President Biden’s halting performance during last night’s debate with Donald Trump left the Democratic Party in turmoil. You can watch my video report on the debate and read our coverage on how party officials are now trying to sort through the president’s prospects.
We want to hear from you. What questions do you have coming out of the debate?
What questions do you have about the election in general?
I’m The Wall Street Journal’s Washington Coverage Chief, overseeing our political reporting. Ask me anything.
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proof: https://imgur.com/a/hBBD6vt
https://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1dqoksj/i_oversee_the_wsjs_washington_bureau_ask_me/
45 comments
Hi.
What are the odds of an open convention after last night? Are there any legal/Dem party hoops that need to be jumped to make this possible?
Do you think this bad news was actually good news for Biden?
How feasible is it really, at this stage, for Biden to be replaced with a new candidate for president?
Do you think it’s likely Biden will dropout? Who do you think would be best to replace him?
Why is the media intent on hurting America in exchange for ratings/views/clicks? Why allow people to peddle lies and self interest instead of fact checking and actually researching claims?
Who can even talk to Biden about how he truly did?
Why did everybody freak out over Biden being old and quiet when the actual substance of his performance was pretty standard and not very alarming?
The Biden campaign is pretending that he did a good job last night. What do you think is actually going on within the Biden campaign?
Do you think there is a real chance Biden will be replaced prior to the election?
Do you think it likely that there will be further debates?
I imagine that Biden would look for opportunities to make up for last night’s poor showing, but every debate now poses a serious risk as anything other than a very strong performance would further feed into the now very dominant opinion that old age has caught up with him.
What options are there for replacing Biden as the candidate? Does he have to willingly step down himself? Additionally I’ve seen plenty of people calling for X and Y as the replacement but how would one of them actually get chosen without a primary? Would the DNC just have to choose one?
What role do you think the media plays in the doomerism that is rampant after last nights debate? I’m my opinion all of these “Will Biden step down?!?!?!? DEMS ARE PANICKING!!!” seem to just be clickbait BS to squeeze out revenue.
As someone not from the United States but aware of the importance of specific swing states in deciding the election as opposed to the national popular vote, is the Biden campaign facing a potential death spiral?
From my understanding he was already trailing in the major swing states and after last night’s performance it’s unlikely to get better. If anything, the gap might tend to widen.
What are the potential ways for Biden to turn this around or does he have to hope for external factors like Trump’s legal woes? As someone to the left of American politics, this looks like it could be a dangerous election to not win for the dems in terms of democracy for the United States.
Edit: I’m not even asking about Trump and fact checking his constant lies because that’s something that seemingly is not possible to be done in real time. I’m concerned about the sitting president and how he can ensure his campaign continues.
Given all things in and commenting on Biden why is Trumps lies and rants allowed to go unquestioned? There is more than enough computer power in the world to handle both discussions.
Have you ever seen anything like this? Doesn’t need to be at a national level.
How does what we saw compare to Regan’s second term?
I’m not sure why it’s even a question of who to support.
Our choices are between someone who occasionally struggles to answer questions but is well intentioned, or someone who will outright lie about everything and who wants to be a day-1 dictator.
Why are we pretending like Trump is even close to being a moral or better choice?
If possible, WHY wouldn’t the Democratic party endorse a new candidate?
It’s not fair to Joe Biden and it’s not fair to voters. I will not vote between Trump and Biden. If the Democrats endorse literally ANY new candidate, I would vote and actively campaign for that candidate
Are Democrats in Washington seriously considering looking for a way to replace Biden? Are there conversations happening around this? The Dems need a stronger candidate.
How are the post-debate poll numbers looking among important Democrat demographics like african-americans, latinos, etc.?
Question about mainstream media’s collusion
Biden’s decline didn’t happen overnight, so why did the mainstream media run cover prior to the debate and what was the deciding factor to change this course and why not closer to the convention.
