Trump says ‘biggest problem’ not Biden’s age, ‘decline,’ but his policies in first appearance since debate
At former President Trump’s first rally since the presidential debate, he argued the nation’s “biggest problem” is not President Biden’s age and “decline,” but his destructive policies. Speaking to a crowd of more than 1,000 at Historic Greenbrier Farms in Chesapeake, Virginia, Friday, Trump took a victory lap after the first 2024 presidential debate. Trump told supporters every voter should ask one question before heading to the polls Nov. 5. “The question every voter should be asking themselves today is not whether Joe Biden can survive a 90-minute debate performance, but whether America can survive four more years of crooked Joe Biden in the White House,” he said. TRUMP, BIDEN SPAR OVER GOLF HANDICAPS AS THEY TRY TO CONVINCE VOTERS THEY ARE NOT TOO OLD FOR THE PRESIDENCY “Remember, the biggest problem for our country is not Joe Biden’s personal decline,” Trump said. “It’s that Joe Biden’s policies are causing America’s decline at a level that we’ve never seen before. “That’s why this November, the people of Virginia and the people of America are going to tell crooked Joe Biden, ‘You’re fired.’” President Biden addressed his campaign performance at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, saying, “I don’t debate as well as I used to. BIDEN’S INNER CIRCLE SILENT AS PARTY REELS FOLLOWING ‘EMBARRASSING’ DEBATE PERFORMANCE “I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done,” he told a roaring crowd that chanted “Four more years.” “The choice in this election is simple,” Biden said. “Donald Trump will destroy our democracy. I will defend it.” Biden’s age and mental acuity have been at the forefront as voters inch closer to Election Day. Biden, 81, is the oldest president in history and has faced skepticism from voters and Republican lawmakers about his ability to do the job. Biden would be 86 at the end of a second term, while Trump would be 82.
The Speaker’s Lobby: A Universal Interest
Presidential debates changed television. “You want to put a lot of new Supreme Court justices – radical left!” hollered former President Trump at President Biden during the 2020 debate. “Will you shut up man?” implored Mr. Biden. FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP AND HOUSE SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON: WHO NEEDS WHO? And television changed politics. “It’s easy to say, ‘Oh, you’ve got to look good on television. Therefore, if you don’t, you’re doomed.’ It’s not quite that easy,” said Walter Podrazik, television curator at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago. “You have to learn how to speak directly through the medium that most people understand. They know television as well as any politician does because they watch it all the time.” That was the problem facing President Biden in Thursday night’s debate with former President Trump. Mr. Trump fared better because he appeared engaged. Vigorous. President Biden looked pasty and out of it. It doesn’t matter what Mr. Biden represents or what his policies are. When it comes to the debate, you must excel at television. Debates imprinted the importance of live performance onto the debate genre. That mixed reality TV with politics – long before reality TV was a thing. “I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience,” quipped a 73-year-old President Ronald Reagan during a 1984 debate with former Vice President Walter Mondale, then a youthful 56. “They brought us whole binders full of women,” said 2012 Republican nominee and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) at one of that year’s debates with former President Obama. 2016 Democratic nominee and former Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., was in the middle of saying something about the Social Security Trust Fund in a debate with Mr. Trump when he fired off this volley. “Such a nasty woman,” sneered the former President. Debates also amplify on-screen gaffes. “There is no Soviet domination in Eastern Europe,” said President Gerald Ford in a debate with future President Jimmy Carter in 1976. The remark shocked the press corps. And Cold War Eastern Europe. However, debates sometimes deliver unexpected humor. “I’m all ears!” bragged 1992 independent Presidential candidate Ross Perot at a debate with future President Bill Clinton and former President George H.W. Bush. Perot drew attention to his own features – which stuck out like two taxicab doors, attached to a crew cut. UNDER THE DOME AND ON THE DIAMOND Sometimes what’s said isn’t even what most people remember. People easily recall the visual of former President Trump, lurking and then creeping onto the screen behind Hillary Clinton in 2016. Sometimes viewers recall what a candidate does during the debate. Former Vice President and 2000 Democratic Presidential nominee Al Gore is remembered for his theatrical sighs of exasperation at various orations from future President George W. Bush. And then there was Bush 41 in 1992 with Bill Clinton and Perot. All three candidates briefly rested against stools as ABC News Anchor and debate moderator Carole Simpson addressed the audience. The elder Bush slipped a glance at his wristwatch. Viewers interpreted that presidential peek as a subliminal cue that Mr. Bush’s time in office was up after one term. The debate between President Biden and former President Trump marked a sea change in the way American voters experience the forum. Both campaigns worked directly with CNN to develop the