A Brutal Debate for Biden

from The New York Times I'm Michael Boro. this is the. daily today in the first debate of the. 2024 presidential race Joe Biden hoped. to make the case that Donald Trump was. unfit to return to the white. house instead Biden's weak performance. deepen doubts about his own Fitness for. the. job my colleague aad hearnen a political.

reporter and host of the runup explains. what. [Music]. happened it's Friday June. 28th aead good evening almost good. morning by the time we're done talking. it is definitely going to be Friday. morning thank you for joining us at what. is clearly a very tender hour no thank. thank you for having me okay this was.

always going to be a historic debate two. single term presidents debating each. other for a chance at a second term both. choosing to opt out of the traditional. presidential commission authorized. debates we've never had any of this. before but that's not I would wager what. people are going to remember about this. debate I suspect they're going to. remember just just how much one of these.

candidates openly struggled struggled. mightily on the biggest possible stage. yeah I mean there were some things I was. expecting for tonight's debate bitter. insults an incumbent defending a policy. record the Challenger really attacking. it but one thing I didn't expect was for. President Biden to kind of live up to. the character of him that has been. really been created over the last 6. months by Republicans in the first 10.

minutes he was not even just a poor. debater he seemed like a struggling old. man in a way that I think for a lot of. people was alarming not even just in a. political sense but in a personal sense. and I think then the low bar that had. been created for him for tonight's. performance it immediately raised alarm. flags that he was not even clearing it. well let's talk about what both Biden.

and Trump were trying to do in this. debate before we return to the question. of how Biden did or didn't do and how. Trump did or didn't do tonight you know. for Trump there is an electoral opening. right now for him to really create a. coalition That's Unique for a republican. candidate if you believe the polling or. the kind of trend lines that we have. seen in polling over the last 6 months. Donald Trump is not winning back the.

kind of traditional Republicans he's. lost over the last four years he's. winning over people who were considered. more traditionally Democratic groups or. just more disaffected voters in general. younger people people of color uh. lowincome folks black folks there has. been a kind of growth among those. margins that's provided Trump with this. ability to say that if he can put that. together in November there's a real. unique path for him to beat Joe Biden. but that path requires a candidate who's. kind of speaking in more disciplined.

controlled tones I think we're used to. Trump talking and the Trump campaign was. eager to put that best foot forward now. on the Biden side they have a. fundamental problem which is that the. majority of Americans think the. president is too old to serve and the. prospect of an 86-year-old Joe Biden at. the end of a second term frankly freaks. folks out and the Biden campaign's. response to that problem has been. frankly to diminish it but also say to. watch him and the idea was that if they. had an ear earlier debate before the.

conventions and before the race really. kicked off they can put some of those. concerns to bed as we saw him slightly. do at the State of the Union earlier. this year but as we just talked about. Biden provided his party no reassurance. tonight okay well take us into the meat. of this debate and let's explore why. this night ended up being so problematic. for Biden and let's try to understand. whether Trump did achieve his goal of.

being the kind of candidate who can. assemble this theoretical broad. Coalition well let me set the. scene we're live from Georgia a key. Battleground state in the race for the. White House good evening I'm Dana Bash. anchor of CNN's Dana Bash and Jake. Tapper the moderators introduced both. candidates now please welcome the 46th. president of the United States Joe Biden.

and when Biden walked onto the stage I. mean it's generous to call it a walk he. frankly shuffled in a way that was only. a visual reminder of the advanced age of. this President gentlemen thanks so much. for being here let's begin the debate. and let's start with the issue that. voters consistently say is their top. concern the economy and within the first. couple answers what do you say to voters. who feel they are worse off under your. presidency than they were under. President Trump we got to take a look at.

what I was left when I became president. what Mr Trump left me the immediate. thing that was noticeable was not about. what he was saying but about how he. sounded the economy collapsed there were. no jobs unemployment rate Rose to 15%. Biden's voice was really raspy we. created 15,000 new jobs we brought out. position where it sounded as if he. needed to clear his throat he was. talking really softly there's more to be. done working class people are still in. trouble and it made his first couple.

