I'm not sure who made the decision in the Biden camp to agree to a debate with former President Donald Trump.
They agreed to have it in June, very early, in order to shake things up and give the campaign a shot in the arm.
Instead, it has had the opposite effect, with the media roundly panning Biden's performance and Democrats not even being able to spin it, conceding it was a "bad night."
According to reports, Biden staffers were taking it hard.
Several West Wing officials were so demoralized by President JOE BIDEN’s poor performance in Thursday night’s debate that they opted to work from home on Friday. They spent a good part of the day as they did the night before: on group text threads, despondently expressing their numerous frustrations. [....]
One administration official granted anonymity to speak honestly about private conversations described the group text thread as “a lot of people saying, ‘We’re supposed to come to work and act like this didn’t happen?’” The official continued: “We were all a bit nervous about the debate, but no one thought it was going to be as bad as it was. That pause at the beginning — from that moment on, the texts … the vibes are really bad. People feel demoralized.”
Supposedly the whole thing after the debate -- the late-night visit to the Waffle House with the befuddled Biden and the next day rally in North Carolina with the screaming Biden were supposed to be the "victory lap" where Biden would be cheered. Except, as the despondent official who was spilling the means noted, there was no victory, “The whole plan was sold to us as energy!” the official continued. “The missing part was the f**king debate!”
Some of the higher-ups tried to pitch the North Carolina rally as a recovery and the debate as a one-off, but some weren't buying it.
“The damage has been done,” one senior administration official said. “The ads are already being cut from last night. Every Democrat on the ballot this fall is going to have to answer whether they think the president they saw on stage last night should be president for four more years. And that’s a much harder question now to answer in the affirmative.”
Exactly. They should worry because every Democrat who assisted in this travesty with Joe Biden should be voted out because they put the country in this horrible position.
Plus, are they kidding? This can't be a surprise to White House staffers how bad Biden is. We see it every day, are they claiming they didn't, even as they're working with him?
But don't worry. Guess what? Official Biden surrogate Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) let the cat out of the bag as to who would "help govern" if Biden won.
.@RepRoKhanna, an official Biden surrogate, says “We have a great team of people that will help govern. That is what I’m going to continue to make the case for.”
— Annie Karni (@anniekarni) June 28, 2024
But there was a palpable sense of anxiety on Capitol Hill on Friday morning about what it would mean for his campaign and their own re-election chances.
“We have a great team of people that will help govern,” said Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat of California and an official Biden surrogate responsible for reaching out to young voters. “That is what I’m going to continue to make the case for.”
When asked if he could vouch for the president, Mr. Khanna only said, “I can vouch for our policies.”
Wait what? Is that supposed to make anyone feel better?
That isn't the way things are supposed to work. We don't govern by Politburo. We govern by elected representatives, not their unelected stooges - especially not these weaklings who want to stay home and sulk when they do badly. If they do that, they will never come to work... Well, actually, that might be good. They're obviously clueless that they put Biden in this debate.
But how insane is Khanna's comment, that's not how our government is supposed to operate. How does a member of Congress who's sworn to uphold the Constitution not know that or not care? Not to mention that the "policies" are incredibly bad and this seems an implicit admission Biden is unable to do his job as he's supposed to.
Unfortunately, it's probably how everything is working now with Biden in office and that's just wrong. Talk about threats to "democracy."
A faceless unaccountable masked team working in darkness is just what we need to strengthen democracy. https://t.co/yPcI5rJhN6
— Sam Schulman (@Sam_Schulman) June 28, 2024
Hey- I know POTUS is mentally far gone, but don't worry... he has a great team around him, says Ro Khanna.
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) June 29, 2024
Totally inspires confidence when considering that team includes Kamala Harris, Jennifer Granholm, Pete Buttigieg, Mayorkas, Tony Blinken and Merrick Garland... https://t.co/uKmB9qWcDp
We've reached that point where it's apparently okay for Dems to admit that Biden isn't running anything. https://t.co/S9E8xc8CPN
— Jeff Carlson (@themarketswork) June 28, 2024
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