Some of the initial reactions from CNN and MSNBC contributors following Thursday night’s debate between President Joe Biden and President Donald J. Trump:
Nicolle Wallace, MSNBC: “There is a conversation happening inside Biden’s circle and certainly a much more frank conversation happening inside the Democratic coalition and I think there will be stories of a lot of concern about the performance tonight…I think conversations range from whether he should be in this race tomorrow morning to what was wrong with him.”
Joy Reid, MSNBC: “The universal reaction was somewhere approaching panic. The people who were texting with me were very concerned about President Biden seeming extremely feeble, seeming extremely weak…President Biden had one job tonight — one primary job — and yes it was to litigate Donald Trump’s criminality and all those things, but he had to settle his own party…He did not do that. He did the opposite of that. He made them more panicked…I know for a fact that Joe Biden passionately believes that he is the only person that can beat Donald Trump…He believes that he is the only person that can do it. The problem is, after tonight, his party doesn’t believe that.”
John King, CNN: “This was a game-changing debate in the sense that right now as we speak there is a deep, a wide and a very aggressive panic in the Democratic Party…They are having conversations about the President’s performance, which they think was dismal, which they think will hurt other people down the Party in the ticket, and they’re having conversations about what they should do about it…I’ve been doing this for 30-something years, going on 40 years, and I have never, ever had what happened (on my phone) tonight happen in the middle of a debate. It started early and it continued. These are people who love Joe Biden…They leave this debate panicked.”
Abby Phillip, CNN: “The panic that I am hearing from Democrats is not like anything that I have heard in this campaign so far…Biden’s answers in a lot of cases where not coherent…There’s a real concern here tonight that there’s been some real damage done that cannot be undone.”
David Axelrod, CNN: “There is a feeling, I think there was a sense of shock, actually, at how he came out at the beginning of this debate…He seemed a little disoriented…There are going to be discussions about whether he should continue.”
Kate Bedingfield, former Biden White House Communications Director: “Look, it was a really disappointing debate performance from Joe Biden. I don’t think there’s any other way to slice it. His biggest issue that he had to prove to the American people was that he had the energy, he had the stamina and he didn’t do that. So I think that is of concern.”
Van Jones, former special adviser to President Obama: “Um, that was painful. I love Joe Biden. I worked for Joe Biden. He did not do well at all…I love that guy, that’s a good man. He loves his country. He’s doing the best that he can. But he had a test to meet tonight to restore confidence of the country and of the base and he failed to do that. I think there’s a lot of people who are going to want to see him consider taking a different course ow. We’re still far from our convention and there is still time for this Party to figure out a different way forward if he will allow us to do that. But that was not what we needed from Joe Biden and it’s personally painful for people. It’s not just panic, it’s pain.”
Additional reactions shared by Trump campaign:
We knew Crooked Joe Biden would humiliate himself at tonight’s debate.
Nobody knew it’d be THIS BAD.
The reaction speaks for itself:
- NBC’s Kristen Welker: “There’s widespread panic among Democrats.”
- NBC’s Chuck Todd: “Biden looks like the caricature that conservative media has been painting … you saw it before your eyes!”
- CNN’s Chris Wallace: “This has been, quite frankly, a car accident in slow motion.”
- CBS’ Norah O’Donnell: “What’s wrong with [Biden]?”
- CNN’s John King: “[Team Biden] leaves this debate PANICKED.”
- CNN’s Abby Phillip: “The panic that I’m hearing from Democrats is not like anything I’ve heard in this campaign so far.”
- CNN’s John King: “There is a deep, a wide, and a very aggressive panic in the Democrat Party.”
- MSNBC’s Joy Reid: “The universal reaction [from Democrats] was somewhere approaching panic.”
- CBS’ Ed O’Keefe: Democrats are saying Biden “has one significant problem — his age — and tonight made it worse.”
- CNN’s Scott Jennings: “[Biden’s] candidacy has fallen.”
- Former Biden comms director Kate Bedingfield: “A really disappointing debate performance from Joe Biden.”
- CNN’s Erin Burnett: “Does [Biden] know how bad this was?”
- Frank Luntz: “My focus group of undecided voters want Joe Biden to step aside.”
- CNN’s Van Jones: “That was not what we needed from Joe Biden.”
- MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace: “What was wrong with [Biden]?”
ABC’s Mary Bruce: “There is no question — this is NOT the night that the Biden campaign wanted or needed.”