answers almost incoherent I what I'm. going to do is fix the tax system for. example we have a th000 trillionaires in. America I mean billionaires in America. and what's happening and then we got to. one answer that was literally incoherent. iing sure that we're able to make every. single solitary. person eligible for what I've been able. to do with the uh with with with the co. excuse me with um dealing with. everything we have to do with uh.

look if we finally beat Medicare thank. you President Biden president and. eventually ended up trailing off such. that it became clear that this was not. someone who was fully in command of. their presence at the moment and that. really set the tone for Biden's. performance throughout the whole debate. right this was the moment if we're being. honest where everyone in politics and. political journalism's phones just. started exploding with text messages all.

of them saying some version of oh gosh. this debate is going really quite badly. for President Biden and as said to your. point about what he was seeking to do. and the assurances he was trying to give. people in his party and Beyond his party. he was not giving those assurances at. all yeah let me read you some live text. messages I got from Democrats in those. first 10 minutes one says I think you. have to question seriously whether he. can even make make it to the end of this.

night another says man this just doesn't. feel good to watch I mean it was an. immediate sense of panic that was. spreading among the party and I think. it's because you know typically these. debates have an air of Optics and. Showmanship but for Biden and his kind. of political challenge it was really. about that sense of energy and about. that sense of command of stage because. the question of age has been so circling. around his candidacy and so for him to. immediately come out with a both.

presentation and an answer that was. frankly not substantive and hard to. follow it sent the concerns to the roof. I mean things went from zero to 100 very. fast partially because I think that's. what people were coming in seeing as a. baseline for him and he very immediately. stumbl I would make an analogy to like a. Olympic hurdler right where at the first. hurdle he fell Donald Trump on the other. hand doesn't seem to have lost his Edge. that becomes very clear from the.

beginning of the debate and instead is. displaying his usual Swagger as well as. his usual challenges with the facts yeah. absolutely to the extent that Donald. Trump can be focused on policy he came. out in that mode today we have the. greatest economy in the history of our. country we have never done so well every. everybody was amazed by it other. countries were copying us we got hit. with Co and we know that the campaign. really wants to focus on three things.

inflation immigration and crime uh the. only jobs he created are for illegal. immigrants and bounceback jobs a. bounceback from the co and you could see. Trump really returning to those in the. early kind of 10 15 minutes he inherited. almost no inflation and it stayed that. way for 14 months and then it blew up. under his leadership because they spent. money like a bunch of people that didn't. know what they were doing and they he. repeatedly tied Biden to Rising prices. and tried to frame the economy that he. Ed as president as significantly better.

than the one that we are experiencing. now migrant crime I call it Biden. migrant crime they're killing our. citizens at a level that we've never. seen before he framed the country as. safer four years ago than what we're. experiencing now and it's a shame what's. happened to our country in the last four. years is not to be believed you can see. him trying to follow through on the kind. of classic premise of a reelection. campaign where the Challenger really. tries to ask the question are you off. than you were four years ago and so we.

got the Donald Trump version of that. tonight but we should be clear it's. infused with a lot of his usual set of. falsehoods as we have come to expect. from him and what struck me was for all. the exaggerations and some of the. falsehoods in what Trump was saying the. contrast between his Swagger and his. presentation and Biden became the most. pronounced part of this back and forth. yeah I think I think you're right that.

Trump sounded and felt a little more. dare we say presidential than Biden in. those first 10 minutes but the bar was. on the floor because the president came. out with such I think a shocking level. of. incoherence that it made Donald Trump. the Donald Trump we have seen spew. falsehoods conspiracies unhinged at. every turn it made him seem like the. person who kind of had their ducks in a. row they're 40% fewer people coming.

across the border legally that's better. than when he left office and in a kind. of crystallizing moment of this. interaction and I'm going to continue to. move until we get the total ban on the. the the total initiative relative to. what we're can do with more border. patrol and more Asylum officers after. one of Biden's more Meandering answers. Trump responds with a quip that really. said what everyone was thinking. president Trump I really don't know what. he said at the end of that sentence I. don't think he knows what he said either.

