After a debate that saw Joe Biden mumble through his speech, commentators on cable news networks wondered what might happen next.
Could there be a contested Democratic convention? How would that even work? Replacing the president may not be an option, they said, but many credentialed Democrats are talking about it, spurred by Biden’s troubling debate performance.
MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace explained how a candidate could release his delegates. Joy Reid said someone had sent her the rules.
“The rules are in circulation,” Wallace laughed.
“Nobody is saying it’s going to happen, it’s highly unlikely,” Reid reiterated.
The fact that a liberal network would broach the idea of whether a sitting president running for reelection can be replaced after winning the nomination highlights the post-debate rush among Democrats to affirm Biden’s ability to lead the nation. Many are wondering whether the party should seriously consider what could be done differently instead.
Biden faltered from the start in the debate, the first of the 2024 presidential election. He was difficult to understand, mumbling and mumbling his lines, some of which — had they been spoken with the intended force — could have landed successfully. He said Donald Trump has “the morals of an alley cat,” but even that one-liner was hard to make out.
Biden had challenged the former president to a debate, scheduled earlier than usual, in an effort to shift the momentum of the race. He had delivered a powerful State of the Union address in which he came across as sharp and energetic. A debate could give his campaign a boost at a time when he is trailing Trump.
Instead of a victory march, or the usual whining about who won the debate, it was clear that Democrats saw Biden’s performance as a burden.
Related: Biden’s poor performance and Trump’s lies: Four key lessons from the debate
Kamala Harris then appeared on CNN and MSNBC to push back and reiterate why voters should side with Biden. She and Gavin Newsom, the California governor and Biden surrogate, both spoke repeatedly about how Trump lied and deflected during the debate — and tried to remind voters what a Trump presidency was and could be like again.
“It was a slow start, there’s no doubt about it, but I thought it was a strong finish,” the vice president said on MSNBC before launching into a list of Biden’s accomplishments, saying Biden is fighting for the people while Trump is fighting for himself.
Newsom called the questions on MSNBC “not helpful” and “unnecessary,” saying the conversations are “rabbit holes” that undermine Biden’s record and impede democracy and the fate of the country.
“We have to have this president’s support,” Newsom said. “You don’t turn around for one performance. Which party does that?”
The assurances came as Democratic aides and officials, both publicly and behind the scenes, raised concerns about their prospects in November, following a debate that focused on Biden’s age and acumen, his greatest weakness.
David Plouffe, a Democratic strategist and former Obama campaign manager, called the debate “kind of a Defcon 1 moment.”
“The most important thing in this election is the concerns of voters — and it’s both swing voters and grassroots voters — about his age, and those only grew tonight,” Plouffe said.
Democrats have figured out ways for the Biden camp to turn the moment back on him and get his performance out of voters’ minds: send out his surrogates to support him, put strong speakers like Harris or Newsom on the morning shows, announce an initiative or endorsement of or grand idea. Anything to change the story.
The stakes of this election — the fate of democracy itself — underscore how important Democrats value a victory in November, and how concerned they are that Biden could lose to Trump, who represents an attack on their most fundamental values.
Maria Shriver, the former first lady of California, said she loves Biden and knows he is a good person, but that the evening was “heartbreaking in many ways.”
“This is a big political moment. There is panic within the Democratic party. It’s going to be a long night.”
Related: Biden struggles to get landlines as Trump trails in first presidential debate
Nicholas Kristof, the left-wing political columnist, said on Twitter/X that he hopes Biden will think about the debate and decide to withdraw from the race so the convention can decide who the nominee should be. He suggested someone like Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown or Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
Former Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill said on MSNBC that Biden had one job, and he wasn’t doing it: He had to “reassure America that at his age, he could do the job, and he failed.” Democrats are doing more than just privately wringing their hands and wondering why the Biden surrogates, who performed well to counter Biden’s debate performance, aren’t the ones at the top of the list, she said.
“I know what this felt like tonight: It felt like a slap in the face,” McCaskill said.
