On Thursday, the first presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump took place. CNN

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‍‍Both sides are critical of Biden’s performance, with many calling on him to withdraw from the race:

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‍“It is not that Biden has dementia, as Republicans charge. His answers were coherent, in the sense that they addressed the topic at hand with relevant points. But the disjuncture between the content of his answers and their presentation was shocking. It is not that Donald Trump was articulate or effective. He repeatedly wandered off topic, sometimes repeating familiar lines, and other times saying things that made no sense…

“But Biden was barely able to exploit these or other openings. His most terrifying moment came early in the debate, when he lost a train of thought and stammered, ‘We beat Medicare.’ What he meant by this is that his administration beat Pharma by winning a provision to allow Medicare to [negotiate] prescription drugs, but hardly anybody could have understood his meaning.”

‍Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine

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‍“Biden was a frail old man coughing and getting almost everything wrong. He claimed he is the ‘only president of the 20th century’ who had no American troops die on his watch. This must have shocked the families of the 13 American service members killed during Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan and of the three service members killed in Jordan just this January…

“The performance was massively worse than Democrats could have feared, and it exposed as a pack of lies all those statements that Biden is sharp as a tack and on top of the issues. The Democratic Party now faces a moment of truth and an appalling prospect. It has a nominee chosen by popular primary votes all over the country who has been exposed on prime-time television as utterly unfit for the job.”

‍Editorial Board, Washington Examiner

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‍“There are plenty of younger, moderate, winsome Democrats who could have challenged Trump and who probably could have run a winning campaign — Democrats whose politics are not my politics but who could have appealed to a majority of Americans sick and tired of the Trump chaos and the Biden sclerosis. But Joe Biden refused to step aside…

“Anyone with eyes to see knew two years ago that Biden’s advanced age was his fundamental liability in this election. But Joe Biden insisted on seeking reelection for a second term that would end when he would be 86 years old. A supermajority of Americans and a majority of self-described Democrats don’t think that Biden is up for the job, and a debate performance that bordered on elder abuse has now carved that opinion into immutable granite. This debate was fatal for Biden’s campaign.”

‍Mark Antonio Wright, National Review

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‍“Biden needs to step aside, for the sake of his own dignity, for the good of his party, for the future of the country. This debacle of a debate was a low-point. It needs to be a turning point… The best part of this debate for Democrats is that it happened on June 27. There are nearly two months to go until the Democratic Convention in Chicago…

“Denial had its place, but it is not a strategy. This is no time for second-guessing or handwringing or bedwetting or dawdling. The Democrats’ problem has never been more apparent. Thursday night was a bitter way to get the message, but there it was, in full ashen display. If Trump poses the threat to democracy that Democrats insist that he does, they need a much better athlete on the stage.”

‍Mark Leibovich, The Atlantic‍

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‍Other opinions below.