look saying that I don't know what Biden. said at the end of the sentence and I. don't know if he does either mhm this is. the first presidential election since. the Supreme Court overturned roie Wade. it feels like a strong topic for Biden. in this part of the debate was going to. be abortion which returned the issue of. abortion to the states correct and the. moderators bring it up and it felt like. lwh hanging fruit an opportunity for. Biden to blame Trump. for the fall of Row versus Wade and.

score some real points on the board but. it didn't feel like that's what happened. no it didn't and I think that speaks to. the point that came through during this. debate that was consistently not the. message it was the messenger abortion. has been a politically potent issue for. Democrats and something that folks have. been looking for Biden to speak to. directly do you support any legal limits. on how late a woman should be able to. terminate a pregnancy I support Ro wait.

and he kind of botched that framing. which had three trimesters the first. time is between the woman and the doctor. second time is between the doctor and an. extreme situation the third time is. between the doctor I mean between the. woman in the state he was trying to. seemingly make an analogy about. trimesters that didn't really come. through very clearly and so that I think. was a moment where when the moderator. brought it up you would feel Democrats. think okay this is something that might.

play better for us than the economy or. immigration but like a lot of things in. this debate Biden just didn't seem to. put it together that well MH eventually. in this first half of the debate things. start to get a bit more personal they. start to get a bit nastier between these. two candidates who clearly do not like. each other at all and interestingly. given your framing of you know would. Trump moderate some of his excesses it. was by Biden who went there first yeah.

it was and you know we should put the. background here there was previous. reporting that Donald Trump had called. Fallen Soldiers suckers and losers while. touring a military grave site I went to. the World War II Cemetery World War I. cemeter he refused to go to he was. standing with his four-star general and. he told me he said I don't want to go in. there because there a bunch of losers. and suckers and that's what Biden was. referring to framing Trump as someone. who is consistently disrespected veteran. we're also in a situation where we have.

great respect for veterans my spent my. son spent a year in Iraq living but B. lands on saying my son was not a loser. was not a sucker and then looks to Trump. and says you're the sucker you're the. loser you're the sucker you're the loser. mhm and I thought for me this reflected. the Biden campaign strategy of wanting. to draw Trump out to kind of bring out. let's say more chaotic version of him. that was less stuck to the policy script. and so I was at this moment to see okay.

how is Trump going to respond to this uh. first of all that was a madeup quote. suckers and losers they made it up it. was in a third rate magazine that's. failing like many of these he denied. kind of making the suckers and losers. remark about dead soldiers but he didn't. kind of respond on the personal level in. which Biden was trying to draw him out. to it was made up by him just like. Russia Russia Russia was made up just. like he reframed the conversation about. commander-in-chief to be about the kind. of global instability that has happened. under Biden's watch I tell you what.

happened he was so bad with Afghanistan. it was such a horrible embarrassment. most embarrassing this is when he. mentions the kind of Afghanistan. withdrawal we lost 13 beautiful soldiers. and 38 soldiers were obliterated and by. the way we left people and kind of. starts framing the world as more. generally unsafe under Biden than it was. under Trump that's why you had no Terror. at all during my Administration this. place the whole world is blowing up. under him now certainly that's done in a. kind of trumpy in way but it was an.

example of him at least at that moment. not really meeting Biden in the mud and. trying to stay focused on what I think. was his campaign's goal in this night. which was to present him as someone. making a policy first challenge to Biden. rather than a personal one right and. what seems to happen for the next 10 or. 15 minutes in the debate is that Biden. keeps trying to get under Trump's skin. and really make the case that there's. nothing about him that makes him fit to. be president yeah you could feel.

