Joe Biden’s disastrous performance in this first debate has more than ever sown doubt in the minds of voters and Democrats themselves about the abilities of their leader. Could he be replaced by another candidate, less than five months before the presidential election?
Hearing Joe Biden on Thursday night lose himself in thought and sometimes be unable to articulate an intelligible response clearly cast a chill on the ardor of his supporters who do not spend time with him every day.
For months, his inner circle has tried to convince Americans that, away from the cameras, the Democratic president is full of vigor and is fully in control of the situation, but the awakening is probably brutal for those who were incredulous until now.
The first few minutes of the debate were tough for Biden, and while he was more incisive at times, it’s hard to see how he reassured many voters last night. And after the debate, it’s actually quite surprising why Democrats insist on having this debate. Will he attend a second one in the hope of turning things around?
Donald Trump’s performance was, unsurprisingly, filled with his usual exaggerations and lies, particularly regarding crime and immigration.
But what many voters will clearly take away is the stark contrast between Trump’s energy and vitality and Biden’s difficulty in presenting his arguments in a succinct and understandable way.
A performance worthy of a shipwreck
Given the extent of Joe Biden’s preparation, who had been discreet throughout the week for this purpose, the president himself and his advisers can only be frustrated by the result. The Democratic president finds himself this morning facing many question marks among voters who trusted him in 2020, but who perhaps no longer believe that he is still up to the task. You only have to look at the debates against Trump four years ago to realize that Biden’s vigor and repartee are no longer there.
From the beginning, the question of the president’s age (he will be 82 in November) has always come up, along with questions about his cognitive abilities. Examples of a Democratic president with a haggard look, stammering and sometimes seeming frozen have been legion for months.
In his defense, examples of cognitive decline are just as numerous when Donald Trump speaks at his rallies. He never stops giving incoherent speeches and digressing on sharks and batteries, or even on Hannibal Lecter (a little research on the Internet will allow you to find his comments).
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The exaggerations and falsehoods repeated by Donald Trump during the debate seem to have been obscured by the poor performance of Joe Biden.
Photo : Getty Images / Justin Sullivan
All this has somehow immunized voters against gaffes and strange comments that would have torpedoed other candidacies in the good old days not so long ago. But Biden’s sinking took up a lot of space in the minds of voters, who were more struck by the Democrat’s performance than by his opponent’s lies and exaggerations.
Panic among Democrats
The doubts about Joe Biden’s abilities highlighted in this first debate revive the question of the weakness of his candidacy for November.
Ironically, this first contest took place even before the candidates of the two parties had been officially nominated by their respective authorities. This must happen in a little over two weeks for Donald Trump and a month later in the case of Joe Biden.
Among the president’s most ardent defenders Thursday evening was his vice-president Kamala Harris, who, almost blindly, maintained that her leader’s performance got off to a rather slow start, but strengthened during the debate and presented a contrast obviously effective with the threat that, according to the Democratic camp, Donald Trump represents for democracy if he takes back the White House.
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Gavin Newsom, Democratic Governor of California, wanted to reiterate his full support for President Joe Biden.
Photo : Getty Images / Andrew Harnik
The man many saw as an alternative to Joe Biden in November, Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California, offered a spirited defense of his leader.
We don’t turn our backs on our president because of a single performance. What kind of party does this?
he said.
The only thing the last three Republican presidents have in common is recessions. Democrats deliver on their promises and we need to do that for him right now, with all due respect.
Knives starting to come out?
For these testimonies of solidarity, how many sharp comments against Joe Biden’s candidacy.
In front of the cameras, the consensus of the commentators was clear that the president’s performance had been a resounding failure. All this echoes the Democratic operational backrooms that are in panic mode.
While he was one of the first Democrats to question the strength of Joe Biden’s candidacy, David Axelrod, a former close advisor to former President Barack Obama, defended on CNN the attacks by Republican commentators against the president Democrat while trying to count the many lies and falsehoods uttered by Donald Trump during the contest.
Above all, he warned Republicans that if Joe Biden stepped down to make way for another candidate, Donald Trump is likely to be soundly defeated, because of the many skeletons in the closet of the Republican candidate. This warning can be doubted, but it does have the merit of putting on the table the question that some Democrats are asking themselves: is it too late to change candidates for November 5?
Is it possible to change candidates?
Party rules make it nearly impossible to replace a candidate without his or her consent. That would mean party officials would have to overturn the results of the primary in which Democratic voters overwhelmingly chose Biden. Nearly 99 percent of delegates voted for him. And there is no campaign underway to remove Biden as a candidate for reelection.
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Replacing Joe Biden with another candidate would not be an easy task.
Photo : afp via getty images / MANDEL NGAN
However, the Democratic National Committee’s charter provides provisions in the event that the party’s nominee becomes incapacitated or chooses to withdraw.
This should ideally be done before the convention in order to entrust the choice of a successor during this Democratic high mass in Chicago. This twist would obviously create a certain crowd since the situation would be rather unique of its kind.
As for those who dream of ousting Joe Biden without his consent, they will have to be disillusioned, because there is in fact no mechanism allowing the party to replace a candidate before the convention in this case and even less to name the chosen successor.
And how can we justify replacing a sitting president who also won 3,900 of the party’s 4,000 delegates in the primaries and caucuses?
Waiting for…
Not far from his scenarios built behind the scenes, Joe Biden and his Democrats will scrutinize the next polls with great impatience and sustained attention. If ever the voting intentions that already gave Donald Trump a lead in the key states to win the White House only strengthen in his favor, since Joe Biden’s poor performance, calls for his withdrawal from the race could become more numerous. Which would announce a tumultuous period in this crucial election year for Americans.
To be continued…
