US presidential race reaction: Biden faces calls to step aside after debate performance

President Joe Biden is facing a brutal reckoning after he repeatedly stumbled during last night’s debate, with some Democrats calling for him to step aside ahead of the November election.

Mr Biden was incapable of swatting down a stream of falsehoods from Donald Trump, who appeared calm and energised in contrast to a bewildered looking President who struggled to maintain thoughts.

Hand-wringing and panicking Democratic pundits immediately took to the airwaves to suggest another candidate should be found before the November 5 election, a tall order given Mr Biden’s determination to stay on the ballot.

Live coverage has now ended. Follow the latest news about the upcoming elections here.

The New York Times on Friday published a piece by its Editorial Board suggesting that US President Joe Biden "should leave the race" after what some say was a disappointing debate appearance against Donald Trump.

"Mr Biden has said that he is the candidate with the best chance of taking on this threat of tyranny and defeating it. His argument rests largely on the fact that he beat Mr Trump in 2020," the Editorial Board said.

"That is no longer a sufficient rationale for why Mr Biden should be the Democratic nominee this year."

The Times argued that Mr Biden struggled to portray strength, detail future policies and rebuff Mr Trump on the debate stage in Atlanta on Thursday evening.

It is unusual for the Times, one of the most esteemed and respected newspapers in the US, to tell a current president to not run for re-election.

The Editorial Board said it would choose Mr Biden if the November 5 election choice remained between him and presumed Republican candidate Trump, but insisted that the "stakes" are high, and that a new candidate should be considered.

"That is how much of a danger Mr Trump poses. But given that very danger, the stakes for the country and the uneven abilities of Mr Biden, the United States needs a stronger opponent to the presumptive Republican nominee," it wrote.

Ellie Sennett writes from Atlanta:

Those of us covering the debate between President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump in Atlanta on Thursday were expecting the unexpected during the first face-to-face meeting between the rivals since they last squared off in 2020.

But few of us had anticipated we would be reporting on a full-blown panic attack from the Democratic Party immediately after CNN's 90-minute debate, with well-known US pundits suddenly calling on Mr Biden to step aside.

From the press “spin room”, an arena bustling with media outlets and guests of the respective campaigns, we were observing the debate, the candidates' supporters and, in a way, ourselves, as we watched a Biden-friendly press corps reckon with the President's disastrous performance.

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Former president Bill Clinton on Friday posted a message supporting current President Joe Biden after what some say was a bad performance at a televised debate against Republican Donald Trump.

"I'll leave the debate rating to the pundits," he posted on X.

Mr Clinton said a lot is at stake in the November 5 general election, and listed "facts and history" in support of Mr Biden.

"Joe Biden has given us 3 years of solid leadership, steadying us after the pandemic, creating a record number of new jobs, making real progress solving the climate crisis, and launching a successful effort in reducing inflation, all while pulling us out of the quagmire Donald Trump left us in," he said.

Donald Trump attacked US President Joe Biden’s competence during a rally in Chesapeake, Virginia, a day after a debate that went worse than expected for the President.

The former president said the most concerning thing about Mr Biden was his incompetence.

Mr Trump also pointed to Biden administration policies that he claimed were dragging the country down.

“He studied so hard, he didn’t know what the hell he was doing,” he told a crowd of supporters.

“He got the debate rules that he wanted, he got the date that he wanted, he got the network that he wanted, with the moderators he wanted – no amount of rest or rigging could help him defend his atrocious record.”

After calling Mr Biden a “bad Palestinian” in the debate Thursday night, Mr Trump once again rolled out the nationality as an insult, saying Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has become a Palestinian “because they have a couple of more votes”.

Mr Schumer is Jewish and has come out strongly against Mr Trump as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling earlier this year for new elections in the country amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

He also called Afghanistan the most embarrassing moment in American history, referring to the US withdrawal from the country under Mr Biden's leadership.

"Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know," Mr Obama said on X.

"But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself, between someone who tells the truth; who knows right from wrong and will give it to the American people straight — and someone who lies through his teeth for his own benefit."