President Biden trying to draw out the. more crazy chaotic side of Donald Trump. some of the attacks were lighter and now. he says if he loses again such a Wier. that he is that it could be a blood bath. things like calling him a Wier for. example for doing a whole range of. things of having sex with a porn star at. one point he pointed out the allegations. that Donald Trump had sex with a porn. star while his wife was pregnant you you. have the morals of an alleycat and at. another point the only person in this.

stage is a convicted felon is the man. I'm looking at right now he mentioned. the most serious I think of the. political allegations which is the idea. that Donald Trump has convicted felon is. unfit to be president and you could see. Trump physically wins when the words. felon were said out loud which I think. is reflective to just how much that. label really stings him I'm going to. give you a a minute president Trump for. a follow-up question I have um after a. jury convicted you 34 felonies last.

month you said if reelected you would. quote have every right to go after. unquote your political opponents you. just talked about members of the select. committee on January 6 going to jail. your main political opponent is standing. on stage with you tonight can you. clarify exactly what it means about you. feeling you have every right to go after. your political opponents when he talks. about January 6 it becomes very clear. that he's trying to Aus skate his own. role believe that and let me tell you. about January 6th Trump goes into a. soliloquy about oh January 6 6 we were.

energy independent on January 6 we had. the lowest taxes ever we had the lowest. regulations ever on Jan completely. actually diverting the question that was. at hand which is did Donald Trump. encourage a mob that struck at the heart. of democracy you have 80 seconds left my. question was what do you say to those. voters who believe that you VI violated. your constitutional oath through your. actions and in action on January 6 2021. and worry that you'll do it again well I. didn't say that to anybody I said. peacefully and patriotically and Nancy.

Pelosi if you just. [Music]. watchs and so that's the kind of push. and pull that we were seeing play out on. the stage which is that certainly Trump. was engaging in his normal level of kind. of dodges and falsehoods but it was. coming off I think more successfully. than some expected partially because. Biden was just ineffective in landing. some of those attacks. [Music].

we'll be right. [Music]. back so instead the second half of the. debate starts with a question that feels. quite Central to what you described as. Trump's strategy of trying to build this. bigger Coalition that exists in theory. that he's trying to make real in. November and it's a question the. moderator ask of Biden and why he seems.

to have disappointed Black America yeah. and you're right Biden knows that black. voters are an overwhelmingly Democratic. constituency and theoretically if those. folks came home to support him it would. be much harder to see the path for. Donald Trump's Victory what do you say. to Black voters who are disappointed. with the progress so far and so he tries. to give a little two-part answer here I. say I don't blame them for being. disappointed inflation is still hurting. them badly for example I provided for.

the idea that any black family firsttime. home buyer should get a $10,000 tax. credit both acknowledging that black. voters are right to feel some. disappointment in Democrats while also. pointing to some things his. administration has done to provide. support for those communities he's. blaming inflation and he's right it's. been very bad he caused the inflation. and it's killing black families and and. you hear Trump saying that of those. things are mattering because inflation.

is hurting black communities more that. his big kill on the black people is the. millions of people that he's allowed to. come in through the Border they're. taking black jobs now and also that. immigration is taking what Trump dubs. quote unquote black jobs now I'm not. exactly sure what black jobs are but we. could guess that Trump here is trying to. mean that the influx of immigration has. hurt specifically black communities more. than other ones and you haven't seen it.

yet but you're going to see something. that's going to be the worst in our. history thank you that's again Trump. hitting that three pong message in one. inflation immigration and crime and. those things are all wrapped up in that. answer and it's really the pitch that. Trump is giving to Black voters so this. is Trump executing on the strategy that. you mentioned him wanting to execute on. in this debate which is finding a way of.

appealing to this group of Voters. traditionally Democratic through and. through who are intrigued by him and. might come to him in this election he is. threading a complicated needle in. seeking their votes he's seeming to. succeed a bit yes and no because I also. think this answer was a real reminder of. how Donald Trump is not a natural. communicator on these issues and frankly. often sounds like an unhinged man. himself whether it be black Jobs quote.

unquote or in his next answer about. climate change there were some moments. in this debate that definitely reminded. us of the Donald Trump who lost four. years ago frankly because most of the. country did find him unacceptable will. you take any action as president to slow. the climate crisis well let me just go. back to what he said about the police. how when asked about climate change he. doesn't answer the question at all. president Trump will you take any action. as president to slow the climate crisis.

and then after a followup by the. moderators he goes on a kind of classic. Trump salil so I want absolutely. Immaculate clean water about how I want. absolutely Immaculate clean water I want. absolutely clean air air and we had it. we had H2O we had the best numbers ever. how we have the best H2O it's the Trump. of the memes that frankly I think gets. him further away from who he wants to be. if he's going to pass his own kind of.

