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First a cold, then poor preparation and now jet lag.
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BidenThe campaign has offered a number of reasons to explain his poor performance during the debates.
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This comes as pressure mounts on Biden to step down and make way for a replacement.
President Joe Biden has offered a new explanation for his disastrous debate performance: jet lag.
He gave a reason for his rambling sentences, slurred language and blank facial expression during the June 27 CNN debate with his former President Donald TrumpBiden said he “almost fell asleep on stage.”
Speaking to donors at a fundraising event in Virginia on Tuesday, he added that he was “not very smart” about his use of debate time. “I decided to travel around the world a couple of times, pass through about 100 time zones“s,” Biden said.
He added: “It’s not an excuse, it’s an explanation.”
Other reasons for his poor performance
However, the explanation for the jet lag differs from the explanation given by his own campaign a few days ago.
Biden’s campaign source said he was nursing a cold during the debate. Biden had a cold heading into the big night, The Wall Street Journal reported, which explained his hoarse voice and coughing.
After the debate, Biden’s critics and supporters alike speculated about whether his advanced age could hurt the Democratic candidates’ chances of winning in 2024.
And on that front, the Biden camp is willing to admit the obvious: The president is old.
When asked during a White House press conference whether Biden’s “cognitive decline” was “an episode or a condition,” his spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said he was no longer a young man and “he’s a little slower than he used to be.”
Biden himself said at a campaign event after the North Carolina debate on Friday: “Folks, I may not walk as smoothly, I may not talk as smoothly as I used to. I may not debate as well as I used to.
“But what I do know is how to tell the truth,” he added.
The Biden Blame Game
Several media reports show that the blame game is still going on behind the scenes. Several parties speculate that Biden’s top advisors have not prepared him well for the big confrontation with Trump.
His family has argued behind closed doors that key advisers who groomed Biden should be demoted or fired, PoliticsThey pointed fingers at Biden’s senior adviser, Anita Dunn; her husband, Bob Bauer, Biden’s personal attorney; and Biden’s former chief of staff, Ron Klain.
Three anonymous sources told Politico that the Biden family criticized these three aides — all of whom helped Biden train for the CNN debate — for not preparing him well enough to go on the attack.
Donors have weighed in, too. Democratic megadonor John Morgon said Biden should eliminate his “clique,” which includes Anita Dunn and Bob Bauer.
“I think he misplaced his trust in these three people, and I think that’s been the case from the beginning,” Morgan told Politico.
Another longtime Democratic donor, Whitney Tilson, wrote on X that he felt “misled” by Biden’s poor performance.
“If the man I saw at the debate is the real Joe Biden, then it would be a waste of my time and money to support him because he has virtually no chance of beating Trump,” Tilson wrote.
Fear is growing within the ranks of the Democratic Party
Despite the many reasons given for the performance during the debate, Democrats are growing concerned.
Elected Democrats previously loyal to Biden have again raised doubts about the president’s ability to run for a second term, joining those calling for him to resign.
A Democratic House aide told Reuters that 25 Democrats were preparing to ask Biden to drop out of the race, with Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett the first to call on the president to step aside on Tuesday.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Tuesday also found concerns within the party, with one in three Democrats saying Biden should withdraw from the race in favor of a replacement.
Several names have been mentioned, including Vice President Kamala Harris, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, and more.
Representatives for Biden did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.
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