Presidential debate megathread (debate 1: June 27, 9pm EDT, CNN)

[GAinDC]

Why are either of them so eager to debate? Seems like a big risk for both campaigns

[GAinDC]

LOL,
Making this Debate Proposal by the Biden Campaign sounds very much like that he is behind potentially even as significantly as the NY Times/Siena & other Battleground State Polls are suggesting.

Pres Biden looked like an "Angry Old White Guy" in that Video.

Trump was the one who was calling for debates first, and he quickly accepted Biden’s challenge.

[GAinDC]

It was a bad performance by Biden but probably perceived as even worse by hardcore partisans like ourselves who only think a match up like this goes well if our candidate wipes the floor with the other. I don’t think swing voters are seeing things as negatively toward Biden.

This debate highlighted each candidate’s weaknesses — Biden’s age and Trump’s corruption and lack of substance. Biden had more to prove (unfortunately) and he didn’t meet the moment, but all this talk of his dropping out is silly. That’s not going to happen, and in a few days we’ll all be talking about something else.

[GAinDC]

The discourse is interesting to me because everyone can agree Biden had an off night, but the levels are wildly all over the place.

Most of the people I know IRL who were posting about it were moreso of the "these are our candidates???" variety or sharing memes about them both being old, etc. There were some that were surprisingly calling out some of the stuff Trump said ("black jobs" was definitely one of them) - I don't think any of them thought Biden did a good job, but the reaction of that, given with the rather surprising results of the CNN undecided voter panel (honestly shocking to me) and the Univision panel as well of Hispanic voters, seems a bit divorced from the absolute freak out that the press is having right now.

I think there's certainly a delta between "yeah that wasn't a good night for Biden, but I already thought he was old and I already don't like Trump" versus the frankly insane coverage we're seeing from the DC press where you would've thought Biden was comatose on the floor for 90 minutes.

Yeah, it all seems very overblown. I think there's just a lot of panic about the prospect of Trump winning again with so much at stake. It means that Biden (or any Dem nominee) has to be in perform form during every speech, debate or public event, and that's just not realistic to expect of anyone, especially an 81 year old man.

[GAinDC]

https://twitter.com/rhcm123/status/1806566152132334022

[GAinDC]

Are Atlas and the pundit class missing the mark?

https://twitter.com/rebekahcoffee/status/1806534363170869649

https://twitter.com/realMABarreto/status/1806527153388834916

Maybe we're underestimating voters. Maybe they care more about substance than style

[GAinDC]

What?? lol

https://twitter.com/KaivanShroff/status/1806543015663575065

[GAinDC]

What?? lol

https://twitter.com/KaivanShroff/status/1806543015663575065

So, we have Teflon Don and Teflon Joe.

Imagine going back 10 years and telling yourself - or anyone - that the 2 presumptive nominees in 2024 had their best fundraising after being convicted of 34 felonies and the other after totally sucking in a debate. Conventional wisdom of the political world has been turned upside down. It's incredible.

I know, right?  Should we even bother analyzing politics anymore if Biden comes out of this unscathed or improved somehow?

Spoiler alert -- Dems will panic for a few days and then the polls will show no change

[GAinDC]

Good analysis by Mark Cuban. I feel the same way.

https://twitter.com/mcuban/status/1806695973298610671

[GAinDC]

Honestly, if the fallout from this debate hurts Biden with white libs who will vote for him anyway while helping him with Black and Hispanic voters who he seems to be struggling with, it might not be such a disaster after all

[GAinDC]

Honestly, if the fallout from this debate hurts Biden with white libs who will vote for him anyway while helping him with Black and Hispanic voters who he seems to be struggling with, it might not be such a disaster after all

I'm truly curious, there was really nothing outside of 'Biden old' for nonwhite voters to be upset about - which many of them already knew he was old - but Trump went out of his way to return to his racist and race-baiting comments. Curious if nonwhite voters were more attuned to that stuff rather than Biden stuttering again.

I've seen so many memes this morning from Black creators on social media about the "Black jobs" comment. Funny that is barely registered last night here on Atlas but did with normies.

[GAinDC]

Can the doomers explain this?

https://twitter.com/BidenHQ/status/1806697086395490730

[GAinDC]

Very bad twitter-pilled take from Wasserman:

https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/1806696768891167183

[GAinDC]

https://twitter.com/ChiCyph80/status/1806513306590417188

[GAinDC]

https://x.com/Newsweek/status/1806707486340071563

[GAinDC]

Was expecting Biden to drop out by now. He's really gonna screw the country for his own ego, isn't he?

Wild how no one ever says this about Trump.

If we want to beat Trump, maybe the best course of action would be to nominate someone who doesn't sound like he's about to f***ing die.

I think you need to chill. Biden isn’t on death’s door. He’s just 81 and had an off night.

[GAinDC]

https://twitter.com/speechboy71/status/1806741596815114265

shhhh you're not allowed to share this! Only dooming and pearl clutching is allowed from here on out