standard in terms of reaching different. folks for November right what kept. striking me in this second half as in. this climate change exchange is just how. consistently Trump is not answering the. questions that the moderators are asking. him oh absolutely whether it be. questions about child care Medicare. whether it's questions about opioids. these are core issues people cared about. and Trump almost never responded to the. moderate direct questions about those.

things he almost always stayed in those. three buckets that were clearly his. Focus to attack Biden economy. immigration crime it's around here that. the. moderators turn to a question that has. been on everyone's mind at this point. all night which is the candidates age. and they start with Biden whose age has. been quite present in this debate so. tell us how that unfolds. yeah the moderators put to the.

candidates directly the question about. whether these are people who even. physically or mentally can lead the. country for the next four years and. Biden I have to say didn't Inspire much. confidence well first of all I spent. half my career being being criticized. being the youngest person in he starts. off by saying he spent half his career. being criticized for how young he was. and then he goes on to say that you. should judge him for the job that he's. done in office look at what I've done. look how I've turned around the horrible.

situation he left me as I said he's. saying to judge him by what he did. rather than how old he is the problem is. that the first part of the debate was so. defined by how in articulate he was that. the question of age had been subtly. already answered and he had flunked that. test now Trump responds and it maybe. even more ridiculous fashion what do you. say to voters who have concerns about. your capability to serve well I took two.

tests cognitive tests I ased them both. of them as you know talking about the. mental acuity test that he has taken. health I just won two Club championships. not even senior two regular Club. Championship and focusing on his own. golf game saying that he can hit a ball. 50 yards and that that's an example of. how he feels like in physical good shape. you know akin to 25 and 30 years ago. right and this is when we enter the. strangest moment I have to think in. presidential debate History Two rather. old men wrangling over who has a better.

golf game look I'd be happy to have a. driving contest with him the re I got my. handicap which when I was vice president. down to a. six and but by the way I told you before. I'm happy to play golf with you you. carry your own bag think you can do it. that's the biggest lag he's a six. handicap of all I was an eight handicap. I have to say like this moment. personally kind of bummed me out there. was a one minute period where the two.

options to Leading the country were. arguing over their golf handicaps I've. seen swing I know you. swing something about the debate about. whose golf handicap was better felt like. a distillation of the failure of this. debate to really provide the American. people with the options and the kind of. serious policy discussion that the. office warrants I said by the end of. this 90minut debate it really felt like.

the consuming question that It produced. wasn't so much about whether Donald. Trump was going to assemble a coalition. that won him the. presidency the burning question seemed. to be around President Biden and his. weak performance and so I want to make. sure we end there with an understanding. of what now happens. because of how Joe Biden performed and.

what it's going to mean for the rest of. the. race yeah I had come into the debate. thinking that the onus was on Donald. Trump to prove himself as a disciplined. Challenger who could take what was a. polling possibility of a broad Coalition. and make it real but frankly that belief. was based on the assumption that Joe. Biden would clear the Baseline of.

coherence that would make the age. question at least neutralized for the. night but by the end of the night it. became clear that that wasn't where the. conversation would be I think that Joe. Biden's performance was frankly so. disastrous that a Democratic party freak. out that has been bubbling under a lid. for months now has now exploded into the.

open to the point where you have his. former communications director on. television saying that was a poor. performance right Kate bettington that. struck me to his former White House. communications director went on TV and. said that was a disappointing debate. performance from President Biden. something Democratic Communications. directors don't normally say on the. record moments after a debate. ends absolutely I mean also I saw an. interview with vice president KLA Harris.

and Anderson Cooper immediately after. debate where the vice president the. cheerleader in Chief for the president. said very explicitly that she would not. deny he had a rough start but believes. that he got better at the end and saying. the last 90 minutes does not erase the. last three and a half years a real. acknowledgement of the hole that Biden. frankly put himself in throughout. tonight's debate but I I got to say as. someone who has dedicated the last year. and and a half to asking a lot of.

