The shockwaves are still reverberating after President Biden's disastrous performance in the first 2024 presidential debate against Donald Trump. What was supposed to be an opportunity for the incumbent to steady the Democratic base and project strength on the national stage has devolved into a full-blown crisis for his party.
From cable news talking heads to seasoned print columnists, a chorus of outrage erupted in the punditry almost immediately. CNN's John King described the reaction as "a deep, a wide and a very aggressive panic in the Democratic Party" that mushroomed "minutes into the debate" over Biden's "dismal" showing.
The blunt criticisms represented an unprecedented rebuke of the sitting president by his ostensible media allies. Long-time Biden supporter Joy Reid admitted on MSNBC that Democrats are teetering on "full-fledged panic" in the aftermath. Even NBC's Chuck Todd confessed Biden played into the "caricature" conservatives have painted of his cognitive abilities.
But it was the torrent of explicit calls for Biden to withdraw from the 2024 race that truly captured the magnitude of this debacle. Thomas Friedman, a prominent voice at the New York Times, wrote that the "heartbreaking" debate "made me weep" in realizing Biden has "no business running for re-election."
His Times colleague Nicholas Kristof echoed that dire sentiment, proposing names like Gretchen Whitmer, Sherrod Brown and Gina Raimondo as potential 11th-hour replacements at the nominating convention. Bloomberg's Tim O'Brien bluntly accused Trump of "taking control of the momentum" while Biden sadly "comes across as a somewhat dazed punching bag."
You'll never guess who they could make President next
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New evidence of a secret plan indicates he could soon return, and finish what he started.
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The liberal grievance media that typically serves as the Democratic Party's de facto public relations arm seemed to be in open revolt. "It's over," howled Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks amid calls for Biden to be "pulled" for appearing "ancient" and "losing his train of thought." Mark Leibovich titled his Atlantic column "Time to go, Joe" in urging an exit "for the sake of his own dignity."
Operatives at the iconic Drudge Report went so far as to declare "OPERATION: REPLACE BIDEN" in a banner headline accompanied by a reader poll gauging the popularity of would-be successors like Hillary Clinton and Vice President Kamala Harris. CNN's Van Jones, who openly wept at Biden's 2020 victory, was brought to tears once again as he pleaded for the president to "consider taking a different course" for the good of the party amid the "pain" and "panic" of allies.
The fallout was so swift and severe that debate moderators asked Biden during the event about "calls coming in for you to step aside and let another Democrat run for president in 2024." His perfunctory dismissal fooled no one as the recriminations only intensified in the hours and days since.