If a debate cannot be won but only lost, Donald Trump may not have won on Thursday — but President Joe Biden certainly lost, and in spectacular fashion. The president gave one of the worst debate performances in recent memory.
Ultimately, this debate will long be remembered for how old and frail Biden appeared.
Biden was on defense for most of the night. His three-, five- or 10-point answers failed to land, if he was able to complete them at all. He didn’t connect with his trademark empathy. He couldn’t land a meaningful blow on Trump, despite multiple opportunities to do so.
Ultimately, this debate will long be remembered for how old and frail Biden appeared. The beginning of the evening — the most important part — was actually painful to watch. And it didn’t get much better. He failed to complete thoughts, made awkward and confusing statements and looked lost when not talking. It was clear almost immediately that Biden simply wasn’t capable of a strong debate performance. At least not on Thursday night.
Expectations for his performance were low, but he still failed to meet them.
Polls regularly show the president’s age and mental acuity are top concerns for voters. On the biggest of stages, he showed those worries are well-founded. This debate served as a true kickoff for the fall election, and people just tuning into this race will likely be shaken by how diminished the president seemed.
And it’s all the more troubling because of how bad his opponent was at the same time. Trump gave people who hate him or simply worry about his character plenty of reasons to keep worrying. He is exactly who people remember him to be: hyperbolic, shameless and unserious. He refused to give straight answers, confidently lied about things that are easy to prove and repeatedly failed to respond to the moderators’ attempts to redirect him. When asked whether he would pledge to abide by the November election results, he demurred and caveated. He denied statements made on the public record and made misleading and offensive claims about Democratic former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Jan. 6 riot. And yet, Joe Biden was a clearly diminished person from the candidate we watched four years ago. In the past, debates have been shown to have very little impact on election outcomes, but this one may test that trend. Whether Biden has lost a step is no longer up for debate. His campaign is fortunate that this event was so far from Election Day. He has time to recover. But he just dug himself a deep hole, and it’s not clear he has the capacity to dig himself out of it.
Brendan Buck
Brendan Buck is an NBC News and MSNBC political analyst. He was previously counselor to former House Speaker Paul Ryan and press secretary to former House Speaker John Boehner. 
