A delighted Donald Trump took to his own TRUTH Social platform after last night’s presidential debate over the ‘car crash’ to share a video of Joe Biden stumbling and freezing while asking: ‘will this man make it another four years to persevere?’
Trump, 78, was quick to capitalize on the embarrassing performance during the first televised debate of the campaign, recounting a series of Biden’s gaffes to his 7.08 million followers.
“When you think about the Joe Biden debate you watched, ask yourself a question: Do you think the man who got knocked down by a staircase, knocked down by his bike, lost a fight with his coat, and got lost on a regular basis is going to make it four more years in the White House?” the narrator asked.
“And you know who’s waiting behind him, right?” the video continued and cut to a clip of Vice President Harris. “Vote for Joe Biden today and get Kamala Harris tomorrow.”
Allies have acknowledged the difficulty that Biden, 81, appeared to struggle to get the words out at last night’s event in Atlanta, Georgia, with Harris herself telling CNN, “Yes, there was a slow start,” but claiming “there was a strong finish” as calls grew louder to replace Biden and save the Democrats’ chances.
Joe Biden (right) appeared to stumble over his words during last night’s presidential debate
Democrats suggested it might be time to find a replacement candidate for the election
67 percent of voters said they thought Trump won last night’s debate in Georgia
Trump took to his TRUTH Social to share a video of Biden’s recent blunders
The film showed Biden falling down the stairs and off his bicycle
The message approved by Trump asked whether Biden would stay in office for another four years
After the debate, Trump’s senior campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles claimed victory on behalf of the 45th president. They claimed that Trump delivered “the greatest debate performance and victory in history to the largest voter base in history.”
They added: “Despite taking a week-long vacation at Camp David to prepare for the debate, Biden was unable to defend his disastrous record on the economy and the border.
“President Trump is spot-on when he says that if Joe Biden is too incompetent to stand trial, then Biden is too incompetent to be president.”
The “Trump War Room” account, which posted messages to 1.9 million followers on Twitter/X, shared a 1:35-minute clip showing Biden mumbling and struggling to get his positions across on Medicare, taxes and his golf performance to make during the debate. This fragment was widely distributed.
Biden’s Democratic allies also struggled to defend Biden’s performance in Georgia. Maria Shriver, the former first lady of California, said that while she “loves Joe Biden,” she found the debate “heartbreaking” to watch.
“There is panic within the Democratic Party,” she said.
Andrew Yang, who ran against Biden in the Democratic primaries, said: “The Democrats need to nominate someone else before it’s too late.”
Daniel Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, said on CNN: “I think there was a sense of shock, given the way he sounded at the beginning of the debate. His voice sounded a little disoriented.’
He added that there would be “discussions” within the party about whether Biden should run for re-election in November.
Commentator and former Clinton administration official Jamie Metzl tweeted after the debate: “Joe Biden is my former boss. I love and respect him deeply. He has made enormous contributions to our country. His greatest act of patriotism must now be to pass the torch to a new generation.”
On the Daily Show, Jon Stewart – who reluctantly supported Biden in 2020, but has been critical of his policies and has since expressed concerns about his age: ‘Let me say that after watching tonight’s debate, both men should be taking performance-enhancing drugs…’
“Performance-enhancing drugs that will enhance their clarity, their ability to solve problems, and in one of the candidates’ cases, enhance their truthfulness, morality, and malignant narcissism. Whatever magic drugs can kick them into high gear, because this isn’t Olympic swimming.”
As the two went head-to-head, Biden didn’t seem to take the wild drug use speculation on Twitter/X seriously: “I don’t know what they have in these performance enhancers, but I’m feeling pretty excited. Try it for yourself, folks.’
The post showed Biden holding a can of “Dark Brandon’s Secret Sauce” — a can of water branded on the campaign store website as “The key to a good debate performance? Stay hydrated. Buy the same performance enhancers that Joe Biden used before he went on stage. 100% water, 0% malarkey.’
Users attacked the president for the post, with one writing: “It’s a weird way to draw attention to the fact that everyone thinks you’re doping to get through a 90-minute debate.”
The Biden camp has previously dismissed Trump’s calls for a drug test as “stupid.” There is no evidence that Biden has ever used “performance-enhancing” drugs during debates. Trump fell back on similar tactics against Hillary Clinton ahead of their debates in 2016, and against Biden in 2020.
Biden followed up his message with a series of tweets warning against supporting Trump for the White House.
“Donald Trump spent the night talking about himself, his lies, his legal troubles, his affairs with a porn star and his golf championships at his own club. What nonsense. Together we can keep him out of the White House,” he wrote with a link to his campaign fundraiser.
He also pledged to restore Roe v. Wade, criticized Trump’s handling of the economy and described his opponent as “a convicted felon with the morals of an alley cat.”
Joe Biden embraces First Lady Jill Biden after the debate at CNN Studios on June 27
Joe and Jill Biden speak at a presidential debate watch party Thursday night
Biden greets supporters at a Waffle House after the event in Marietta, George
US President Joe Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris on the campaign trail in May
Polls show declining support for Biden to continue his re-election campaign
Voters, however, were less convinced by Biden’s performance on stage.
A CNN poll Thursday evening found that 67 percent thought Trump was doing better than Biden.
This percentage increased from the 55 percent who expected Trump to do better prior to the event.
According to a Gallup poll, 59 percent of American adults said before the event they were “very concerned” that Biden is too old to be president.
31 percent of Democrats expressed the same concern.
Meanwhile, 18 percent of American respondents had the same concerns about Trump.
Biden’s campaign team indicated that the president was suffering from a cold. He behaved remarkably nonchalantly during the debate.
Anti-Trump Republicans also attacked Biden after the performance.
Steve Schmidt, co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, acknowledged: “Biden lost the country tonight and he won’t get it back.
“If Trump is a threat and democracy is at stake, then Biden must step aside.”
Biden had a different opinion. After the debate, he went to a Waffle House with his wife and told the press traveling with him, “I think it went well.”
When asked about the growing calls among Democrats to quit, and whether he was concerned about his performance, Biden said: “No. It’s hard to argue with a liar. The New York Times pointed out that he (Trump) has lied 26 times.”
He admitted that he was sick and said, “I have a sore throat.”
Asked by the BBC about the possibility of stepping aside, deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said they were “not going to glamorise that with a response”.
“President Biden is going to be the Democratic nominee and President Biden is going to win this election,” he said.
Twelve minutes into the debate, Biden froze and seemed to lose track. He mumbled, “Making sure that we can make sure that everybody… is eligible for what I was able to do with… Covid… excuse me… everything we had to do with… look… when… we finally beat Medicare.”
Trump responded: “He’s right that he beat Medicare – he beat it to death.”
And Trump took a hit when Biden sought an answer about the border, replying, “I really don’t know what he just said.”
Pressed on abortion, an issue Biden has spoken out on, the sitting president made a bizarre move by talking about the border.
“Look, so many young women have been there, including a young woman who was just murdered, and he went to the funeral. And the idea that she was murdered by an immigrant coming in, to talk about that.
“But here’s the deal. There are many young women who are raped by their in-laws, by their, by their husbands. Siblings, by — it’s just ridiculous.
‘And they can’t do anything about it. And they’re trying to arrest them and they’re crossing state lines.”
Still, Biden celebrated the outcome, as his supporters in North Carolina met him on the tarmac and chanted, “Four more years.”
A campaign worker said the post-debate fundraiser was the best hour yet.