Former Obama White House advisor and current CNN analyst Van Jones was on the verge of tears when reacting to President Biden’s disastrous debate performance on Thursday night.
“That was painful,” Jones told his fellow panelists without hesitation. “I love Joe Biden, I worked for Joe Biden. He didn’t do well at all. He did not do well at all.”
Jones went on to comment on Biden’s advanced age, saying ” he looked… I’ll give you the analysis, kind of the old man versus the con man.”
Jones then appeared to be on the verge of tears when analyzing the debate that saw multiple freeze-ups and incoherent ramblings from Biden. “He loves his country. He’s doing the best that he can. But he had a test to meet tonight to restore confidence of the country and of the base, and he failed to do that,” he said.
In a shocking turn of events, Jones then suggested that Biden should consider dropping out of the race. “And I think there’s a lot of people who are going to want to see him consider taking a different course now,” Jones said of his former boss. “We’re still far from our convention. And there is time for this party to figure out a different way forward if he will allow us to do this.”
Jones’ co-panelist Peter King reported that a number of Democrats are already considering the possibility of replacing Biden after the performance. Just minutes into the debate — after Biden took the stage with a raspy voice and struggled to complete sentences — Democrat strategists, elected officials and fundraisers were already sounding alarm bells.
“They’re having conversations about the president’s performance, which they think was dismal, which they think will hurt other people down the party in the ticket, and having conversations about what they should do about it,” King reported.
“Some of those conversations include whether we should go to the White House and ask the president to step aside,” King continued. The discussion within the party suggests that some members believe it might be necessary for prominent Democrats to publicly call for Biden to reconsider his campaign.”
Thursday’s debate was the first of two debates agreed upon by both campaigns. The second debate, which is set to be hosted by ABC News, will take place in September. Trump has agreed to at least two additional debates, though the Biden campaign has declined.
