From the minute President Biden shuffled onto the stage in Atlanta, millions of people watching at home knew something was wrong.
White House aides fill group chats with distraught messages about the debate: 'Abysmal'
Aides shared their grim assessments of an 'ugly' debate performance by President Joe Biden, with Democratic operatives relying on expletives to describe the current state of the race
Some aides were so disconcerted by the president's performance in the debate, including several mumbled responses, that they spent last night updating their LinkedIn profiles 'just in case.'
Influential New York Times columnist Tom Friedman called Biden’s performance ‘heartbreaking’ and said he had ‘no business running for reelection.’
Former Obama political advisor David Axelrod was among those who raised doubts about Biden’s reelection drive months ago, and continued to raise concerns.
‘It is not easy. The president is the guy who holds the cards here. If he wants to be the nominee and continue to be the nominee, he’ll be the nominee.
Then he added, ‘Perhaps he’ll decide that the patriotic thing to do is to step aside.’
Former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton said ‘I’ll be voting for Biden.’
Biden acknowledged he isn't as good a debater as he used to be
Among the former White House aides raising the alarm is Jon Favreau, who helped pen many of Obama’s memorable campaign and White House speeches.
‘Obviously that debate was a f***ing disaster,’ he said.
President Joe Biden's senior advisers, aides and the First Lady have a lot of explaining to do.
From the minute President Biden shuffled onto the stage in Atlanta, millions of Americans watching knew something was wrong.
His appearance was, frankly, shocking – mouth agape and eyes hooded.
Then, he opened his mouth – and it was worse.
His voice was weak. His train of thought wandering.
Throughout the 90-minute debate, he was often difficult to hear and completely unintelligible.
At one point, Biden inexplicably careened from discussing abortion policy to illegal immigrant crime.
'There's a lot of young women who are being raped by their... by their in-laws, by their... by their spouses, brothers and sisters, by... just... it's just... it's just ridiculous,' he said.
Ridiculous, indeed.
Even Democrats were astounded.
'There is a sense of shock about how he came out at the beginning of this debate and about how his voice sounded,' said former Obama campaign chief strategist David Axelrod. 'He seemed disoriented.'
Biden looked all of his 81 years as he repeatedly lost his train of thought and meandered into silence.
President Joe Biden prompted panic among Democrats, who are wondering whether he should still be the party nominee in November
Biden's excruciating debate is described by a Democratic donor as the 'worst performance in history'
- He is now facing calls from many Democrats, donors and strategists to step down
Biden sounded tired and hoarse, frequently stumbled over his words and on one occasion completely lost his train of thought and trailed off into silence
Another Democrat bigshot put it even more flatly:
'We're so f***ed,' he said. 'He cannot deliver a single line.'
One political analyst summed it up in the hours following the torturous 90-minute ordeal: 'There's going to be a lot of bedwetting (among Democrats) tonight.'
On one occasion Joe completely lost his train of thought and trailed off into silence, prompting moderator Jake Tapper to dive in and rescue him.
Democrats fretted over the stark display of the president's failing faculties.
'I think the panic has set in,' David Axelrod, a longtime advisor to former US president Barack Obama, said.
Another longtime strategist told NBC: 'There is no coming back from this disaster.'
Former special presidential adviser-turned CNN commentator Van Jones said that even though he 'loved' Joe Biden, his debate performance was 'painful'.
'He had a test tonight to restore the confidence of the country, of his political base, and he failed.'
Former Democrat senator Claire McCaskill told MSNBC: 'My job right now is to be really honest. Joe Biden had one thing he had to do tonight. And he didn't do it."
'There's a full-on panic about this performance,' said NBC's Chuck Todd.
President Joe Biden, 81, gave a disastrous performance in the first presidential debate
Insiders described Biden's debate showing as a 'train wreck' and 'dumpster fire'.
Former key Barack Obama adviser David Axelrod said there was a 'sense of shock' in the Democrat party and there would be 'discussions about whether he (Biden) should continue Meanwhile, former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said the state of panic had reached 'DEFCON 1'.
Deflated' White House staffers have reportedly been filling group chats with messages saying their boss's performance was 'ugly' and 'abysmal'.
Even Democrat Congressional leaders admitted Biden's debate performance, where he meandered and struggled to finish sentences, was bad.
Former President Barack Obama has finally spoken out about his former VP's horrific performance in his debate against Donald Trump.
'Bad debate nights happen,' said Obama.
Even Progressive Caucus co-chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said, 'He had a bad night.'
