United States President Joe Biden walks from the stage during a break in a presidential debate with Republican presidential candidate former president Donald Trump in Atlanta on Jun 27, 2024. ATLANTA: Above all, Joe Biden's allies wanted him to demonstrate strength and energy on the debate stage on Thursday night to help put to rest questions about the 81-year-old Democrat's physical and mental acuity.
And there's precedent for recovering from rough debate performances, including Barack Obama's rebound from an uneven encounter with Mitt Romney in 2012. Democrat John Fetterman went on to defeat a Republican rival in 2022 after struggling through a debate several months after experiencing a stroke. They have long predicted that Biden's winning political coalition would eventually embrace the Democratic president after being sufficiently reminded of Trump's chaotic leadership. But there were little signs of such confidence in the wake of Biden's underwhelming debate performance.
Instead, they railed against Trump's long list of falsehoods during the debate. Among other things, Trump didn't disavow those who attacked the Capitol on Jan 6, 2021. "Every Democrat I know is texting that this is bad," Gupta wrote on X."Just say it publicly and begin the hard work of creating space in the convention for a selection process. I'll vote for a corpse over Trump, but this is a suicide mission."
Sara Day, a supporter of President Joe Biden, watches coverage of the debate between Biden and former president Donald Trump at Brewvies Cinema Pub in Salt Lake City on Jun 27, 2024. Republicans, meanwhile, were giddy about Biden's lacklustre performance. But Trump co-campaign chief dismissed chatter about whether Democrats would try to nominate someone other than Biden.