Biden’s incoherent debate performance heightens fears over his age

Before Thursday evening, many Americans had expressed concerns about Joe Biden’s age and fitness for office. To say that this debate did not put those concerns to rest may be one of the greatest understatements of the year.

The president came into the debate with a low bar to clear, and he stumbled. He was flat. He was rambling. He was unclear.

Roughly midway through the debate, the Biden campaign told reporters that the president was battling a cold – an attempt to explain his raspy voice. That may be so, but it also sounded like an excuse.

For 90 minutes, more often than not, Joe Biden was on the ropes. Particularly early in the evening, some of his answers were nonsensical. After losing his train of thought he ended one answer by saying, “We finally beat Medicare” – an odd reference to the government run healthcare programme for the elderly.

Mr Biden’s own former communications’ director Kate Bedingfield was on CNN immediately after the debate, and she was clear: “There’s no two ways about it, that was not a good debate for Joe Biden.”

She said his biggest issue was to prove he had the energy and the stamina, and he didn’t do that.

As the debate progressed, like a boxer on the ropes, Mr Biden started to take big swings against his opponent in an attempt to change the momentum. A few of those swings landed, provoking the former president into angry responses

That the first few topics raised by CNN’s moderators were on the top voter issues of economy and immigration – which polls show Americans trust Donald Trump more on – only made the problem worse for the president, however.

“I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence, and I don’t think he did, either,” Trump quipped after another Biden response. That line may have summed up the night.

The former president largely offered a disciplined, nimble performance. He avoided the kind of interruptions and belligerence that undermined his first debate showing in 2020 and turned the discussion back to attacks on Mr Biden’s record whenever possible.

He repeatedly made assertions that weren’t supported by facts as well as outright falsehoods, but Mr Biden largely was unable to corner him on them.

When the topic turned to abortion, for instance, the former president repeatedly shifted attention to what he said was Democratic extremism. He claimed, incorrectly, that Democrats support abortions after babies are born.

Abortion is an issue that has proven to be a weakness for Trump and Republicans in general since the overturning of Roe v Wade – which had protected the constitutional right to abortion – by the Supreme Court in 2022. But Mr Biden’s attacks in an area where he could have scored points fell flat.

“It’s been a terrible thing, what you’ve done,” the president said.

Source BBC