In the first debate of the 2024 race, President Biden hoped to make the case that Donald J. Trump was unfit to return to the White House. Instead, Mr. Biden’s weak performance deepened doubts about his own fitness for the job. Astead W. Herndon, who covers politics for The Times, explains what happened. Guest: Astead W. Herndon, a national politics reporter for The New York Times and the host of the politics podcast “The Run-Up.”
From the New York Times, I'm Michael Balbaro.
This is the Daily Today.
In the first debate of the 2024, presidentes Joe Biden hoped to make the case that Donald Trump was unfit to return to the White House.
Instead, Biden's weak performance deepened doubts about his own fitness for the job.
My colleague Astead Herndon, a political reporter and a host of the run up, explains what happened.
It's Friday, June 28.
Astead, good evening.
Almost good morning.
By the time we're done talking, it is definitely going to be Friday morning.
Thank you for joining us at what is clearly a very tender hour.
No, thank you for having me.
Okay.
This was always going to be a historic debate.
Two single term presidents debating each other for a chance at a second term, both choosing to opt out of the traditional presidential commission authorized debates.
We've never had any of this before, but that's nothing.
I would wager what people are going to remember about this debate.
I suspect they're going to remember just how much one of these candidates openly struggled, struggled mightily on the biggest possible stage.
Yeah, I mean, there were some things I was expecting for tonight's debate.
Bitter insults, an incumbent defending a policy record, a challenger really attacking it.
But one thing I didn't expect was for President Biden to kind of live up to the caricature of him that has been really been created over the last six months by Republicans.