In the wake of the first presidential debate, CNN analysts expressed serious concerns about Joe Biden’s future as the Democratic presidential nominee.
CNN anchor John King kicked off the network’s post-debate coverage by warning about Biden’s age and discussing how Democrats reacted to Joe Biden’s difficult debate night.
“This was a game-changing debate in the sense that right now as we speak there is a deep, a wide, and a very aggressive panic in the Democratic Party. It started minutes into the debate and it continues right now,” King said.
“It involves party strategists, it involves elected officials, it involves fundraisers. And they’re having conversations about the president’s performance, which they think was dismal, which they think will hurt other people down the party in the ticket, and they’re having conversations about what they should do about it,” King said.
King claimed that people were discussing whether prominent Democrats should go public with their concerns about Biden’s performance. The veteran anchor said Biden improved his performance later in the debate, but by then it was too late to change public opinion. Even in his closing statement, Biden, 81, showed signs of his advanced age and apparent issues with mental acuity.
“We are very proud of Jake and Dana. Our job was to make sure candidates were heard so voters can make informed decisions and we are pleased we were able to do that,” a CNN spokesperson told NR.
The debate aired on CNN for an hour and half from Atlanta on Thursday night. Moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper were able to control Trump and Biden’s behavior with help from a set of rules that mostly prevented them from speaking out of line.
CNN analyst Van Jones followed up and said he believes a lot of people will call for Biden to drop out of the race following the debate.
“I love that guy, as a good man, he loves his country, he’s doing the best that he can, but he had a test to meet tonight to restore confidence of the country and of the base, and he failed to do that,” Jones said of Biden.
“I think there’s a lot of people who are going to want to see him consider taking a different course now,” Jones added. “That was not what we needed from Joe Biden.”
Jones said Joe Biden’s performance was “painful” for a lot of people rooting for the president. Throughout the debate, Biden appeared to be sluggish and struggled with his words, as Trump seemed more composed and calm than usual.
Later on, Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on CNN and tried to put a positive spin on Biden’s debate performance during an interview with host Anderson Cooper.
“[Biden] was a very different person on the stage four years ago when you debated him. You must…I mean that’s certainly true, is it not?” Cooper asked Harris.
“Anderson, the point has to be, performance in terms of what a president does,” Harris said, as Cooper interrupted. Harris brought up the January 6th Capitol riot as Cooper pressed her on Biden’s debate performance. She tried to divert the conversation and make it about Biden’s record instead of his performance on the debate stage.
“It was a slow start, that’s obvious to everyone,” Harris conceded, as Cooper kept pressing her on Biden’s debate performance. Harris again tried to shift the conversation to the presidential election this November.
Biden’s former spokesperson Kate Bedingfield, now a CNN pundit, admitted his debate performance was “disappointing” on CNN’s post-debate panel.
“It was a really disappointing debate performance from Joe Biden. I don’t think there is any other way to slice it,” Bedingfield said.
She acknowledged Democrats’s concerns about Biden’s age and suggested his performance was disappointing for many members of the party.