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Anticipation was so high for last night's presidential debate that CNN was giddy. Normally, nobody watches CNN.
Hours before the debate, Breitbart News claimed there were three things viewers should watch for in the hour-and-a-half contest.
Other pundits claimed Trump would win big time, while still others were asking why Trump agreed to the debate in the first place because it was conducted exclusively under Joe Biden and CNN's rules?
Be informed, not misled.
Why Trump agreed to Biden's to debate under Biden's rules.
Earlier this week former President Trump offered insights into his view on the dealmaking that led to CNN hosting the debate.
The Washington Examiner reported, “Crooked Joe Biden is the WORST debater I have ever faced — He can’t put two sentences together!” Trump wrote on Truth Social in May. He often cast doubt on Biden’s willingness to debate him at all. “He can’t talk,” he told Minnesota Republicans. “He can’t walk. Can’t find his way off the stage. Can’t put two sentences together.”
“What they did, I’m pretty sure, is that they approached me with a debate that I couldn’t take,” Trump told the Washington Examiner’s Byron York. “Dana Bash, Jake Tapper, no audience, sitting down, originally sitting down, a dead debate, turn off the mics when you’re not speaking so I can’t interrupt him. … They knew I wouldn’t accept that.”
And yet Trump did, in part because of his confidence that any contrast with Biden on age, acuity, and stamina will redound to the former president’s benefit. However, Trump did concede in his interview with York that he interrupted Biden too much in their first debate in 2020.
Breitbart News predicted Biden would focus on three hoaxes during the debate. Earlier in the day yesterday, they said: "CNN’s presidential debate rules are set for tonight as President Joe Biden looks to eviscerate his opponent by potentially raising three debunked hoaxes."
The three hoaxes:
- Russian misinformation hoax: It wasn't Hunter's laptop. It was planted by the Russians.
- Inflation hoax: "Inflation is coming down," while it has, in fact, increased by 20%.
- Threat to democracy. Biden will speak about his leading reelection pitch of defending democracy from Trump. “When I’m on stage, it’ll be me and this grassroots team versus Donald Trump and his MAGA minions,” Biden’s website states. “It will be democracy versus authoritarianism.”
Can Trump win a rigged debate?
Glenn Beck and his staff were asking themselves the same question, along with other questions: "After winning the coin toss, why did Biden decide to give Trump the last word? Will we see an invigorated Biden like we saw during the State of the Union? Will Trump learn from his mistakes during the 2020 election? Why is the debate being held so early? Are the expectations set too high for Trump?
They concluded, "Nothing about this election is normal. Tomorrow, June 27th, is the first presidential debate of the 2024 election season, and despite being the most unusual election in American history, it is likely the most important election in our lifetime."
The great train wreck.
Fifteen minutes before the debate was officially over, POLITICO, a Left-leaning, widely read news organization, published this headline: "Dems freak out over Biden’s debate performance: ‘Biden is toast.’"
POLITICO continued, "President Joe Biden opened the debate with a raspy voice and disjointed, rambling answers, reigniting Democratic concerns about his age and ability to take on former President Donald Trump."
"Many of the president’s answers were hard to follow. At one point, seemingly losing his train of thought, Biden said 'we finally beat Medicare,' misspeaking about his own policy on earned benefits."
In text messages with POLITICO, Democrats expressed confusion and concern as they watched the first minutes of the event. One former Biden White House and campaign aide called it “terrible,” adding that they have had to ask themselves over and over, "What did he just say? This is crazy.”
Another veteran Democratic operative texted, “Biden seems to have needed a few minutes to warm up. I wonder if the lack of an audience was the right decision. And poor guy needs a tea. Maybe a whiskey.”
Biden’s rambling answers provided Trump multiple opportunities to jump in with retorts. At one point, after an answer ostensibly on immigration, Trump said, “I don’t know what he said at the end there. I don’t think he knows what he said.”
Concluding, POLITICO said, "One prominent [Democrat] operative texted, “Time for an open convention.”
Katie Pavlich wrote in Townhall, "Democrats are panicking in the aftermath of President Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump."
During the debate Thursday night, former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang called for Biden to be removed and replaced on the ballot.
Over on CNN and MSNBC, there's a full meltdown and admissions Biden should be replaced before the DNC convention in August.
Leftist MSNBC posted this on X, "There has been a uniformly negative reaction to Biden's performance tonight...an enfeebled person...He is very old and was lost FREQUENTLY!"
Washington Free Beacon ran this headline: "For Whom the Split Screen Tolls Column: It tolls for Joe Biden."
"It was clear within the first few minutes that the presidential debate was not going to go well for President Joe Biden. His breath was heavy, his voice was raspy and faint, his physical bearing poor. When he wasn't speaking, his mouth was agape. His answers rambled, and he was sometimes incoherent. Every so often, he coughed noticeably. He did not look well."
Takeaway
The debate was a trainwreck. Probably the worst debate in the history of presidential debates.
Trump was focused and poised. He had a grasp on every issue addressed by the moderators.
I personally hope Trump refuses to debate Biden again. I would not want to have the world see another disaster like they saw last night from the sitting President of the United States.
Biden's handlers tried to explain that Biden had a cold. It was much worse than a "cold."
Meanwhile, many Democrats are looking for a replacement for Biden, not knowing how to prevent Vice President Kamala Harris from becoming the next president by default.
I'll be talking more about this on our live radio program this morning.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged.