Text/Wang Menglin, Contributing Writer of CC Intelligence Bureau of Phoenix.com
Key Takeaways:
1. Public opinion believes that Biden's performance in the first US presidential election debate was disappointing, exposing his obvious signs of aging. Biden mysteriously "froze" several times during the debate, and it is difficult to refute Trump's attacks. Some Democrats are panicking about Biden's performance, fearing that his age and health will affect his re-election. There have even been suggestions for party veterans to step in and ask Biden to step aside, but this proposal lacks consensus. Biden has insisted he will not withdraw from the race.
2. In the wake of the debate, voters' concerns about Biden's age and health intensified. According to the poll, 67 percent of viewers believe Trump will win the election. Old age has become the biggest risk to Biden's campaign, and the Trump team has always focused on Biden's age and health.
3. Biden is the oldest president in U.S. history, having had at least seven surgeries and at least five geriatric diseases. Every year, Biden's team issues a doctor's physical certificate indicating that he is in good health, but he has so far refused to take a cognitive test. Compared to Biden, Trump said he was "in very good shape."
Biden's sluggish first debate caused panic among the Democratic Party and set off a wave of "change", will he withdraw from the election?
▎The latest cover of Time magazine: Panic
On June 27, Biden performed the depressing demeanor of an 81-year-old man in the spotlight: clearing his throat, hoarseness, stuttering when speaking, forgetting words, and suddenly mysteriously "frozen". At the end of the speech, the 73-year-old first lady helped 81-year-old Biden and staggered off the podium.
The more than 90 minutes of the first presidential debate of 2024 held in the live broadcast room of CNN in Atlanta became Biden's rout night. The first debate of the U.S. election would be a "disaster" for Biden.
After Biden's handpicked time and the first presidential debate on CNN, almost everyone thought Biden was prepared. Even his opponent, Trump, 78, thinks it may be an elaborate trap to test whether Biden is on drugs before the debate.
Biden's mission in his first presidential debate, five months before the November election, is clear: prove that he is of sound mind and does not have the Alzheimer's disease that his opponents are attacking; Proving that the 81-year-old is not a problem for him to enter politics, but a plus. Thus reversing the poll gap with Trump.
Unfortunately, Biden's performance was a complete disaster. From the very beginning of the debate, Biden's voice was somewhat hoarse, with multiple slips of the tongue, stuttering, stuttering, and muffled voices. A few times the answers were incoherent, and sometimes they seemed to lose their train of thought. He cleared his throat or coughed multiple times, and his doctor had previously said the condition was caused by acid reflux. Halfway through the debate, the campaign said Biden had a cold and tried to explain why his voice was hoarse. This may be true, but it also sounds like an excuse.
When Trump speaks, Biden is often stunned and stared at him. He stumbled in his answers to the host's questions, and struggled to refute Trump's attacks and unsubstantiated claims. Trump, on the other hand, accused him of being the worst president in American history.
Biden was asked how to address concerns about his ability to continue as president in his 80s. Biden sneered at Trump: "I've been the youngest person in politics for half my career...... This guy is three years younger than me, but he is much less capable. ”
Mr. Trump hit back, taking two cognitive tests, "achieving excellent results" and recently winning a golf club championship. Trump said a man would have to be "very smart" and hit the ball far to win those titles at the club he owns. He thinks he's in great shape and claims he's feeling just as good as he was 25 or 30 years ago.
The views of these two elderly people on age and ability made the audience in front of the TV very worried. But the performance of the 81-year-old president, who will reach 86 at the end of his second term, has only heightened concerns about his age in the wake of this debate. Trump, who lied many times during the debate, was shrewd and focused, and instead looked more like a seasoned politician. According to the poll, 67 percent of viewers believe Trump will win the election.
The 81-year-old President Biden has clearly exposed the shortcomings of aging in the televised debate, and the Democrats are terrified, but there is no consensus on what to do next. Some people began to plan how to ask party bigwigs to come forward and publicly call for Biden to step aside, while others felt powerless, after all, only a handful of core figures around Biden had the means to change the situation.
Democratic Senator McCaskill of Missouri said in an interview with NBC: "Biden only needs to do one thing but he doesn't do, and that is to reassure the American people and make everyone feel that he is still up to the job at this age." It turned out that he messed up. ”
An unnamed financier criticized Biden's performance as substandard, and it is impossible to describe how bad his performance was. He also predicts that fundraising will "dry up" in the future. "He seems unprepared, disoriented, and powerless to stand up to Trump, who has been lying."
The next presidential debate is scheduled for 10 September. The New York Times wrote: "Incumbent presidents often suffer setbacks in the first debate of a general election, perhaps because they are rusty or overconfident, but in many cases they later redeem their disadvantage with stronger performances." ”
And it may be difficult to replace Biden because he has already received 99% of the party delegates in the Democratic primary, and it is unlikely that he will be removed from the list without exceptional circumstances and no backup plan.
In the midst of doubts, on June 28, a spokesman for the Biden campaign said: Biden will not withdraw from the race! On the same day, Biden told supporters at an election campaign in North Carolina: "I don't walk as easily as I used to, I don't speak as fluently as I used to, and I don't debate as well as I used to, but I do know what I know, and I know how to tell the truth." ”
Although his poor debate with Trump has caused panic among Democrats, he intends to run to the end.
Whether his age and degrading functions will be the biggest obstacle to his re-election has become a suspense in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Biden has mysteriously "frozen" and "frozen" many times, is this a precursor symptom of Alzheimer's disease?
In fact, the Trump team has always regarded Biden's age as the main target of this year's election.
Just over a month ago, the Trump team released an ad mocking Biden, who is seeking re-election, for his age and sarcastically saying that he "will live until 2029?" The ad ridicules Biden's old age and hesitation in answering questions, and he may not be able to complete his term even if he is re-elected. The ad was criticized by the Biden camp as "sick and crazy".
But the Trump team grasped the age of the opponent, and before the first debate on June 27, another "Biden can do it for another 4 years?" Advertisement. The content is matched with clips such as Biden boarding the plane and falling, suddenly emptying his brain and crashing during a meeting, and finally said a cruel sentence: If Biden dies in office, then it may be Vice President Harris who rules the United States! And then with Harris's demonic laughter.
Since the beginning of this year, Biden has had many "empty" and "dead" heads. Most recently, on June 6 this year, Biden was photographed napping in public while attending the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings in France. Later, he also appeared to talk to the air, appeared in a "daze" and "crash", and even in a recent event, there was a scene where Vice President Harris was dancing with the crowd for more than 20 seconds. And it was only under the reminder of the person next to him that he "woke up".
On June 15, Biden appeared with former President Barack Obama in Los Angeles, California, for a fundraiser. At the end of the event, Biden suddenly and mysteriously "froze" after waving to the audience for ten seconds. When Obama found out, he stepped forward and grabbed Biden's wrist and led him off the stage
The New York Post also interviewed a neurologist who studied Biden's "symptoms" as "precursors of typical Alzheimer's disease." Trump's former White House doctor called for a cognitive test for Biden.
▎ First Lady Jill carefully walked off the podium with her 81-year-old husband in her arms after the debate
It is understood that dementia is age-related, also known as dementia, which causes long-term and gradual deterioration of thinking ability and memory, and affects the individual's daily living activities. Other common symptoms include emotional problems, language problems, and reduced mobility, but personal consciousness is not affected.
The Biden team has so far refused to take cognitive tests, but every year it has issued a doctor's physical examination certificate indicating that he is healthy, energetic, and has no cognitive problems.
In 2018 and 2020, Trump took the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test (MOCA) twice. In July 2020, Trump revealed that he had taken a cognitive test at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and boasted that he had achieved very good results.
In November last year, he went for a third cognitive test to show that he had no cognitive problems. Imply that you do not have a pre-performance of "dementia".
The outcome of this presidential debate basically reflects the authenticity of Trump's three cognitive tests.
▎ Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test (MOCA) form
Biden's "old" issue has become the biggest risk to his re-election
The debate's ill-founded performance has amplified voters' concerns about Biden's age: because if he wins re-election, he will be 86 years old at the end of his second term.
According to a Bloomberg survey, advanced age has become the biggest risk for 81-year-old Biden to run for re-election in 2024; According to a joint ABC News and Washington Post (WP) poll, 74% of voters surveyed believe Biden is too old to be fit; Trump singled out Biden for a seven-point lead.
And in addition to Biden's age, people have always maintained serious concerns about his health.
During his 40 years as president, Biden had two aneurysm surgeries, removed his gallbladder, performed two sinus surgeries, and removed several nonmelanoma skin cancer lesions. The president of the United States is not legally required to publicly disclose the results of his annual medical examination, but it has become a tradition to do so to maintain transparency and disclose questions about his health to voters. However, presidents also hide their medical conditions, the severity of their conditions, or their medical conditions.
Biden is the oldest president in U.S. history, and there have been four comprehensive updates on Biden's medical history.
Dr. Kevin O'Connor, who has served as Biden's primary care physician and White House physician since 2009, has conducted four of President Biden's physical exams, as well as authored medical summaries for all four. O'Connor released information claiming that Biden had been in a collision with death in 1988 when he was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm, while he was serving in the Senate. During the operation, doctors found the 2nd aneurysm that did not bleed and treated it. Citing a test performed on his arteries in 2014, his doctors said President Biden had not recurred since the two aneurysms were operated on.
In 1988, while in the hospital after aneurysm surgery, Biden developed a deep vein thrombosis and a pulmonary embolism. Doctors at that time inserted an "inferior vena cava filter", which prevents blood clots from reaching the heart and lungs, and treated him with oral anticoagulants for almost two years.
Biden also had his gallbladder removed in 2003. According to Dr. O'Connor, he has undergone multiple surgeries and physical therapy to treat orthopedic injuries. In that report, it was mentioned that since 2003, Biden has been having episodes of atrial fibrillation, a type of arrhythmia that can be serious but can be treated. At the time, O'Connor cited a list of tests that showed that Biden's heart was functioning normally and that the only care he needed was blood thinners, in order to prevent the most worrying risk (blood clot or stroke).
In the doctor's health memo, the elderly American patient has undergone at least seven surgeries and has at least five geriatric diseases. But that didn't stop him from being elected. Now, it remains to be seen whether the poor performance in this debate will become a negative factor affecting Biden's re-election.
The 78-year-old Trump and the 81-year-old Biden, a presidential election with a combined age of 159, will also set another record. Although Biden's age has been criticized, Trump has also frequently "slipped the tongue" in recent election campaigns.
Trump was forced to take cognitive tests during his tenure, and in this first debate, he deliberately announced that his "cognitive tests" were very good, just to tell voters: I am not demented! I can be re-elected.
But in political elections, whether or not it is "dementia" is not the only condition for being elected.