what’s being called a disastrous debate for President Joe Biden is Raising questions about his future after a shaky and confusing performance last night a much more energetic Joe Biden showed up at a campaign rally today take a look making sure that we’re able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with the uh with with with the co excuse me with um dealing with everything we have to do with uh look if we finally beat Medicare the the total initiative relative to what we can do with more border patrol and more Asylum officers president Trump I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence I don’t think he knows what he said either I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to I don’t de debate as well as I used to but I know what I do know I know how to tell the truth I know like millions of Americans know when you get knck down you get back up there were calls by some Democrats to look for a new presidential candidate after the debate others were quick to come to Biden’s defense there’s always a truth-telling session when these things happen Joe Biden is not averse to hearing things that are bad he has to make the decision about whether he’s going to be a candidate or not he has done that he’s going to be the nominee no question the president was not his best last night uh but we got a long way to go until the election where he did obviously have some sort of uh uh throat challenge or perhaps was sick I don’t think it’s going to matter at the end of the day he was clearly articulated I mean he stumbled upon a few words but Trump was clear he was concise he was misleading and he was untrustworthy stay the course chill out chill out so where do Democrats go from here Michael Star Hopkins is a political strategist who previously worked on the political campaigns of former president Barack Obama and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton bruan is the president of the global Situation Room he was director of global engagement at the White House and built a number of President Obama’s Legacy International initiatives and they both join me now gentlemen it’s good to see you thanks for taking the time Good To Be With You Michael uh let’s start with you uh how tough of a watch was that for you last night and how do you feel about the president going forward today look it was a cringeworthy debate I think we can all admit that whether you’re democrat or republican but at the end of the day I voted for uh Joe Biden in the first election if he’s at the top of the ticket I’ll vote for him again uh the question that Democrats really need to ask themselves is if they’re prepared for there to be another event last night what’s the game plan nobody’s saying that Joe Biden needs to get pushed aside but we’ve got to have a plan if this happens again yeah Brett how do you see this the state of play right now with the Democratic nominee and sitting president yeah actually there are some of us uh who do think that Biden needs to step aside and should do so urgently because uh we only have 40 days until August 7th when there has to be a virtual uh Democratic natural convention in order for the state of Ohio to receive our nominee in time for him or her to be on the ballot so this is uh quite frankly the day after spin uh Biden folks are obviously trying to put the most positive possible spin on what was a astonishingly bad performance and I think Democrats do need to wake up do need to realize that we can’t just you know hang on and hope that this works democracy’s on the balot we’ve got to get a new candidate you know Michael the The Joe Biden we saw today I I’ve been at a few international events with him and he came here to visit Ottawa that’s the Joe Biden we’re kind of used to seeing last night was something completely different though I know they said halfway through he had a cold but he came out his voice was different he sounded shaky a lot of people watched that I mean that contrast is bad with the American people right now yeah it was a nightmare I think the uh Senior Team who helped him prepare for that debate need to be held accountable because there wasn’t any uh knowledge previously given to the press that he had a cold it wasn’t until uh he spoke up and said that he had a uh that then the Press came out and was told that he had a cold at the end of the day when you look at the numbers 40% of Americans who saw that debate still said that they’re going to vote for president bid Biden that’s something that I see as a win but it’s not something that Democrats can rely on look Brett has a really good point uh if we’re going to turn out Democrats we need to have someone that they can rely on and based on that performance I don’t know how any Democrat can be confident that he stands the chance to make it through an entire uh second term so Brett this is interesting because all the polling that has been done about concerns about Biden’s age people get angry about this right in the Democratic and Progressive base in the United States because they think it’s unfair but then we saw last night and we saw Ezra Klein essentially do an essay earlier this year saying Biden has the judgment to do the job but he doesn’t have the stamina to win the election and that looks like what we saw last night so how serious is the movement do you think in Democratic ranks to push for change at the top of the ticket well look I’ll tell you where it’s going to come from uh Biden has a number of major uh fundraisers over the next couple of days and you’re going to see in fact uh Ken vogle at the New York Times was already reporting earlier today that a number of major fundraisers uh funders are backing out of those fundraisers and so I think the donors are going to be the first if you will Canary in the political coal mine then you’re going to start to see some of the more vulnerable Democrats say hey um I you know can’t win in Pennsylvania I can’t win in Ohio I can’t win in Michigan with Joe Biden at the top of the ticket ultimately this thing could get to Chicago