'Panic.': TIME Magazine Examines Democrat Freakout, 'What the Actual F— is Happening?'

After Thursday night’s catastrophic debate performance, President Joe Biden is fielding criticism and concerns from left-leaning media outlets traditionally in his back pocket. The New York Times is calling for Biden to leave the race and now TIME Magainze is exposing what top Dems are feeling: panic.

“Things are dark. No doubt about it,” says one hand who has been sitting in the West Wing since Day One. “But onward. That’s the only option that’s on the table.”

A Biden spox has confirmed Biden still intends to attend the second debate and will not drop out of the race.

From TIME Magazine:

Panic is not too strong a word to describe the sentiment that coursed through the Democratic Party from top to bottom as the debate unfolded. “What the actual f— is happening?” one Democratic fundraiser texted. Across the room another sent along something of a distress call and a hostage video at once: “This won’t be as bad for voters as it is for us, right?” From progressive to pragmatist, the verdict among Democrats was perhaps the most united the party’s upper ranks have been in decades. “Unintelligible must have been the [closed captioning],” for the entirety of Biden’s performance, another senior Democrat strategist mused. “It would have been the most honest.” Almost immediately after it was over, Democrats started asking whether and how Biden could be convinced to bow out for the good of the party, for the nation, and for the candidate himself.

…

Biden went to work delivering [his] vision on Friday in North Carolina, telling his crowd he understood the panic inside the party and then firmly rejecting it. “Folks, let me close with this: I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious,” Biden deadpanned in Raleigh as he launched into a mea culpa donors were demanding and strategists were hoping he understood. “I don’t debate as well as I used to. I know what I do know: I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done. I know what millions of Americans know: when you get knocked down, you get back up.”

True, Biden has been knocked down plenty in his career, but sometimes it’s best to stay on the canvas. “Folks, I give my word as a Biden: I would not be running again if I didn’t believe with all my heart and soul I can do this job,” he said. For many Democrats who watched the debate, the problem is that what Biden believes is starting to look more and more at odds with reality.

Read the full piece over at TIME Magazine:

'Things are dark.' Democrats are panicking about Joe Biden's debate performance—and what will happen next https://t.co/S46Zo1NV7w pic.twitter.com/prSyM36E6n

— TIME (@TIME) June 28, 2024