US voters woke up to post-debate reviews of the first Biden-Trump debate with headlines that echoed Democratsâ anxiety that the incumbent president is too cognitively weak and physically frail to sustain another five months of political campaigning or another term in office.
Those anxieties, multiple outlets reported, were being reflected in pressure from Democratic donors and former Democratic officials who are now openly talking about replacing Biden with an alternative presidential candidate at the partyâs convention in Chicago in August.
âA Fumbling Performance, and a Panicking Party â, said the New York Times on its front page. Columnist Nicholas Kristof, a centrist Democrat, said that Biden is a âgood manâ who had capped his political career with a successful presidential term⦠âbut I hope he reviews his debate performance Thursday evening and withdraws from the raceâ.
Kristof floated Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Gina Raimondo, the US secretary of commerce, as potential candidates âin a good position to defeat Trump in Novemberâ.
The Washington Post headlined: âBiden stumbles as Trump spreads falsehoodsâ , noting that Biden had âstruggled through a raspy voice and uneven deliveryâ while former president Trump had respondent to Bidenâs âcharged and deeply personal attacksâ with âa blizzard of personal gibes and falsehoodsâ.
The Wall Street Journal said: Democrats Privately Discuss Replacing Biden on Presidential Ticketâ, and noted that Bidenâs âhalting performance left the Democratic Party in turmoil, with officials trying to sort through the presidentâs prospects after an appearance in which he stumbled over words, stammered through many answers and elevated widespread voter concerns that he is too old to serveâ.
The Los Angeles Times was kinder. Under the headline âBidenâs verbal stumbles, Trumpâs âmorals of an alley catââ, the west coast newspaper said Novemberâs candidates âcalled each other criminals and liars and looked at each other with open disdainâ. But, the paper said: âBidenâs early struggles with his words and the lack of timbre in his voice have instead created panic among Democratsâ.
The Guardian reported: âDefcon 1 momentâ: Bidenâs debate performance sends Democrats into panicâ, while internationally the headlines have been scarcely different. Left-leaning Israeli paper Haaretz said: âMeandering Biden, Pathological Trump: The Worst Possible Presidential Debate Was a Sad Night for Americaâ.
âLast night, Biden lost. Trump lost. American democracy lost. And although televised presidential debates rarely change the trajectory of an election, for Democrats, the spectacle on CNN was the sum of all their fearsâ, Haaretz said.
The South China Morning Post led on what the candidates positionsâ meant for China, noting that Biden âtook aimâ at Trumpâs proposed tariff hikes while Trump had accused his rival of being âafraid to deal with China and raising the risk of global conflictâ.
The Australian said that Democrats are in a âtailspinâ and âfuriousâ at Bidenâs âpoor performanceâ as âattention quickly turned to whether there needed to be a new candidate selected for the party at its August conventionâ.
El Pais said the night brought âBidenâs misfortune brought CNN and Fox News togetherâ, adding that âthe presidentâs poor performance gives way to Democratic voices calling for an urgent replacement before the electionsâ.
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And in France, Le Monde described âthe sinking of Joe Biden during the televised debate against Donald Trumpâ â a debate that had âturned into a disaster for the Democratic president, who appeared on several occasions overwhelmed, stumbling over words, unable to follow his train of thoughtâ.
And the BBC headlined, âBidenâs incoherent debate performance heightens fears over his ageâ. Correspondent Anthony Zurcher wrote that US voter concerns about Bidenâs age and fitness for office heading into the debate had been exacerbated. âTo say that this debate did not put those concerns to rest may be one of the greatest understatements of the year,â Zurcher wrote.
But CNN, which hosted the debate and had come under intense political pressure over fears that the moderators would slip into political bias over its handling of the candidates, was perhaps clearest of all.
âBidenâs disastrous debate pitches his reelection bid into crisisâ, it said, noting that if Biden loses his bid for re-election in November, âhistory will record that it took just 10 minutes to destroy a presidencyâ.
âIt was clear a political disaster was about to unfold as soon as the 81-year-old commander in chief stiffly shuffled on stage in Atlanta to stand eight feet from ex-president Donald Trump at what may turn into the most fateful presidential debate in historyâ, the cable news outlet said. In a snap poll of viewers, 67% said that former president was the winner.
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