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‘We Have A Problem’: Democrats In ‘Aggressive Panic’ Over Biden’s Debate Performance

Published

1 year ago

June 28, 2024

President Joe Biden was supposed to put the nation’s mind at ease over his physical and mental capacity with his debate showing Thursday night. But from the onset of the debate, the 81-year-old struggled seemingly even to talk, mostly summoning a weak, raspy voice.

In the opening minutes, the president repeatedly tripped over his words, misspoke and lost his train of thought.

In one of the most notable moments, Biden ended a rambling statement that lacked focus by saying, “We finally beat Medicare,” before moderators cut him off and transitioned back to Trump

While Biden warmed up and gained more of a rhythm as the debate progressed, he struggled to land a punch against Trump.

According to NBC news, Trump, unleashing a torrent of bad information — didn’t hesitate to pounce on Biden, saying at one point that he didn’t understand what Biden had just said with regard to the border.

“I don’t know if he knows what he said either,” Trump said.

Nearly an hour into the debate, a Biden aide and others familiar with his situation offered up an explanation for the president’s hoarseness: He has a cold.

Even the Biden campaign acknowledged that the debate would be a critical moment in the election, with officials hoping it could shake up the race to the president’s benefit. Most polls have found the race to be neck and neck, a razor-thin margin that has remained unchanged for months, even after a jury found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts.

Questions about Biden’s age and frailty have dragged down his polling numbers for months. The public concerns are exacerbated by deceptively edited videos, some of which have gone viral, that cut off relevant portions of an event, making it appear as if Biden is wandering or confused. This was Biden’s first opportunity — since the State of the Union speech — to dispel that narrative.

Instead of a new beginning, many Democrats saw it as a moment for panic.

“Democrats just committed collective suicide,” said one party strategist who has worked on presidential campaigns. “Biden sounds hoarse, looks tired and is babbling. He is reaffirming everything voters already perceived. President Biden can’t win. This debate is a nail in the political coffin.“

“It’s hard to argue that we shouldn’t nominate someone else,” a Democratic consultant who works on down-ballot races added.

Biden did ramp up as the debate progressed.

“Only one of us is a convicted felon, and I’m looking at him,” Biden said to Trump. That was one moment that tested really well with internal simultaneous Biden campaign polling at the time of the debate, according to a person familiar.

A Biden aide said that it was “not an ideal start” for the president at the beginning of the debate, but that there was “no mass panic” at the campaign headquarters in Delaware.

Trump, meanwhile, has fended off his own questions over whether he’s diminished by age, including that he struggles to stay on topic and meanders when speaking. Biden has posited that the former president “snapped” after his 2020 election loss and is unstable. Biden, though, had prepped for the possibility of “two Trumps” appearing on the debate stage Thursday, and had planned to try to bait him into revealing “the true Trump.”

The muting of the microphones, a stipulation agreed to before the debate by both campaigns, added a new dimension to the face-off. The two men’s first match-up in 2020 was marked by repeated interruptions by Trump, leading to moments of frustration for Biden.

“Will you shut up, man?” Biden complained in that first Cleveland debate.

“I’m thinking the Democrats are thinking about who the Barry Goldwater is who can walk in tomorrow and tell the president he needs to step aside,” Ben Proto, chairman of the Connecticut Republican Party, said.

In 1974, after key Watergate tapes were made public, then-Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., went to see President Richard Nixon along with other prominent lawmakers and told him that he would be convicted by the Senate and should step aside— which Nixon did

Headline

Trump Birthright Citizenship Order Halted In Class-action Suit

Published

1 day ago

July 10, 2025

Editor

A federal judge on Thursday halted President Donald Trump’s order restricting birthright citizenship, as opponents of the policy pursue a new legal avenue following the US Supreme Court’s overturning of a previous block.

The high court’s conservative majority delivered a landmark decision in late June that limits the ability of individual judges to issue nationwide injunctions against presidents’ policies.

Several such judges had in fact blocked Trump’s attempt to end the longstanding rule, guaranteed in the US Constitution, that anyone born on US soil is automatically an American citizen.

However, the Supreme Court left open the possibility that orders could be blocked via broad class-action suits against the government.

Trump’s opponents quickly filed new class-action suits seeking to block again the executive order.

On Thursday, Judge Joseph Laplante of the US District of New Hampshire granted class-action status to any child who would potentially be denied citizenship under Trump’s order. The judge ordered a preliminary halt to it as legal proceedings carry on.

The judge delayed his ruling for seven days to permit the Trump administration to appeal.

Cody Wofsy, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) who argued the case, called the ruling a “huge victory” that “will help protect the citizenship of all children born in the United States, as the Constitution intended.”

Trump’s executive order decrees that children born to parents in the United States illegally or on temporary visas would not automatically become citizens — a radical reinterpretation of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.

His administration has argued that the 14th Amendment, passed in the wake of the Civil War, addresses the rights of former slaves and not the children of undocumented migrants or temporary US visitors.

The Supreme Court rejected such a narrow definition in a landmark 1898 case.

The current high court, with a 6-3 conservative majority, avoided ruling last month on the constitutionality of Trump’s executive order and only addressed the issue of nationwide injunctions.

It nonetheless permitted the order to go ahead but delayed its ruling from taking effect until late July to allow for new court challenges.

Several lower courts, in issuing their previous injunctions, had ruled that the executive order violated the Constitution.

Headline

PICTORIAL: Two Undocumented Nigerians Arrested For Drug Trafficking In Libya

Published

1 day ago

July 10, 2025

Editor

Libya’s Counter-Terrorism Forces have arrested two undocumented Nigerians over alleged involvement in drug trafficking.

According to a statement shared by Migrant Rescue Watch on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, the suspects were caught with quantities of hashish and hallucinogenic pills, including Tramadol and Lyrica.

Authorities also recovered a large sum of cash suspected to be proceeds from drug sales during the operation.

Following their arrest, the two Nigerians have been handed over to the appropriate legal authorities for further investigation and possible prosecution.

The statement said, “Counter-Terrorism Forces arrested 2 undocumented #migrants of Nigerian nationality for drug trafficking. The individuals were found in possession of hashish, hallucinogenic pills “Tramadol” & “Lyrica” as well as cash from proceeds.

“Both individuals were referred to competent authorities for legal action.”

Headline

31 Workers Escape Death As Tunnel Collapses In Los Angeles

Published

1 day ago

July 10, 2025

Editor

All 31 workers escaped without injuries from a collapsed industrial tunnel in Los Angeles’ Wilmington area, after scrambling over a tall pile of loose underground soil, city officials said late on Wednesday.

The trapped workers were shuttled back to the tunnel’s entry point, more than 5 miles (8 km) away from the affected area, after they escaped the collapsed section and met several coworkers in the unaffected part of the tunnel, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement.

The tunnel, which had a diameter of 18 ft (5.5 m), trapped 27 individuals, while four workers entered the damaged section to assist with rescue, LA Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva told reporters in a media briefing.

“The workers had to climb through debris. They had to make themselves out through,” before they were assisted out, Villanueva said.

Robert Ferrante, chief engineer and general manager of Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, told the briefing that a section of the already built part of the tunnel experienced squeezing ground conditions and partially collapsed.

“LAFD has just reported that all workers who were trapped in the tunnel in Wilmington are now out and accounted for. I just spoke with many of the workers who were trapped. Thank you to all of our brave first responders who acted immediately,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a post on X.

The collapsed section was a part of the Los Angeles County’s Clearwater Project, where the new 7-mile tunnel is being built to upgrade the region’s sewer system, officials added.

(Reuters)