Welcome to the online version of From the Political Bureauan evening newsletter featuring the latest reporting and analysis from the NBC News Politics team on the campaign trail, the White House, and Capitol Hill.
In today’s edition, senior political editor Mark Murray looks at how Democrats’ attempts to downplay concerns about Joe Biden’s age have gotten to them. Moreover, we analyze all the consequences of Thursday’s debate and another day of important Supreme Court decisions.
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Biden’s allies have spent a year brushing aside concerns about his age. That was a mistake.
By Mark Murray
After Thursday’s debate, there’s a separate story to think about, besides the president Joe Biden‘s shaky performance and former President Donald Trump‘s lies and misleading statements.
That storyline: the yearslong Democratic campaign to discredit concerns about Biden’s age, his fitness and his ability to beat Trump in a non-Covid presidential campaign — especially as polls show a supermajority of voters are concerned about Biden’s age.
Biden’s allies and liberal commentators looked derisively at Rep. Daan Philips‘ plea last summer for someone, anyone, to challenge Biden in the primaries to prove he was up to the task in a race against Trump. (That someone turned out to be Phillips, a Democrat from Minnesota.)
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“He’s essentially torpedoing his career completely and destroying any goodwill he has within the Democratic Party,” a House Democrat told NBC News of Phillips’ challenge to Biden.
They attacked special counsel Robert Hur after his report this year described Biden as an “older man with a poor memory.”
“Cheap shot” and “playing politics” was how Biden’s allies responded to Hur.
They laughed at news organizations (like The Wall Street Journal) and prominent commentators (like Ezra Klein and David Ignatius) who have raised doubts about Biden’s suitability in recent months.
And they launched a campaign against “cheap fakes” that portrayed Biden’s age, mannerisms and gait in the public eye — sometimes misleadingly, sometimes not.
But who was more right than wrong after last night’s debate? Those who raised concerns about Biden, or those who dismissed and discredited those concerns?
That’s an important question to ask now that Democrats are in a full-blown panic over Biden as their presidential option after last night’s debate.
The White House, the Democratic Party and their allies have ignored concerns about Biden’s age and fitness for an entire year. And now there are less than two months until the party will officially select its presidential candidate.
Biden tries to recover: ‘I don’t debate as well as I used to’
Biden tried to turn his disappointing debate performance into a rallying cry for his supporters at a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday. He painted himself as a candidate who was in trouble but not out of the running. Some within his party whispered that they wanted to replace him as the top candidate.
“I know I’m not a young man anymore. I don’t walk as easily as I used to. I don’t speak as fluently as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to, but I know what I do know: I know how to tell the truth!” said an energetic Biden, nodding at the criticism he received after the debate while contrasting it with assessments of the accuracy of several Trump statements.
“When you get knocked down, get back up,” Biden shouted to a cheering crowd.
How Democrats Respond: Privately, many Democrats — including some lawmakers — have said they are concerned about Biden’s chances of election. But publicly, they have put on a brave face and downplayed the impact of a single debate.
On Capitol Hill, Democrats acknowledged that Biden had performed poorly on Thursday night, but disagreed with those who called for him to withdraw from the presidential race.
“I thought he performed poorly,” said Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the former House majority leader and an influential figure within the party credited with his pivotal role in Biden’s Democratic victory. 2020 primaries.
But he said it’s a long road to the November election and that “one debate doesn’t make a campaign.”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said: “He started out bad. I thought he came through on the issues well later.”
Democrats conducting key Senate and House elections this fall largely remained silent or dodged questions about Biden’s performance in the debates.
But perhaps most crucially, Biden received support from his former boss. “Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know,” former President Barack Obama posted on
How Trump responds: Trump ridiculed Biden at a rally in Virginia on Friday, saying the president had “no idea what he was doing.”
“It’s not his age, it’s his competence,” Trump said. “He’s not respected anywhere in the world.”
Stay up to date with the latest debate reactions and 2024 election news with our live blog →
A big day at the Supreme Court – and there will be another on Monday
In addition to all the negative consequences of the debate, Friday also saw a number of important rulings by the Supreme Court.
1. The court ruled in favor of a former police officer who wants to have a charge of obstruction of justice dismissed for participating in the riots at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The 6-3 vote on non-ideological grounds delivered a victory for defendant Joseph Fischer, who is one of hundreds of January 6 defendants — including Trump — charged with obstructing an official proceeding in an attempt to prevent that Congress certified Biden’s election victory.
2. The court also overturned a 40-year-old precedent that has been a target of the right because it is seen as strengthening the power of “deep state” bureaucrats, dealing a blow to federal agencies. In a ruling challenging a fishing regulation, the court consigned a 1984 decision called Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council to history. That decision ruled that judges must leave interpretation of the law to federal agencies when a statute’s language is ambiguous, giving bureaucrats regulatory flexibility.
3. And the court rejected a constitutional challenge to ordinances passed by a small Oregon city that punishes homeless people for sleeping on public property when they have nowhere else to go.
4. In addition to the judge’s opinions issued Friday morning, the Supreme Court at the last minute rejected a bid by former Trump adviser Steve Bannon to avoid a four-month prison sentence for defying subpoenas from a House committee on Jan. 6. Bannon is due to report to jail on Monday.
All of this sets the stage for the Supreme Court’s most high-profile ruling on Monday: whether Trump has sweeping presidential immunity that would protect him from prosecution for his attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
That’s all from the Political Bureau for now. If you have any feedback – good or bad – please email us at politieknieuwsbrief@nbcuni.com
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This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
