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US presidential debate: Biden's performance leaves Democrats questioning his fitness for a second term

The bitter debate did not even start with the customary handshake

A somewhat erratic Joseph Biden left the Democratic camp wondering whether their 81-year-old candidate would be fit for a full second term in office as President of the United States. After Thursday evening's debate with the Republican nominee and former head of state Donald Trump, aged 78, many wondered if it was not too late to seek a replacement. In truth, neither candidate has yet been officially nominated, although both have secured the required number of delegates for the Republican and Democratic National Conventions beginning July 15 and Aug. 19 respectively.

On the other hand, Trump fell short of admitting whether he would be willing to accept the outcome of the Nov. 5 elections if he lost as memories of the Jan. 6 revolt lingered over the CNN stage at Atlanta’s Hyatt Regency hotel featuring no audience, a first since the 1960 verbal duel between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.

At any rate, observers agreed that Biden's onslaught consisting of Trump's recent felony conviction and other misdemeanors failed to hit the target because they were expressed in a faltering voice that elicited more doubts about the speaker than about the addressee. In the end, many prominent Democrats publicly questioned whether Biden could follow through as Trump allies immediately claimed victory.

Biden, who would be 86 if he finishes a second term in Jan. 2029, froze repeatedly, prompting anguish and alarm in the Democratic Party less than four months from the elections pitting the same candidates as four years before. In all fairness, Independent contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr. -the nephew of former Democratic President John F. Kennedy and son of Robert F. Kennedy Sr., both assassinated during presidential bids- was not allowed to participate in Thursday's eristics contests on the grounds that he represented too few voters.

Former Democratic New York state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi posted on X after the event that “President Biden is a good, honorable man. He has much to be proud of. It is time to step aside and call off this run” while other party leaders conceded during CNN's post-debate show that there was “a deep, a wide and a very aggressive panic in the Democratic Party.”

In this scenario, Biden’s most likely stand-in on the Democratic ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that her boss had a “slow start, but it was a strong finish.”

“I got the point that you’re making about a one-and-a-half-hour debate tonight — I’m talking about three and a half years of performance and work that has been historic,” she added.

Trump too capitalized on Biden's weaknesses: “He’s not equipped to be president; You know it, and I know it.”

Congresswoman Jen Kiggans, a Republican lawmaker representing Virginia's 2nd district, posted on social media that ”as a geriatric nurse practitioner who cared for so many older adults with cognitive impairment, this is heartbreaking to watch.”

Thursday's performance by the incumbent president seemed to corroborate what an overwhelming majority of prospective voters believe according to numerous surveys: that Biden, who is trailing Trump in most swing state surveys, is too old for another term.

In addition, Biden's flak calling Trump a “convicted felon” backfired when the Republican contender brought up that his rival's son Hunter had also been convicted earlier this month of federal gun crimes and awaited a second trial in Los Angeles over $1.4 million in alleged tax fraud from foreign relationships involving no other than Joseph Biden himself when he was Vice President under Barack Obama.

“He could be a convicted felon as soon as he gets out of office — Joe could be a convicted felon with all of the things that he’s done. He’s done horrible things,” Trump insisted while calling Biden “a Manchurian Candidate” who ”gets money from China.”

“The whole country is exploding because of you, because they don’t respect you, and they have to respect their president, and they don’t respect you throughout the world,” Trump went on in a dog-face debate that didn't even begin with the usual handshake.