debate. It’s the first major alteration to debates since 1988. The campaigns cut the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) out of the action this time. Otherwise, each of the 33 Presidential or Vice-Presidential debates since 1988 has been under the aegis of the Commission. The CPD created the town hall format where average citizens could pose questions directly to the candidates. That’s how Illinois power plant worker Ken Bone and his red sweater rose to prominence for a hot second after the 2016 town hall debate. The CPD also hosted the debates at universities. Such was the case with the first debate on September 25, 1988, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., between then Vice President Bush and then Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis (D). How they conduct the debates is almost as important as the debates themselves. “We want free and fair debates. This commission has shown bias,” argued former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on Fox Business in early 2022. The RNC urged GOP Presidential candidates to refuse to participate in any debate not sanctioned by the GOP. But the Biden campaign also rejected the Commission on Presidential Debates. It pushed for a June debate and another one in September. The Biden camp also demanded certain rules – including an option for moderators to mute the microphone of a candidate. In short, both President Biden and former President Trump took their feud outside. As in outside the Commission on Presidential debates. Mr. Trump offered a dare to the President. “I’m calling on crooked Joe to debate any time, any place,” said former President Trump. President Biden called the bluff of his rival. Even chiding Mr. Trump about what day court was out of session in the defamation trial in New York. “Make my day, pal. I’ll even do it twice,” said President Biden in a message posted to X. “I hear you’re free on Wednesdays.” SENATE STUMPED OVER COVID ORIGINS: WHAT WE KNOW – AND DON’T KNOW And so the gamesmanship squeezed out the Commission on Presidential Debates. “What they wanted to do was what they thought was in the best interests of their candidate,” said Frank Fahrenkopf, who led the CPD since its inception in 1987. “You’ve got two candidates who are unique.” Fahrenkopf is upset the debates aren’t staged at universities. “You’ve lost that being on campus. Kids being involved. A Focus on civics,” said Fahrenkopf. Fahrenkopf also lamented the loss of the town hall meeting. “The most popular format,” observed Fahrenkopf. “That’s gone.” What would Ken Bone say? The first modern Presidential debate unfolded in 1960. The first debate between future President John F. Kennedy and
Cornell Law professor calls to invoke 25th Amendment after Biden’s debate performance
A Cornell University law professor has called on President Biden’s Cabinet to invoke the Constitution’s 25th Amendment to have him removed from office after his weak debate performance Thursday night, claiming his “cognitive decline” is a “national security threat.” “This debate displayed Biden’s severely declined cognitive ability for all the world to see for an hour and a half,” Professor William Jacobson wrote Friday for Legalinsurrection.com. “The media cannot claim the live video feed from CNN was a manipulated ‘cheap fake’ — the smear campaign used against those of us who have been pointing out the obvious for over a year, but particularly recently with Biden visibly freezing and zoning out in public appearances.” He said while Democrats are focused on whether a “mentally diminished Biden” can beat former President Trump in the election, “no honest person who watched last night’s debate can think that Biden mentally is up to the job of being President.” CAN BIDEN BE REPLACED AS THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE? He called for the 25th Amendment to be invoked to have Biden removed from office. “If I’m China, I’m taking off the shelf the war plans to invade Taiwan,”Jacobson said. “If I’m Iran, I’m breaking out towards a nuclear weapon. If I’m Putin, I’m doubling down on Ukraine and possibly other former Soviet satellites. Can you imagine an emergency situation where immediate military decisions that only a president can make need to be made in seconds or minutes, and the military having to go to diminished Joe for a decision?” He added Biden’s “cognitive decline is a national security threat of the highest order.” House Speaker Mike Johnson said something similar Friday. “There’s a lot of people asking about the 25th Amendment, invoking the 25th Amendment right now, because this is an alarming situation,” Johnson said. “Our adversaries see the weakness in this White House as we all do. I take no pleasure in saying that. I think this is a very dangerous situation.” MEDIA CALLS FOR BIDEN TO WITHDRAW FROM 2024 RACE AFTER ‘DISASTER’ CNN DEBATE PERFORMANCE: ‘IT’S OVER’ Under Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, the vice president could assume the presidency if the president is declared unfit for office by the vice president and a majority of the president’s Cabinet or Congress. The 25th Amendment was briefly floated near the end of Trump’s presidency following the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, which Jacobson called “in bad faith.” “Only Democrats can act, and they should before it’s too late,” he added. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Biden’s debate performance Thursday evening has worried Democrats, and some have even called for him to drop out of the race.