Biden weakened to the extreme after a failed debate against Trump – 06/28/2024 at 6:30 p.m.

Joe Biden, extremely weakened, returns to the campaign on Friday after a completely failed debate against Donald Trump which raises, even among his supporters, the question of maintaining his candidacy for a second term.

One only has to read the implacable editorial by Thomas Friedman, who describes himself as a “friend” of the American president, on Friday in the New York Times.

“Joe Biden, a good man, a good president, is in no position to seek re-election,” wrote the columnist, who said he “cried” as he watched the 81-year-old Democrat, who looked haggard at times, stumble over words and stammer for 90 minutes in front of CNN’s cameras.

Philanthropist Maria Shriver, niece of assassinated President JFK and an ally of Joe Biden, wrote on the social network X that she was “heartbroken”.

Even Donald Trump’s supporters were careful not to add more after a performance considered pathetic.

– “Sad” –

“The guy almost made me feel sorry for him. Trump ate him alive,” commented Paul Meade, a 65-year-old retiree interviewed by AFP in Chesapeake, Virginia (east), where the 78-year-old billionaire is expected early this afternoon.

“I’m a big supporter of Trump but I thought it was sad,” added Rhonda Kundrat, 51.

Joe Biden “is not fit to be president, and we take no pleasure in saying that because it is so dangerous,” said Mike Johnson, Republican leader of the House of Representatives.

The campaign’s attempt to justify the slump as a “cold” and instead draw attention to the “lies” Donald Trump has been telling has fallen flat.

– Panic –

The American media are reporting a real “panic” among Democrats, four months before the election and about six weeks before the convention that is supposed to swear in the American president.

So far, however, no Democratic Party heavyweight has publicly echoed this sentiment.

Officially, the line remains to support the octogenarian candidate, who will be campaigning in North Carolina early this afternoon, a southeastern state that his team hopes to be able to wrest from his 78-year-old Republican rival in November.

In the process, he will go to New York for a ceremony commemorating one of the very first LGBT mobilizations in the United States, in June 1969, before going to raise funds on Saturday in the very chic Hamptons resort area.

This will be an opportunity for him to take the pulse of donors, in an electoral race which is also played out on a financial level.

– Convention –

Vice-President Kamala Harris herself recognized that Joe Biden had made a “laborious” start but felt that he had finished “strong” against an opponent who multiplied false or outrageous assertions without ever losing his calm. , nor his poise.

The 59-year-old Democrat, sent to the front on Thursday evening to limit the damage, will campaign on Friday in Nevada (west).

His name obviously appears on the list of those who could replace Joe Biden in the race for the White House, alongside some prominent Democratic governors, such as Gavin Newsom in California or Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan.

If Joe Biden threw in the towel, the Democrats would meet in August in Chicago for what is called an “open” convention, during which the votes of delegates collected by the American president during the primary would be put into play.

A scenario not seen since 1968. The party then had to find a replacement for President Lyndon B. Johnson after the latter gave up running in the middle of the Vietnam War.

Incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey was nominated, but lost the election to Republican Richard Nixon.