The "horror show" Americans witnessed at the presidential debate Thursday is not a "one-off" for President Joe Biden, infamous Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein said, citing 15-20 instances in the past year and a half where Biden's behavior mirrored his disastrous debate performance.
"The Joe Biden we saw [on Thursday]," Bernstein said in an interview with CNN Monday, "is not a one-off." Prominent donors and supporters have recalled "15 to 20 occasions in the last year and a half when the president has appeared somewhat as he did in that horror show."
Bernstein’s comments came minutes after the president made a last-minute statement on the recent Supreme Court decision regarding presidential immunity. His remarks lasted just four minutes, and he did not answer any questions from the press.
Since Biden’s debate against former president Donald Trump, alarmed media pundits have begun suggesting replacing the 81-year-old incumbent.
CNN’s Van Jones called the performance "painful" before saying, "There is time for this party to figure out a new way forward if [Biden] will allow us."
"If he were CEO, and he turned in a performance like that, would any corporation in America keep him on as CEO?" MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough asked rhetorically.
Numerous sources in the last year have approached long-time Biden adviser Ron Klain, who led the president's week-long debate preparations, to say, "We have a problem," Bernstein said. They pointed to the frequency with which Biden loses his train of thought during public events.
Bernstein describes a June 2023 fundraiser in New York where Biden became "very stiff" standing at the podium, forcing his staff to bring him a chair so he could complete his remarks sitting down.
Biden is "deeply engaged" between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., a time slot his administration aims to hold for all public events, Axios recently reported. Outside of this time range, "Biden is more likely to have verbal miscues and become fatigued."
Biden will deliver remarks about recent extreme weather at 1:00 p.m. today before heading to a campaign reception this evening. There are no other public events scheduled for this week.