A Bad Night for Joe Biden

Thursday's debate did not reassure doubters or encourage Democrats already committed to the president

President Joe Biden walks off the stage after CNN’s presidential debate in Atlanta last night. (Photo by Justin Sullivan via Getty Images)

I’m not going to pull any punches here: Joe Biden had a terrible night. In the opening minutes of the CNN-hosted debate, his voice was hoarse and weak. Many of his answers were halting, garbled, incomplete, hard to follow. He may have been suffering from a cold, but it surely reinforced the worries that many have about his age and ability to handle the job. It’s no surprise that both regular voters and Democratic operatives were feeling panic and wondering whether he should pull out and let someone else run in his place.

Meanwhile, the shameless, pathological lying of Donald Trump was on full display in virtually every sentence he uttered over the debate’s 90 minutes. (No, Biden doesn’t support abortions at nine months. No, America was not admired around the world when he was president.) So was Trump’s repugnant hostility toward America, his utter lack of vision, his ridiculous insistence that he was the best president in history and Biden is the worst, his refusal to directly answer the questions, his repetitive delight in declaring that the country has been destroyed by Biden.

This was a heartbreaking night. It was painful to watch. We needed Biden to reassure the doubters about his readiness for four more years. We needed him to push back against Trump’s despicable lying clearly and effectively. I wondered why Biden’s team thought this debate, this format that did not include fact-checking, was going to be good for their candidate. I wondered about the wisdom of his team believing that this debate would showcase his strength and positively change the dynamics of the race.

At a time when the GOP has made clear its intention to abandon the American project and usher in authoritarianism led by a convicted criminal, I felt like I was watching democracy’s prospects eroding minute by minute. It’s not hyperbolic to say that last night suggests a real crisis for Democrats and all democracy-loving Americans who recognize the danger of Trump and his enablers.

Then again, it’s too early to say whether undecided voters who watched were more alarmed by Biden or more repulsed by Trump. The president did get stronger as the evening proceeded while Trump’s remarks grew increasingly outlandish. Beyond optics, Biden did have both a record of achievement and factual reality to draw on.

While I’m loathe to base the promise of the coming months on one-liners, Biden had a few successes that will likely stick: “The only person on this stage that’s a convicted felon is the man I’m looking at right now,” he said. And: “You have the morals of an alley cat,” a remark which spurred Trump to assert that “I did not have sex with a porn star.” But let’s not sugarcoat the reality that the president’s overall communication failure makes the next four months harder.

How the campaign responds in the coming days and weeks will tell us whether the Biden campaign can cauterize the damage. That includes finding a way to reassure both major donors and regular voters discouraged by last night’s particular inarticulateness.

After the debate, Biden was seen talking to customers in an Atlanta Waffle House. Asked about how he did by someone off-camera, Biden said, “It’s hard to debate a liar.” That’s true, but Biden surely knew that before the debate. He clearly blew the chance last night to make the election about his opponent’s weaknesses.

Still, let’s not jump to conclusions yet. A lot can happen over the next 129 days before November 5. We are, for example, two weeks away from the sentencing of Trump by Judge Juan Merchan for his conviction on 34 felony charges. How many voters will reject Trump if Merchan sentences him to jail?

Between other possible court proceedings and Trump’s daily need to stoke chaos and fear, we can expect undecided voters will have plenty more reasons to turn away from this convicted felon, adjudicated rapist and shameless liar. Trump’s refusal last night to definitively agree to accept the results of the coming election—despite repeated attempts by CNN moderator Dana Bash to elicit a straight answer—may be enough to convince some fence-sitters to vote for Biden.

Finally, in a binary choice between a visibly old and hoarse president who had a rotten night and a criminal, pathological liar who will make life worse every day if he retakes the White House, I remain convinced most Americans will understand what’s the right decision to make.

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