Debate Recap: We Need To Talk About Grandpa

The expectations for President Joe Biden heading into Thursday night’s debate were preposterously low. “Unless he’s wheeled out on stage in a hospital bed,” wrote former Hillary Clinton strategist Zac Petkanas, “Joe Biden has already won.” He would surely exceed those expectations, and not just because of the friendly moderators from CNN. Right?

Biden, 81, wasn’t wheeled out on stage in a hospital bed, but his performance left many Americans—including many Democrats desperate to beat Donald Trump in November—wondering if perhaps he should have been. The split-screen footage was painful to watch. One comedian compared Biden’s appearance to that of “a cat staring at a ghost.” He looked confused, spoke with a raspy voice, and struggled to form complete sentences in English.

“Making sure that we’re able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with the, with the COVID,” Biden said in response to an early question about tax policy. “Excuse me. With dealing with everything we have to do with, look, if we finally beat Medicare.”