A viral video from Thursday night’s debate shows President Joe Biden appear to freeze while answering a question before CNN moderator Jake Tapper redirected the debate’s conversation.
The first 2024 presidential debate between Biden and former President Donald Trump started with CNN moderator Dana Bash asking a question about the American economy, specifically regarding the national debt and taxes.
After Trump provided an answer, Tapper gave Biden an opportunity to respond. During Biden’s response, the president had multiple pauses, culminating in him appearing to lose his train of thought.
“We would be able to wipe out his debt, we’d be able to help make sure that all those things we need to do, childcare, eldercare, making sure that we continue to strengthen our healthcare system, making sure that we are able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I have been able to do with the Covid – excuse me, dealing with everything we have to do with,” Biden said before pausing.
READ MORE: Trump challenges Biden to drug screening ahead of presidential debate
After pausing for a significant length of time, Biden said, “Look, we finally beat Medicare…” before Tapper interrupted and redirected the debate.
In response to the viral video, multiple commentators and politicians expressed concerns regarding the president’s performance at Thursday’s debate.
“Biden looks old. Halting. He just lost his train of thought. His voice is weak. Bad bad bad,” former CNN commentator Chris Cilizza tweeted.
Conservative commentator Clay Travis also released a statement on X, formerly Twitter, saying, “Joe Biden looks like he might die on stage tonight. He’s way worse than I thought he would be. Holy crap.”
Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro tweeted, “Remember, Joe Biden set the rules for this debate. He then spent a full week preparing. And he looks like this.”