Biden talked in a low soft voice and often finished his answer without using the full amount of time allotted to him
During the debate at times Joe seemed to freeze, once for quite a long time, and he had difficulty stringing together cohesive statements.
Joe's performance was so bad that the New York Times print edition didn't even cover the debate.
Fox News Contributor Joe Concha hit out at the outlet, telling DailyMail.com that he believes had Biden performed well, it would have been splashed all over its cover.
'I find it absolutely and utterly incredulous that the New York Times would omit debate coverage on its front page for an event that will go down as the most watched political event of the year besides election night,' Concha said.
Author Dr. Jordan Peterson also waded in, posting: 'Did I just hallucinate the disastrous presidential debate?' and shared a picture of the Times front page.
One reader asked 'What’s missing from today’s front page of The New York Times?'
Another said 'I just looked at the front page of the New York Times. WTH happened last night?'
In a piece online titled 'God Help Us', NYT columnist Josh Barro added that Biden was 'especially disastrous' and was 'mumbling, at time incoherent and seeming really, really old'.
Thomas Friedman, a political commentator and friend of the president, added: 'I watched the Biden-Trump debate alone in a Lisbon hotel room, and it made me weep.
'I cannot remember a more heartbreaking moment in American presidential campaign politics in my lifetime — precisely because of what it revealed: Joe Biden has no business running for re-election.'
Former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, David Axelrod, conceded that Biden's first performance was damaging - right from the beginning - and the 90-minutes has shaken liberal America.
'I think there was a sense of shock about how he came out at the beginning of the debate, how his voice sounded, he seemed disoriented.'
At times, President Biden looked blankly into the camera or down at his notes (pictured) while Trump was speaking
Biden struggled at times to finish his sentences or complete a talking point before trying to move on.
Kate Bedingfeld, a former White House communications director for Joe Biden also panned the performance from her former boss.
'It was a really disappointing debate performance from Joe Biden,' she said. 'I don't think there is any other way to slice it.'
President Joe Biden fumbled for words in the debate
After Biden lost his train of thought at one point and stared ahead blankly, Donald Trump said: 'I really don't know what he just said'
'It would be political malpractice to pretend that tonight advanced the Biden campaign,' wrote MSNBC contributor and Democratic strategist Max Burns on social media.
Other Democrats reacted anonymously to reporters to signal their shock about Biden's performance.
CNN host Kasie Hunt wrote on social media that Democrats were 'nearly beside themselves watching this debate'.
She detailed texts from prominent Democrats on CNN.
'If I was Gavin (Newsom) or Gretchen (Whitmer), I’d be making calls tonight,' one Democrat told her. Another wrote simply 'we are f***d.'
Other Democrats voiced their panic on social media, urging the party to be honest about their chances.
'Texts from family and friends, all Democrats, are extremely concerning. You cannot just spin this and ignore the fact that this is not going well for our side,' wrote former New York City council member Jimmy Van Bramer on social media.
MSNBC's Nicole Wallace said the conversation about replacing Biden was 'live and active at the highest levels of the Democratic party.'
MSNBC's Joy Reid agreed, noting her phone was buzzing throughout the debate from texts from Democrats.
'The universal reaction was somewhere approaching panic,' she said, adding they were 'very concerned' about Biden appearing feeble and weak.'
Jill Biden walked out on stage to hug and kiss her husband after the event ended.
But in another awkward moment for the President, he was seen struggling to climb down the stairs to speak to moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper.
It was an unfortunate final image to cap off a night that sparked a Democratic meltdown, that the president will need to be replaced on the ballot. Senior Democratic leaders are reported to be having conversations about replacing him. The general sense is one of panic.
Biden froze in the first 12 minutes of the debate, leaving Democrats in a panic about the state of their candidate.
Jill Biden helped Joe Biden leave the debate stage
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden walk off stage at the conclusion of the presidential debate
It was Biden's struggle to find answers that will leave a lasting impression on voters, who have repeatedly questioned the 81-year-old's stamina and mental capacities.
At multiple times in the night, in answers on different topics, Biden fumbled.
Democrats were reportedly in meltdown as it happened across tens of millions of American television screens.
The mistakes continued to pile up.
Biden kept fumbling in his answers as he spoke about abortion rights and women's health.
'There was a young woman murdered.
'She was murdered by an immigrant. A lot of young women get raped by in-laws, spouses, brothers.
'We have a thousand trillionaires in America' and then corrected himself to 'billionaires.'
Now even the New York Times has turned on Joe Biden - as the Democrat-friendly newspaper urged the President to quit the race for the White House the day after his disastrous debate.
In a blunt editorial, the broadsheet slammed him as a 'shadow' of his former self
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