Democrats panic as President Biden stumbles in presidential debate against Donald Trump

The woeful performance of US President Joe Biden at the CNN-organised presidential debate has left many Americans, including Democrats, thinking there may be a need for the party to think up another candidate ahead of the coming presidential election.

A worrying number of people were shell-shocked to see the 81-year-old stumble over words and look confused as he faced former President Donald Trump who is seeking a return to the Oval Office

It took 45 minutes for Biden to pummel Trump on abortion rights, his seeming support for the violent mob that thronged the Capitol during the 2021 handover, and his felony convictions.

Biden stumbled in the opening stages and paused for several seconds.

He could not match Trump’s verbal missiles though analysts say the Republican presidential hopeful’s speech was fraught with many falsehoods.

Reacting to Biden’s performance, Democratic former White House communications chief Kate Bedingfield told CNN: “There are no two ways about it — that was not a good debate for Joe Biden,” as the curtain came down on the match-up.

A top Biden donor who declined to be named, according to Reuters, said: “There is no way to spin this. His performance was disqualifying. There is going to be a call for a brokered convention. Whitmer, Pritzker, Newsom, Beshear. Those could all be the options. It’s inevitable.”

The donor added: “He (Biden) is a stubborn guy … It cannot be described how bad this performance was.”

David Axelrod, a senior adviser in Barack Obama’s administration, in his reaction, said Biden’s performance had led to the confirmation of the fears of those who thought he was too old to be at the helm of affairs at the White House.

But Vice-President Kamal Harris played down the development. She told CNN: “What we saw tonight is the president making a very clear contrast with Donald Trump on all the issues that matter to the American people. Yes it was a slow start but it was a strong finish”

Biden himself did not think there was any reason to lose sleep over his performance. He claimed he had a sore throat even as he said: “I think we did well”.

Speaking about Trump’s delivery, the man seeking reelection, said: “No. It’s hard to debate a liar. The New York Times pointed out he lied 26 times.”

You can fact-check the Presidential debate here.