad editing together some of Biden’s shakiest moments.

  • At the same time, despite concerns, some Democratic officials say the talk of replacing Biden on the ticket is still unrealistic. (see tweet from former adviser Symone Sanders Townsend below)

NOW, TO THE DEBATE ITSELF:
These two men do not like each other, and that was clear from the start. They didn’t shake hands, and avoided eye contact.

  • Biden, at times, delivered rambling answers. At times, he didn’t even use up his allotted time for key questions, leading the moderators to ask if he had more to say on issues like social security reform. Biden’s team said (after the debate started) that he was fighting a cold.

  • Trump definitely had more pep-in-his-step, but countered with a lot of statements that were simply not true. He also often avoided answering direct questions, veering to topics he preferred to talk about, or just simply attacking Biden.

Total Speaking Team Breakdown. Via: NYTimes

CORE ISSUES

  • Economy: Trump and Biden tried to blame one another for inflation, each touting their economic performance during their respective terms. In truth, inflation was a global phenomenon post-COVID. Both men signed bills that injected trillions of dollars into the economy, with the goal of preventing a recession, that also had the effect of contributing to inflation.

  • Abortion: Biden blamed Trump for overturning Roe v. Wade, which led to a slew of state abortion bans. Biden warned that a second Trump term could lead to nationwide abortion restrictions.

    • Trump said he was proud to nominate justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, but opposes a federal ban. He has insisted the issue should now be left to states. Trump said he would not block access to abortion pills, and instead tried to paint Democrats as radical on abortion with several misstatements.

  • Immigration: Trump repeatedly brought up the topic. It is an issue he polls well on. He blamed Biden for the record number of crossings and kept pushing that many are criminals. Biden claimed that there were “40% fewer people coming across the border illegally, it's better than when [Donald Trump] left office.” Numbers are still much higher than they were when Trump was in office.

  • Foreign policy: Trump insisted the wars in Ukraine and Gaza wouldn't have been happening had he been in office. He said if he’s elected, the war in Ukraine will be over within weeks—without explaining how he would do that. He also said he’s against an independent Palestinian state. Biden touted his three-phase ceasefire plan for Israel and Hamas— and took aim at Trump for previously saying he wants to pull out of NATO.

  • January 6: Moderator Jake Tapper pressed Trump multiple times on what he would say to Americans who believe he violated his oath on Jan. 6, 2021, and are worried he would do it again.

    • Trump pivoted to the border and to criticizing Biden's record. Tapper pressed him again, and Trump wound up blaming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying she turned down the troops on Jan. 6. Not true.

  • The age-old question: Biden responded to the age question by talking about being the youngest Senator back in 1972, and then waxed on about the economy and foreign deals. Trump kept it more simple, saying he’s passed cognitive tests— and that Biden should take them too.

    • The debate then took a turn into their golf handicaps and who is better on the green 🤔. It might have been their most passionate exchange of the night.

Bottom line: Like other debates, it’s not so much what the candidates said, but how they said it and what they looked like saying it. Social media lit up Thursday night with numerous analysts and politicians saying Democrats should try to find a new candidate.

Tweets we’re talking about…

✔︎ Mo News Reality Check:  We have 11 weeks until the next debate on September 10. It is unclear now if that debate will even happen. And, there is a remote chance there might even be a different candidate standing at one of the podiums.

The next few weeks will be telling. Biden doesn’t appear ready to quit, and the White House has to put out the fire inside their own party. The Democratic National Convention starts on August 19 in Chicago. If Biden is still intent on running, there would need to be a remarkable, historic turn of events to boot him from the ticket.

Reminder: Biden won around 95% of the nearly 4,000 delegates in this year’s primaries. While they are ‘pledged,’ but not committed, to backing Biden, his campaign helped choose those delegates. More than half of them (about 2,000) would need to flip on him to deny Biden the nomination. Which leads to the larger question, is there a competitor willing to risk their own political future in the party and take on the sitting president at the DNC?

On the GOP side: Trump will be sentenced in the felony hush money case on July 11. The Republican National Convention starts a few days later on July 15, where we will learn Trump’s VP choice.

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 The Supreme Court blocks Biden administration from enforcing plan to reduce smog-forming pollution (MO NEWS)

📌 Former Uvalde school police chief and officer indicted over Robb Elementary response (AP)

📌 Michelle Obama's private frustration with the Bidens (AXIOS)

📌 Oklahoma superintendent orders public schools to teach the Bible (CBS NEWS)

📌 House committee passes bill that would allow Medicare to cover weight loss drugs (NBC NEWS)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 US confirms Iran will run absentee ballot stations in US for the Iranian election (VOA)

📌 Georgian parliament gives initial approval to sweeping curbs on LGBTQ rights (NBC NEWS)

📌 Radioactive material inserted into Rhino horns in anti-poaching project (ABC NEWS)

📌 French far-right dominates polls three days ahead of snap elections (FRANCE24)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 Boeing sanctioned by NTSB for "blatantly" violating investigative rules (NBC NEWS)

📌 Customers of AT&T, T Mobile, and Verizon reported major outages while outside of the country (MO NEWS)

📌 CDK says it’s brought a small group of car dealerships back online after massive weeklong outage (CNN)

📌 7 states show promising recovery from youth mental health crisis (AXIOS)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna's daughter Dream, 7, debuts her first song, 'Besties Do It Better' (PEOPLE)

📌 Marilyn Monroe’s former LA home declared historic cultural monument, stopping demolition (FOX BUSINESS)

📌 NBA Draft prospect Bronny James, LeBron’s son, goes undrafted in the first round (FOX NEWS)

📌 NBC to use AI version of announcer Al Michaels’ voice for Olympics recaps (CNN)

📌 Bronny James, LeBron’s son, taken by Lakers with 55th pick in NBA draft (AP)

 

🎉 CHEERS TO THE FREAKIN WEEKEND

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