USA Today: Biden has no business running for president. The debate proved it.

Trump lied, while Biden got his facts straight. Clearly, an old man with our best interests at heart is better than a cheap imitation of Hitler.

As many others are commenting that's, unfortunately, not the concern here. It's theater, and he bombed and his lapses will be broadcast ad nauseum to drive that impression to the impressionable

Anyone trying to spin this positively is delusional. This was a very, very damning performance by Biden. It doesn't matter what Trump said or didn't say. Dems are saying it was bad, donors are saying it, even onlookers from abroad.

Dems sticking with an octogenarian was dumb. It's like lessons never learned. They fight the progressive's to defend the status quo. Scaring people about democracy being on the line may not cut it, even though it's absolutely true. People are already tired and struggling. It helps to have some energy at the top of your ticket.

You can downvote, but we will all be wringing our hands for the next five months.

He's going to need to serve his prison sentence so this is a dangerous, crazy, moot point. They got him on State charges for what Cohen did and he ain't gonna sing so time for Mr. Big to pay his debt to society, something he hopefully can't escape again despite his moral and neurological bankruptcy
Tired of everyone dancing around this "small" problem. He has to be punished and it was stupid of society to let it get this bad. Fucking age limits, no older than 70 and mental competency tests that have teeth. Tax returns must be produced. Courts have enforced timelines for grave politico-legal issues. Emoluments safeguards enforced vigorously. No more profiting off using your own venues.
We have much to learn and improve on, Trump has exposed it all
- While that would be ~~nice~~ the right thing, it's highly unlikely to happen. The very fact that he is even running and that he has full control over his party says so.
Do you feel like your vote was swayed at all?
- Didn't change mine, but I'm the opposite of a low information voter, and just based on p2025 I'd vote for Weekend at Biden's.
- Did you think Trump could actually win back in 2016? I get what you're saying, but it's not me you have to worry about. It's the voters who put him in office back in 2016, and the ones who still might again. Democracy being on the line may not be the best way to win voters or energize a base. The youth already feel betrayed. And dems suck at messaging.
- Do you think lemmy.world/c/politics is a good representation of the american electorate?

Do we have the momentum to elect a different candidate at the convention? Otherwise I'm absolutely voting for Biden over fucking Trump.

that would 100% lose the election for democrats if party insiders handpick the candidate instead of voters. A better strategy would be to pickup a half decent VP that can do a debate and then resign after election
- You mean like they did in ‘16?
  You mean like they did in this time too? when telling everyone not to primary? The super delegates created all of this mess.
  2020 was way closer than it should have been, with key states being a hair’s breath from going to Trump.
  Biden cannot afford to lose any votes.
- I pretty much agree. I think the confusion of switching candidates would cause administrative panic, and a huge portion of voters would still vote for Biden. My morbid hope is for Biden to keel over. I think that's the most graceful way we could swap candidates.

It was not a great night, but can it really be called a loss when the other guy refused to answer any questions?

Yes, because these debates are not won by whoever is more factual, they're won by whoever has better rhetoric, which is why it's such a fool's errand for Biden to undertake it to begin with.
People who vote based on facts aren't going to learn anything new watching this debate, this is a circus for low-information voters who decide to vote based on "vibe".
- And most people in that audience didn't actually watch the debate live, but will have Biden's biggest blunders blasted at them on repeat for the next 5 months.
Trump is a bullshitter, not a liar – a liar at least has a passing acquaintance with the truth
Yes. It can.
Biden just got into a wrestling match with an orange turd.
Sometimes, nobody wins.

Neither does Trump. We all know this. But our options are dottering old man and a narcissistic, sociopathic fascist. We have a broken system and this is what it has led us to. Probably what it was always going to lead us to, because nobody ever figured out a way to fix it. Maybe one day we'll get to rebuild it from the ground up and it'll be better. I'll probably be dead before that happens though.

Still better than Traitorapist.

Still if the options are between somewhat senile Biden, or raving malignant narcissist Trump, there is no doubt for me who is the better choice.

Don't forget complicit in Genocide in that Biden description.
- I'm not sure what kind of mindset is required to make such a comment, when Biden has actually tried to moderate Israel, and Trump and his MAGA crowd absolutely don't give a shit and actively support the genocide, and would support Israel even more.
  So please try to explain in some fashion that has a shred of reason, what your thoughts are behind that comment.

You served your purpose Joe. You saved us from Trump in 2020. I wish you would have done it 6 months ago but it's time to make as graceful an exit as you can. America has to persevere or succumb to fascism and I feel you're making the latter more likely. It may feel like abandoning your post but it's for the good of the nation. We need to look forward and you only remind us of the past. Please pass the baton.

Biden didn't save us from Trump, voters did.
- The same voters that gave us the disaster that was 45 also. Get out and vote, people.
- Voters giveth, voters taketh away.
I bet Pete could come in and wreck house
- There are such better picks, but he's definitely not the worst.
  I'd like to see a Whitehouse green administration or someone progressive like AoC/Sanders.
- You mean the one that doesn't have the balls to ground an aircraft manufacturer that has planes falling out of the sky?
- Mayor Pete? That's funny

Most of the people here would still vote for Biden if he was wheelchair bound and communicated with a bell zipp-tied to his armrest like Tio Salamanca.

The question isn't "is he better than trump", it's "will enough people be motivated to go vote for a candidate that's slipping into a waking coma?" and every day that Biden opens his mouth in front of a camera like tonight he looses more people who don't give a fuck about politics.

There is no good news from this debate. If the democrats have a single other option to replace Biden on the ticket they should do it now or else ensure a trump presidency.

It was a tough night for Biden.

De Nial is not just a river in Egypt.

I'd go so far to say he shouldn't be President at this point. Step down, let Kamala take the wheel for the rest of the year.

If he can't handle Trump in a debate, there's no way he's handling Presidential duties.

How did you pull that from this debate? He had to argue with a constant liar and couldn't believe the BS he was spewing. Trump could not admit that he was convicted. Yea...Biden is the problem.
- Biden couldn't keep a coherent thought and kept making easy mis-statements.
  For Trump, all he had to do was say "I don't have the time to de-bunk every lie he just told, I'll leave that to you guys, but here's what I will say..."
  Instead, we got this:
  https://youtu.be/D3BSgScrIlI

I've seen a few people in other posts still trying to claim his stutter got the best of him.

I've seen them claiming that he was getting over a cold.