One crazy week: Biden debate fallout upends White House race
Joe Biden's debate performance threw his race against Donald Trump — at least for now — into tumult.
Last Thursday night, millions of Americans tuned in to the first televised debate of the 2024 campaign, with Biden and Trump going head-to-head without an audience at CNN studios in Atlanta.
For Biden, it was meant to be a prime opportunity to reassure voters that at 81 years old, he could still execute a vigorous campaign against Trump, who himself was facing political problems over his criminal conviction.
The president had spent a week holed up at Camp David, the presidential retreat, with advisers to prepare for the debate.
But on stage, he appeared flustered and fatigued, frequently mixing up his words and losing his train of thought.
Trump meanwhile presented his usual self-confidence, while laying out a string of falsehoods.
No sooner had the debate ended than a torrent of panicked messages from anonymous Democrats spread through the press, with some commentators publicly urging the president to step aside.
— Dam breaks -
Biden attended a campaign rally the next day and, in a scripted speech, admitted he doesn't «speak as smoothly as I used to. I don't debate as well as I used to.»
«But I know how to tell the truth. I know how to do this job,» he added to cheers.
But some wealthy Democratic Party donors were unconvinced, worried about the president's ability to perform not only through November, but another four-year term.
Some demanded on social media that Biden produce concrete proof of his
