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    • Biden's debate debacle levels playing field with Trump

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    WASHINGTON -

    In one week, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will officially accept his party’s nomination, becoming the standard-bearer for the GOP in November.

    Prior to that disastrous debate performance by President Joe Biden, it was Trump himself, fresh off a historic criminal conviction, that had many in the media and political onlookers questioning if a guilty verdict would doom his and his party’s chances this fall.

    However, the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling combined with a failed debate performance by the incumbent has seen the Republican challenger’s fortunes rise exponentially. Meanwhile, the commander-in-chief’s approval ratings are cratering and the party splintering as calls grow louder for the president to exit the race.

    With less than 120 days until voters head to the polls, Biden has fallen into the political sunken place; the same place Trump has found himself in so many times before. Now, for the first time, both candidates are on equal political footing as they each confront a crisis in confidence from the voters.

    If a day in presidential politics is considered a lifetime, that demoralizing 90-minute performance Biden turned in on the debate stage in Atlanta has become a death knell. Biden’s horrible showing sent panic through democratic circles and has completely changed the trajectory of this race.

    Now, for the first time this election cycle, Trump is no longer the star of the show, replaced in top billing by Biden’s diminished cognitive capacity. Concerns about the president’s age and health are seeing Democrats openly call for his immediate removal as the nominee for the party. Though only a small cadre of congressional lawmakers and candidates have publicly pressed for change, the minuscule yet booming voices have shook the tone and tenor of the race sending the Biden campaign and the entire Democratic infrastructure into a frenzy.

    Down ballot candidates are now fearful a listless and frail President Biden could doom their chances to maintain control of the Senate and retake the House in November. Once averse to public presentations and media outreach, the president is now engaging the press and even participating in off-the-cuff outreach efforts to calm a weary public and panic-stricken party. After watching Trump manage a cavalcade of firestorms impacting his candidacy, it is now Joe Biden on the hot seat.

    To be clear, Biden’s advanced age has been his Achilles heel the moment he was announced the winner in November of 2020. Moreover, consistently eschewing the stagecraft of the presidency and invoking an uncanny disdain for engaging in the the optics of doing the job, Biden erected barriers that walled him off from the voters.

    These same barriers also created distance between the voters and the president's many hard-fought legislative victories. More daunting and debilitating by long absences from the public eye, it made it impossible for the Biden White House to effectively convey a message of success to the American people.

    As a result, Biden’s approval ratings fell to alarmingly low levels. Still, the White House stayed the course, focusing on accruing one victory after another, even as millions of Americans remained clueless and even worse, ambivalent about these achievements.

    Now, a crisis that could level the president’s hopes for a second term and threaten Biden’s chances at electoral immortality is a very real possibility. Like his political opponent, Biden is now fighting battles on multiple fronts and it is unclear if, at 81 years of age, he has the stamina, clarity, and cognition to muster a viable defence.

    A once-powerful donor base now questioning their investment in the campaign; congressional lawmakers and candidates actively pushing for change; and an unforgiving press corps setting the narrative rather than reporting it. These are the many challenges fast closing in on the life-long politician’s re-election ambitions.

    Supporters wait for Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Trump National Doral Miami on July 9, 2024, in Doral, Fla. (Rebecca Blackwell / AP Photo)

    However, unlike Trump, who relishes the fights and even at 78 still shows a penchant for parrying and blocking a multitude of attacks, Biden, ensconced inside the presidential bubble, has yet to show a nimbleness and agility to successfully navigate the unceasing blows that have pierced his tight inner-circle, post-debate.

    Since the start of the campaign season, these two geriatric pols have only shared in common the overwhelming disregard by a dejected electorate completely disinterested in the rematch they are now witnessing.

    However, as the president is faced with a multi-front war to his legacy, re-election chances, and even his character, he now is on equal footing with his chief antagonist who, until recently, incoming fire was the norm.

    The hot seat is so intense that even a stellar record over three years is not enough to shield President Biden from the raging political fire engulfing him. The confidence in Biden’s ability to lead both short-term and long-term is so low, his once reviled and perennially dismissed vice-president is now seen as a potential saviour of the party and mythical Trump-slayer.

    U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris join hands after they watched the Fourth of July fireworks from the White House balcony in Washington on July 4, 2024 (Susan Walsh / AP Photo)

    Yet, barring any of that happening, President Biden will need to first slay the lingering doubts dogging him before he can effectively muster an effort to pull himself out of the sunken place he is in right now. Just ask Trump, he knows best. And now, so does Biden.

    Eric Ham is a bestselling author and former congressional staffer in the U.S. Congress. He served as a contributor to TheHill.com and The Washington Diplomat. He resides in Washington, DC.

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