It was a first — a debate between a president and a former president. And it was likely watched as much out of morbid curiosity as interest in the election, which is also a first.
The questions going in were whether Donald Trump could control himself, and whether Joe Biden could hold it together for 90 minutes. The answer to the first question was “yes.” To the second? “Not so much.”
President Biden’s performance was shockingly bad. All that can be said is he got through the debate alive. Confused, lost, stumbling, mumbling and very angry, but he was still there and breathing when it ended.
It was shocking.
Inflation was the first topic, and Biden seemed to speed-talk through his nonsense answer, which was full of random attacks against Trump on everything from COVID to prescription drugs. It was disjointed, to say the least. He was confused and seemed to be scrambling for information that he hadn’t memorized quite well enough.
Trump, in contrast, was refreshingly un-Trumpian. If you were a Democrat hoping to see him lose his mind or at least his cool, this was not your night.
This was the strategy Team Trump had telegraphed — to avoid getting frazzled by Biden’s jabs and obvious attempted provocations. It worked brilliantly.
By remaining presidential, if I even dare say that, Trump did what most viewers of CNN and MSNBC had been told he couldn’t: He controlled himself.
This may not seem like a big deal — an adult controlling himself in a professional setting — but the narrative constructed about Trump is one of an unstable madman ready to destroy the country for his own glory and revenge. Anything short of a frothing-mouthed lunatic swearing to burn down Heaven and Earth to smite his enemies is a win for him in terms of personal comportment.
When not talking, Biden looked confused, even lost. When speaking, he got lost several times. He said there were a thousand trillionaires, then corrected to billionaires. He downplayed the rape and murder of young American women by illegal immigrants by saying women are raped and murdered by Americans too. It was bizarre and, honestly, sad.
The lack of audience made the debate odd. It was like watching a band play a concert in an empty room, it did not affect the energy of the event as much as I expected it to. The mutual hatred between the two men more than made up for it.
Trump feeds off a crowd, and can play to one too. But without that element, he actually turned out to be more focused. The snark was there, yes, but it didn’t overwhelm or take the focus off the substance as eruptions of applause might have. People forget that Trump did all those seasons of “The Apprentice” on a soundstage (at least the boardroom scenes). Being on camera without an audience is not something with which he is unfamiliar.
Joe Biden, even though he’s had 50 years’ experience debating in politics, didn’t do those debates in a cone of silence. His practices at Camp David involved more people in the rehearsal hangar than were on the stage at the debate. That showed. He struggled to find talking points that had apparently been drilled into his head, and he came off confused in the process. It was a disaster.
It’s personal between these men. The accusations of infidelity, corruption and everything short of murder were tossed around. Trump did exactly what he needed to do, Biden, aside from not falling down, didn’t even come close. It was shocking.
I realize I’m a partisan, but I honestly have no idea how he recovers from this.
It’s unclear whether Biden did well enough to survive to the Democratic convention. The coming weeks will be filled with meetings of Democratic mega-donors and party elites, including Barack Obama and the Clintons, discussing whether they can have a “come to Jesus” meeting with him or whether it will do more damage to their chances. They will focus-group the pros and cons of replacing him, and with whom.
As an indication of just how bad it was, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof posted this on X: “I wish Biden would reflect on this debate performance and then announce his decision to withdraw from the race, throwing the choice of Democratic nominee to the convention. Someone like [Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer] or [Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)] or [Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo] could still jump in and beat Trump.”
It really was that bad.
Derek Hunter is host of the Derek Hunter Podcast and a former staffer for the late Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.).