Mr Obama said last night's did not change this, "and it’s why so much is at stake in November".

Mr Biden served as Mr Obama's vice president for two terms.

US President Joe Biden’s poor debate performance is raising questions about whether Democrats can field an alternative candidate if the 81-year-old leader leaves the race.

Moments after Thursday night's debate with Donald Trump ended, panicking Democrats declared the event to have been a disaster for Mr Biden, who appeared frail and frequently struggled to finish his sentences.

“That's a good man. He loves his country. He's doing the best that he can,” said Van Jones, a political analyst for CNN.

“But he had a test to meet tonight to restore confidence in the country and of the base, and he failed to do that.”

David Axelrod, a former campaign strategist for president Barack Obama, said Mr Biden did “get stronger as the debate went on but by that time, I think the panic had set in”.

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A national movement that has urged American voters to vote "uncommitted" in the Democratic primary election season says it is ready to contest the convention this August.

Activists involved started the movement in response to President Joe Biden's handling of Israeli support amid a growing civilian death toll in Gaza after the Hamas-led attack on October 7.

They are now tapping into the Democratic concerns about Mr Biden's capacity to lead for another presidential term: "We all saw what just happened."

"We have 35 Uncommitted delegates in case anyone wants to contest the convention to save lives and our democracy," it said in a post on X.

It is unclear if the group is currently in discussions with potential candidates as an alternative to Mr Biden.

Jihan Abdalla reports from Washington:

US President Joe Biden on Friday acknowledged his advanced age but pushed back against accusations that he was not capable of running for another term in office.

Mr Biden, 81, was speaking to supporters during a campaign rally in North Carolina. They were his first public comments since his dismal debate performance on Thursday.

"I know I'm not a young man, to state the obvious,” he said, smiling to loud cheers from the crowd.

“I don't walk as easy as I used to, I don't speak as smoothly as I used to, I don't debate as well as I used to but I know what I do know, I know how to tell the truth.

“I know how to do this job.”

And addressing his poor performance directly, he said: “When you get knocked down, you get back up."

US troops have died overseas since Joe Biden took office, the Pentagon said on Friday, after the President said no soldiers had died under his watch.

“The truth is, I’m the only president this century that doesn’t have any - this decade - that doesn’t have any troops dying anywhere in the world, like he did,” Mr Biden said in Thursday night’s debate against Donald Trump.

Thirteen US Marines were killed during the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in 2021 and three American troops were killed in an Iran-backed proxy attack in Jordan early this year.

“We have certainly had servicemembers pass away during this administration,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters.

Incumbent Joe Biden won the Democratic primary elections earlier this year, making him the presumptive nominee for US president, but Thursday night's debate has cast doubt over his future prospects.

With a little more than four months to go until the November 5 vote, he has not yet been named the official candidate for his party. That is scheduled to happen during the Democratic National Convention, which will take place in Chicago in mid-August.

Mr Biden's dismal performance during Thursday's first debate against his presumptive Republican rival Donald Trump drew calls from his own party to step aside and allow another candidate to run instead.

“I wish Biden would reflect on this debate performance and then announce his decision to withdraw from the race, throwing the choice of Democratic nominee to the convention,” Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist wrote on X, before naming possible candidates.

There is no clear front-runner for the President's possible replacement, but here are the most prominent possible candidates:

Kamala Harris

Mr Biden's Vice President, Kamala Harris, is in many ways the most obvious choice: if he were to resign now, she would automatically become president.

Gavin Newsom

The Governor of California is another possible replacement for Mr Biden. He was present in CNN's “spin room” during the debate, delivering sharp criticisms of Trump and defending the President.

Gretchen Whitmer

The Michigan Governor is a rising star in the Democratic party, and the 56-year-old was also on the shortlist of candidates for Mr Biden's vice president in 2020.

Read more here

Sara Ruthven reports from Washington:

After a wave of panic engulfed Democrats following Thursday night's debate, Senator John Fetterman advised them to "chill out".

"I refuse to join the Democratic vultures on [President Joe] Biden’s shoulder after the debate," he wrote on X.

