Biden surrogates wake up to post-debate panic: ‘Can he run for president?’

Joe Biden’s supporters rattled after the president’s dismal debate performance, conceded it was a setback and on Friday morning suggested there would be a “truth-telling session” about it.

“I don't think that you can call the debate a great time for President Biden,” said Mitch Landrieu, the former mayor of New Orleans, Biden’s past infrastructure czar and a campaign surrogate, on “CNN This Morning.” “I think he had a rough time — there's no question about it.”

Landrieu’s messaging represented an increasingly frank narrative about Biden’s showing from his allies on Friday morning — including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who admitted he had a “bad debate night,” and the co-hosts of “Morning Joe,” Biden’s favorite show .

Morning shows often favorable to Biden still addressed the elephant in the newsroom Friday morning, pressing guests on a question raised by a growing chorus of panicked Democrats : whether Biden was fit to seek reelection. Biden himself could address his rocky debate performance during a rally in battleground North Carolina later Friday.

When asked if Democrats should consider replacing Biden, Landrieu called it “not likely” to happen.

“As the dust clears on this thing, this campaign has still got four months to go, and I think that Joe Biden is going to be the nominee,” he added.

“I can tell you that Joe Biden is up to the job,” Shapiro said, pledging his support but acknowledging the president’s “burden” to show he can continue to make the case against Trump.

Landrieu, who is a co-chair of Biden’s reelection effort, was pressed to explain why he could effectively prosecute Trump but Biden couldn’t, with the president instead delivering stumbling answers — some incomplete — in a raspy, hoarse voice for most of the 90-minute debate.

The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But the campaign Thursday night said the president was suffering from a cold .

What may be even more personal to Biden was a sharply critical review of the debate by “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough, who said now was a “good time” for Democrats to decide “whether this man we've known and loved for a very long time is up to the task of running for president of the United States.”

Biden, who regularly watches “Morning Joe,” “did not rise to the occasion” during the debate, Scarborough said. Voters, he added, needed to ask the same questions of the president that they have of Trump since 2016: “If he were CEO, and he turned in a performance like that, would any Fortune 500 corporation in America keep him on as CEO?”

Scarborough stressed that he views Biden as fit to lead America, but was not keen to call him fit to beat Trump in 2024. What made the host most frustrated, he said, was Biden’s inability to respond to Trump’s “barrage of lies” — and missing “one layup after another after another after another” during the debate.

Other anchors on the show tentatively floated the idea of Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer “taking soundings” on what to do, given their ability to reach Biden.

“You won’t see us spinning,” co-host Mika Brzezinski added. “He could not land a thought.”