MSNBC political analyst David Jolly slammed President Joe Biden’s campaign’s “demeaning” and “arrogant” handling of the president’s disastrous debate performance.
Jolly, a former Republican congressman from Florida, said both the campaign and the White House have failed to properly address the 81-year-old president’s raspy voice and inability to complete a sentence.
“I think what has become clear in the last week is this. You did have the bad debate night where there are still many questions left unanswered about the president’s health,” Jolly said Wednesday. “It wasn’t just a bad debate night, it was as Nancy Pelosi queried, ‘was it an episode or a condition?’ There has been no information from the White House or the campaign team to address that. So if the debate night was the first chapter, the second chapter has been the week since. And the handling of this by the campaign team has been terrible. It has been insulting, it has been arrogant, it has been demeaning and it has done more harm than probably the night itself.”
MSNBC Political Analyst Slams Biden Campaign’s ‘Demeaning,’ ‘Arrogant’ Handling Of Biden’s Debate Performance pic.twitter.com/iO9a8uo2b0
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 3, 2024
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and aides on the campaign team asserted Biden suffered from a cold during the debate, causing him to trail off and speak with a notably raspy voice. There had been no mention of an illness prior to the debate, and Jean-Pierre confirmed Tuesday that the president took no cold medication at the time. (RELATED: CNN Political Director David Chalian Says KJP Failed To Explain Why Biden Had Disastrous Debate Night)
The debate heightened panic among Democrats and left-leaning voters, with some even calling for Biden to step down. Democratic Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett became the first congressional Democrat to publicly call on Biden to be replaced by a different nominee ahead of the election. MSNBC host Joe Scarborough suggested Biden should bow out of the race, but later agreed with his wife, Mika Brzezinski, that he should remain.
The president had delayed conversations with Democratic leaders, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed Tuesday she had not received a phone call from the president since the debate.
The Biden campaign and congressional Democrats expressed hesitation as to whether Biden should debate Trump after the former president’s campaign repeatedly committed to entering the debate stage. Democratic Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin warned in January that Biden should “think twice” about debating Trump due to his alleged tendency to say and do “outrageous things.” Democratic Delaware Sen. Chris Coons argued that Trump’s behavior during the 2020 debate and his refusal to debate his Republican primary challengers were reasons for Biden to avoid debating him.
White House aides have shielded Biden from the public to forestall concerns about his mental state, Axios reported. Many aides in the White House were also reportedly shocked by what they saw at the debate, having been kept at a distance from the president throughout his first term.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published a column in May citing multiple sources who detailed Biden’s alleged forgetfulness and rambling.