Democrats questions about how we arrived. at an 81-year-old president running for. re-election they have consistently. dismissed the overwhelming evidence that. most Americans thought Biden was too old. to run for a second time I brought that. question to them at the DNC as they were. making his path to the nomination easier. and the answer that frankly we got at. the time was that Donald Trump would be. so inherent. invalid none of that would matter but.

there was no evidence to support that. that was their own belief that that. would just change and then tonight not. only did Donald Trump not seem like. someone who was completely unfit for the. office of president but that Biden was. the memed version of himself the. incoherent falling off a bike Tick Tock. character of himself and I think now the. Democrats are openly panicking about. what Biden should do next about what the.

party should do next they have a lot. fewer options at their disposal right. there is really no plan B because of how. Democratic leaders handled this. situation for so long yes there is no. plan B because they refused to ask the. questions that would even lead to the. creation of a plan B in the leadup to. this and so there aren't really Clear. Solutions as to what democrats should do. going forward. and that really I think is going to.

scare a lot of Democrats because if. you're someone who wants Joe Biden to be. president a lot of those people believe. that Donald Trump is a grave danger to. this country and the belief was that Joe. Biden was the person uniquely positioned. to stop that from happening because he. had done it four years before because he. had done it four years. ago but I think what's changed from last. night to today is a realization. that actually nominating Joe Biden might.

be the biggest risk for the party and be. the very thing that makes a second term. of Donald Trump most. possible wellstead thank you very. much thanks for having. me for more in-depth coverage of the. 2024 presidential race. check out aead show the runup which.

comes out every Thursday you can find. the runup wherever you. listen we'll be right back. [Music].

here's what else you need to know today. on Thursday the Supreme Court blew up a. landmark legal settlement between. prosecutors and Purdue Pharma the maker. of oxy conton the settlement would have. channeled $6 billion into alleviating. the opioid epidemic that Purdue Pharma. allegedly played a major role in. creating but the settlement relied on a. promise to Shield members of the Sackler.

family that created Purdue Pharma from. future lawsuits and in their 5 to4. ruling the Supreme Court found that. Shield to be illegal and invalid the. case was one of several major rulings on. Thursday in another decision the court. temporarily cleared the way for women in. Idaho to receive emergency abortions. when their health is at risk despite a. state law there all but Banning the. procedure in a third decision the court.

blocked a federal plan to reduce air. pollution that drifts across state lines. a legal defeat for President. Biden a quick reminder about this week's. episode of the interview David maresi. talks with Eddie Murphy about his long. career in comedy his return to the. Beverly Hills franchise and about what. it's like to make his Idol Richard prior.

laugh I could have died right there you. could have crashed the plane right there. to make Richard laugh I made Richard. laugh for real he laughed like. this today's episode was produced by. Claire tennis Nina Feldman and Shannon. Lynn it was edited by Mark George. contains original music by Dan Powell. Maran Lozano Alisha baup and Diane wall.

and was engineered by Chris Wood and. Alyssa Moxley our theme music is by Jim. brunberg and Ben lansburg of. [Music]. wonderly the daily is made by Rachel. quer Lindsey Garrison CLA tennis ketter. Paige cowt Michael Simon Johnson Brad. fiser Chris Wood Jessica Chung Stella. tan Alexander Lee Young Lisa Chow Eric. krupy Mark George Luke Vander plug MJ.

Davis Lynn Dan Powell Sydney Harper. Michael benois Liz oalen AA chv relle. Banja Diana win Marian Lozano Cory Shel. Rob zipco Alicia B mu zi Patricia. willins Rowan misto Jody Becker Ricky. nety Nina Feldman will Reed Carlos PR. Ben Calhoun Susan Lee Lexi di Mary. Wilson Alex Stern Sophia lman Shannon.

Lynn Diane Wong Devin Taylor Alysa. Moxley Olivia Nat Daniel Ramirez and. Brendan clink BG special thanks to Lisa. Tobin Sam dock Paula Schuman Lissa. Anderson Julia Simon Sophia Milan mahima. chablani Elizabeth Davis Moore Jeffrey. Miranda Maddie masello Isabella Anderson. Nina lassam and Nick.

Pitman that's it for the daily I'm. Michael Barbaro see you on Monday.