More Democrats turn on Biden as panic sets in over president’s faltering debate performances: ‘That debate was a fucking disaster’

The presidential debate in Atlanta was only minutes into the debate when Democrats began to sweat and panic set in. Biden stumbled over answers, mixed up numbers and lost track.

Towards the end of the debate, some Democrats were already sounding the alarm. The panic over whether Biden should be at the top of the list and fit for a second term continued well into the night.

Escalating calls for concern continued Friday morning, with some calling for a serious conversation about Biden not being the Democrats’ nominee.

“It was clear that that debate was an unmitigated disaster,” wrote former Obama speechwriter and Pod Save America co-host Jon Favreau.

“We have to beat Donald Trump. We need a candidate who can do that. And since we haven’t had the convention yet, it would be absurd if Democrats didn’t at least have a serious conversation about whether Joe Biden – who is a great human being and has been a great president – is fit for the job, ‘ he continued.

“Joe Biden failed in every way possible in that debate,” he said on their podcast.

His co-host Tommy Vietor, another Obama alumnus, wrote on X: “You can’t say that the future of American democracy is at stake and then tell everyone who was concerned about last night’s debate to stop wetting the bed or grow a backbone. It’s fucking insulting to people who care deeply about this country and know how much is at stake.”

“I don’t think Biden delivered the punches he needed to,” Veitor said in the podcast.

“I came into this debate with concerns about Biden’s performance and focused on Biden’s performance. I felt like the first fifteen to twenty minutes were the worst part of the debate for Biden. That was probably all some people saw,” he said.

“Ultimately, you have to be able to defend your record and make a case against Donald Trump. In the history of politics, there has never been a candidate who has been easier to advocate for than Donald Trump,” Daniel Pfeiffer, former White House communications director, said in their podcast.

Obama’s 2008 campaign manager, David Plouffe, called the president’s debate performance “DEFCON 1 moment” Thursday night, which appeared on MSNBC.

According to Plouffe, voters’ concerns about Biden’s age were reinforced by the debate.

He said that while Biden and Trump are only three years apart at 78, they seemed 30 years apart on the debate stage.

“I think this is the issue that voters will struggle with the most after this election,” he said.

Obama’s 2008 campaign manager, David Plouffe, said Biden and Trump were 30 years apart in age, not three years apart at the debate. He called the debate performance a “DEFCON 1 moment.” He said it did not mean Biden would step aside.

He said one scenario would be that Biden could resign, but insisted that would not happen. The other option is “the right to bail out.”

While some Democrats are sounding the alarm, Democratic leaders in Washington and those slated as Biden’s potential replacement are standing behind the president.

The Democratic minority leader of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, said ‘no’: Biden should not be replaced.

One of Biden’s fiercest defenders Thursday night after the debate was California Governor Gavin Newsom, who told a swarm of reporters that he would never turn his back on Biden and dismissed questions about whether he would intervene.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro also weighed in on Friday morning, saying nothing about the debate changed the contrast between Biden and Trump.

“I think Joe Biden had a bad debate night, but that doesn’t change the fact that Donald Trump was a bad president. A bad president who took away our freedoms,” he said.

He said Democrats need to “stop worrying and get to work,” saying, “sitting here and wringing our hands is not the answer.”