to our national Convention and you could even if Biden doesn’t uh step aside gracefully you could see procedural problems that will muck up the operations that convention and that ultimately could get us to a spot where they got to negotiate this thing on the convention floor well you know historically Michael uh Democratic conventions in Chicago and there’s conflict overseas never been a problem for the party yeah so okay so who knows what Joe Biden is going to do like the the the the immediate response I saw from all of the pundits on the American Network was about panic in the Democratic ranks and talking about the need for change but as Brett points out the push back today is like I don’t debate as well as I used to and this sort of thing if they have to make a move we saw Gavin Newsome as an effective surrogate for him the Democratic governor of California people talk about Gretchen Whitner talk about sherad Moore where is the person is it camela Harris who do the Democrats turn to on such a short Runway to beat a guy like Donald Trump you know I think that’s one of the real problems if you pass over uh the vice president you’re passing over a black woman black women are the strongest supporters of the democratic party uh but then you’ve got Wes Moore you’ve got Gavin Newsome you’ve got po b or Pete bued you got Governor Whitmer in Michigan there’s a strong Democratic bench but at the end of the day the only person who’s going to be able to decide is whether or whether they step aside is Joe Biden and Jill Biden they’ve got to be the ones to do this if Democrats push out the president it’s going to fracture the party in a way that we haven’t seen since even before 1968 in Chicago so so Brett like given all of that and this regicide is messy right and that’s essentially what’s being contemplated now in public to to force out a guy who beat Donald Trump I mean what did they do and who did they turn to if you’re the Democratic party right now well here’s the thing is Joe Biden has clung on to this idea that I’m the only guy to beat Trump and I am the best guy or the best candidate to go up against him but what we saw last night was clearly he is far from our best candidate and I think all of the folks that Michael just mentioned would be far better options and Democrats right now I don’t know maybe you can see the um the buzz circulating around us in Washington are talking about like anyone other than Biden how do we put them forward how do we get to a spot where we are not as now bitingly close in this election and Lord knows after last night how more much more Biden may fall in the polls But ultimately I think this thing is going to come down to a number of democratic donors a number of democratic leaders saying Biden has got to go this is a Lynden Baines Johnson moment in 1968 to pull out another reference where he finally had to asede to the demands of his base yeah count me out right um is moress where that ended up so so Michael if it doesn’t get to that point if Joe Biden as he said today intends to stay how do the Democrats move forward knowing there’s like 20 attack ads in that debate alone from last night yeah I think Democrats have to be really honest about what they saw last night that wasn’t a president who really seems up to making the best case for himself and so they’re gonna have to rely on surrogates and they’re really going to have to lean on the fact that it’s going to take an entire Village to win this election it’s hard for Democrats to make the argument that Donald Trump is an existential threat while also putting up Joe Biden as the candidate against him after what we saw last night if he’s the threat that uh Democrats say that he is which I believe he is then we need to put up the strongest candidate and right now I just can’t really be confident that he is that candidate last night’s performance wasn’t it and so anyone who’s going to stand up here and say that it is is lying to you and I think that’s where a lot of frustration within the Democratic party is coming from there has hasn’t been an opportunity to have this conversation about what the plan B is because the party keeps shutting it down now we’re here less than you know a month and a half away from the convention and we are in the middle of a Calamity without a solution and even the last campaign Brett was kind of weird because of covid right a lot of like uh video campaigning and remote campaigning and not out with the endurance test of a national sweeping campaign so what do they do if Biden stays or if the party sticks with Biden well here’s the problem we already have had Biden um relegated to um the residents of the White House too often he’s not done a whole lot of interviews he’s not been out there as much as he needs to be as president I think unfortunately we’re going to see less of him which will seed more territory more oxygen to Trump and he will just churn out um at those rallies lots of that Viral content and so Democrats as Michael’s saying has got have got to figure out way to put forward surrogates the idea that I keep on talking about is if Biden puts forward a list of his cabinet nominees for the next term some of them potentially Republicans like Liz Cheney Mitt Romney I think that can help to win over independent and moderate Republicans because remember those are the folks we really need to come over to our side in order to get this thing over the line yeah a lot of those Nicky Haley voters you need to kind of become Joe Biden voters is going to work uh gentlemen we’re out of time uh we’ll probably check in with you again later the summer is just develops Michael Star Hopkins and Brett Bron thanks so much for joining us hey thanks so much
Joe Biden’s debate performance Thursday was agonizing for the Democrats — to the point that some of them who appeared on post-debate panels asked if Biden should drop out. Democrats Brett Bruen and Michael Starr Hopkins discuss how the party should respond to Biden’s debate debacle.
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