Joe Biden’s horrific debate performance casts his entire candidacy into doubt
Hindustan TimesTHE MISSION for Joe Biden in the presidential debate held in Atlanta on June 27th was clear: to prove his critics wrong, by showing that he was mentally fit and thereby reverse the polling deficit that makes Donald Trump the favourite to win the American election in 2024. Consider one of his lines at the very start of the debate, the first indicator that the president was in poor form: “Making sure that we continue to strengthen our health-care system, making sure that we’re able to make every single, solitary person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with the…uh, covid…excuse me, dealing with everyone we had to do with… look, if we finally beat Medicare.” The moderator interrupted before further damage could be done, one of several coups de grâce graciously administered. Ahead of the debate, Mr Trump tried to raise expectations for Mr Biden by suggesting, baselessly, that the president would be on stimulants to try to juice his performance. Immediately after the debate, betting markets registered a marked decline in the chance that Mr Biden would in fact be the party’s nominee. Mr Biden and his allies have already raised hundreds of millions of dollars for his campaign and spent much of it on pre-booked television Jettisoning him from the top of the ticket would be an extreme measure, ensuring deep schisms within the party and leaving it weakened ahead of a contest with Donald Trump.