In January I wrote that Donald Trump would likely jump at the opportunity of playing to his strength in debating Joe Biden, but that Biden, relentlessly shielded from reporters’ questioning and notorious for his “incoherence and apparent confusion in speaking engagements” as president had good reason to decline any opportunity to debate. Well, Thursday night a debate between Trump and Biden took place — the first of two scheduled, and it was a disaster for Biden.
The trouble with Biden did largely turn out to be that he came across incoherent and confused in the debate. So bad was the problem that Democratic and liberal pundits such as in the CNN panel right after the CNN-hosted debate were forgoing the standard spin about how Biden won, or at least competed very strongly. Instead, they admitted Biden’s disastrous performance and even raised the idea that his debate performance illustrates Biden is so unfit that he should drop out of the presidential race.
This is the rare case of a political candidate’s debate performance too dismal to spin. My hunch is there will not be second Biden-Trump debate.