Opinion: Biden’s debate performance is the wake-up call Democrats wanted to avoid

If Thursday night’s presidential debate was a sign of the race to come, I don’t blame the record number of American voters who say they’ve checked out of the political process entirely.

This isn’t the column I expected to write. Prior to Thursday’s debate, Joe Biden’s team raised expectations that the president would clarify his campaign message and bring the fight to Donald Trump’s doorstep.

Whatever those best laid plans were, it took less than 12 minutes for them to come unraveled. Instead, Biden showcased something his advisers have spent much of the campaign trying to avoid: his age.

Trump swung between his usual tough-guy shtick and cries of victimhood, but that tired routine paled in comparison to the hoarse and meandering Biden that showed up on that Atlanta stage. For many voters, Thursday’s matchup on CNN was their first real look at both Trump and Biden since the conclusion of the 2020 campaign. What they saw will only amplify the persistent concern that Biden is simply too old to mount a vigorous campaign to protect America’s embattled democracy.

To be clear, there’s a chasm of difference between a candidate’s ability to debate and his ability to effectively govern America’s sprawling administrative state. Biden, more than anyone else, exemplifies that stark divide, boasting one of the most legislatively successful first-term presidencies since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932.

Whatever his once formidable debating talents once were, Biden proved unable to parry Trump’s flood of mistruths and distortions. At one point in the first quarter of the debate, Biden became so spun around in his own argument that he turned a question about abortion into a monologue about immigration that inadvertently made his opponent’s point for him.

In another moment, Biden claimed that he “ finally beat Medicare .” The surreal gaffe inadvertently teed up one of Trump’s most reliable anti-Biden slams.

For much of the debate, Trump seemed to have the stage to himself. Instead of sparring with Biden as he did in 2020, the former president instead directed his litany of half-truths directly to the American people. It must have been a humbling moment for Biden, who used the same tactic to great effect against Trump four years ago.

But debates aren’t just about appearances. We should at least strive to consider the substance of what each man said.

It took Trump all of 45 minutes to mainstream his lie that the men and women who attacked the Capitol Building on January 6 were “so innocent,” even telling Biden he should be “ashamed” for prosecuting the extremists responsible for attacking police officers and ransacking government offices.

When asked by Biden to denounce the Proud Boys and other extremists involved in the violence, Trump simply ignored him. Jake Tapper, ostensibly one of the evening’s moderators, apparently didn’t think the point merited even a cursory follow-up.

Biden did his best to frame the 2024 campaign as a referendum on democracy itself. “Who ever heard of a president seeking retribution?” he said roughly an hour into the debate. “Who ever heard of a president who said Hitler did some good things ? I’d like to know what they are.” Again, Trump brushed the comment off, and neither moderator pursued the subject as interesting enough to explore.

It’s tough to say whether things like age or political skill even matter anymore. Trump knows this well enough, as the first man in American history to win the presidency with absolutely no prior policy or political experience. Most voters are now firmly aligned in either Democratic or Republican camps , and they self-identify as unpersuadable. A narrow sliver of independent voters will likely be the deciders as to whether Biden returns to the White House or our country embraces an openly authoritarian second Trump administration.

The Biden campaign has increasingly come to rely on a dense network of surrogates across traditional and social media to refine and amplify the president’s message. That’s essential for any campaign, but it can’t fill the gap left by a candidate who struggles so visibly to communicate his own message to the American people. Admitting that may upset many Democratic loyalists, but it is the truth. Unlike the Trump campaign, Democrats can’t be in the business of advancing comforting lies, even if forced to ask tough questions about Biden’s debate performance and efficacy as a campaigner.

I am not a Biden campaign staffer, nor am I a Bidenworld confidant. I don’t know if high-level conversations are happening right now about Biden’s concerning performance, but it would be political malpractice to pretend Thursday’s debate went well for the president.

Much like Barack Obama’s mess of a first debate against Mitt Romney in 2012, tonight’s debate should spur serious soul-searching about what needs to be fixed on Biden’s campaign. The alternative is a second Trump presidency that will upend our democracy forever.

Max Burns is a veteran Democratic strategist and founder of Third Degree Strategies.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.