Also who tipped off Charlie Kirk last week leading him to [post](https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1802887027261878626) :
>***Be ready for a July surprise.***
***Very possible they pull Biden and sentence Trump to prison on July 11.***
***The entire race could be just about to change.***
How brutal are Bidens polling numbers going to be?
Is it time to invoke the 25th Amendment and do you think this is a possibility?
How can the Democrats claim to be saving democracy if they decide to replace Biden with someone who went through zero primaries?
Obviously we have seen plenty of speculation in the media about whether Biden should drop out and be replaced by another candidate. Do you think that behind closed doors there are / will be people directly pressuring Biden to do that? Or if it were to happen (as unlikely as that may be) would it be entirely his decision?
What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
Why did the moderators refuse to moderate?
Why is everyone panicking? Last night’s Joe Biden was exactly the Joe Biden I expected. Where have y’all been, the man has been like that for ages!
Is the decision to prevent RFK Jr (or any other third party candidate) from debating one of the most significant to third parties in our nation’s history?
Do you think it would be in the Democrat’s best interested to have Biden gracefully step down and pass the torch to a younger, more energetic, and popular Democrat to be the nominee?
It’s clear from the debate last night that he is evidently too old to continue this job, and the people will continue to support him just to prevent a Trump presidency. It almost feels like theft of a vote.
I read that unless Biden or Harris are on the ticket, all money and resources the campaign has cannot be used for a replacement Democrat. Can you speak on this? And how big of an obstacle would this be to the idea that Biden can be replaced with only a few months to go?
Do people at the DNC have an accurate assessment of the degree to which they’re currently playing with fire at all of our peril?
Democrats chose to hold their convention after the deadline to do so in Ohio. They are going to put Biden on the ballot in Ohio by holding a virtual nominating convention ahead of that deadline.
Does this constrain their ability to potentially hold a brokered convention? Would the brokered convention have to be at the earlier moment for Ohio?
If President Biden does end up withdrawing from the 2024 ticket, is it feasible for Democrats to nominate someone other than Kamala Harris without causing severe rifts in the party base?
Shouldn’t there be a stronger focus on how one debater said very little of substance and very many false and inflammatory statements? Why isn’t that just as bad?
I had the debate on in the background when I was making dinner, I swear I heard them boomerdrop “the blacks”. Did I mishear?
Do you think that it’s time for Biden to publicly submit to a mental health screening? It’s frightening that someone with such a diminished level of cognitive function is the one with a metaphorical finger on the nuclear trigger.
What sorts of things are Democratic officials telling you off the record that might surprise people? After the debate performance, are there things you’ve never heard before being said or unprecedented actions being considered?
How can America realistically implement ranked choice voting? The parties are so entrenched that they don’t care what the average person thinks. I don’t expect things to change for this year’s election, but it would be nice to have more viable options, and this year proves that more thoroughly than any other election cycle.
Note: I expect that both parties would fight this tooth and nail. The RNC and DNC don’t want to give up an ounce of power, which is one more reason why it needs to be done and why it can’t be done legislatively.
Legit question: What happens if either one of these extremely old candidates dies of natural causes before the election? Do their running mates auto get selected, or is there a more nuanced process?
Biden stuttered and mispoke throughout his State of the Union speech, which the media and viewers declared was a victory.
Why do you think people viewed his debate performance as such a disaster when, arguably, the same challenges with Biden speaking were apparent in both events?
Who is responsible for Biden running again, knowing that his mental state is what it is? Is it his family, the DNC, who? They had to know. Biden may not be aware. I care for my 94 year old dad, and for a long time he refused to believe he was less than perfect. Is the Biden family pushing him or is the DNC insane?
How do you feel about the chance of being incarcerated if Trump wins a second term and you write something unflattering about him?
Look me in the eye and tell me you honestly believe Biden is capable to do this for another 4.5 years?
Why are you and the rest is the MSM focusing so much on Biden’s age instead of all the glaring threats to democracy Trump was spewing?
Was the night that bad for Biden? Yes the first 10 minutes were rough but Biden won on substance which most analysts agree and 80% said this has no impact on who they’re voting for