"No one knows more than me that a rough debate is not the sum total of the person and their record."

Mr Biden's performance in the debate was blasted by many of his fellow Democrats, some of whom have called on him to end his campaign and allow someone else to run.

Mr Fetterman, the goateed, hoodie-wearing senator from Mr Biden's home state of Pennsylvania, pointed to how political analysts had predicted he would lose his own race in 2023.

"And what happened? The only seat to flip and won by a historic margin (+5). Chill the [expletive] out," he wrote.

Kyle Fitzgerald reports from Washington:

Shares in Donald Trump's social media company Trump Media rose 5 per cent after markets opened on Friday morning.

Trump Media, which trades under the ticker symbol "DJT", has been incredibly unpredictable this year, with the stock's performance seemingly tied to the former president's status in the political arena.

DJT peaked at $80 per share after it made its debut in March, but has since fallen to roughly $38 after the former president was convicted on criminal charges in New York in May over his involvement in a hush-money scheme. 

“I love Joe Biden,” she said on X. “I know he’s a good man. I know his heart is good. I know he’s dedicated to our country and is surrounded by good people.

"Tonight was heartbreaking in many ways. This is a big political moment. There’s panic in the Democratic Party. It’s going to be a long night.”

Ms Shriver is a prominent member of the party and was one of first lady Jill Biden’s guests at this year’s State of the Union address. 

Democratic and Republican supporters gathered in venues across the US to watch the debate on Thursday night, with many agreeing on one thing: they had just witnessed a lopsided showdown.

Some Democrats have put a positive spin on things. It's still early, they said. But many were let down.

President Joe Biden “just didn’t have the spark that we needed tonight", Rosemarie DeAngelus, a Democrat from Maine, said from her watch party at Broadway Bowl.

Former president Donald Trump, she said, showed “more spunk or more vigour” even if, in her view, he lied during the event.

“I’ve never seen Trump seem so coherent,” said Biden supporter Lynn Miller. “And I hate to say this, but Joe seemed a little bit off. But I still support him over Trump because Trump lied about every single thing that happened.”

Supporters of Trump said the difference in energy and coherence between the candidates was striking.

Trump supporter and Detroit resident Bonnie Call said Mr Biden "just cannot think on his feet at all. President Trump is just on".

In Texas, Virginia Lopez said she was still not sure who to vote for in November. “Trump is just deflecting in all the answers and he’s just lying," she said. "It doesn’t feel like a real debate."

She was also critical of Mr Biden: "I just feel like he’s too old."

Last night’s US presidential debate brought the Democrats' worst-case scenario to fruition - fumbling and at times incoherent candidate Joe Biden distracted from Republican candidate and former president Donald Trump’s characteristic disregard for facts when it comes to his own past actions.

For Trump supporters, it was a moment of triumph and a clean victory proving their thesis that Mr Biden is not mentally fit to be in charge of the US.

The two campaigns posted after the debate claiming to have defeated the opposing party. Mr Biden posted a clip of himself saying that fact-checks will prove Trump to be a liar, while Trump posted an Onion-esque headline riffing on his recent criminal counts to say he was “indicted for murdering an elderly man on CNN".

Supporters from both sides came to social media to re-centre public attention on their preferred debate takeaways. Staunch Biden supporters, sidelining his strange on-stage behaviour, were quick to call out Trump’s debate responses, saying his stances are much more dangerous than a Democrat struggling to put sentences together.

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Ms Haley, a former Republican presidential hopeful, said she expected Mr Biden to be replaced.

“Mark my words, Biden will not be the Democrat nominee. Republicans, get your guard up,” she said on X.

Ms Haley was the last Republican candidate to challenge Donald Trump for the party's nomination.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, US Senator Tim Scott and former vice president Mike Pence also ran against Trump.

Prominent Democrats and former government officials have called for President Joe Biden to step aside and allow his party to identify a new candidate for the November election.

Mr Biden struggled in the first debate against Republican rival Donald Trump, with the Democratic party saying later that the President had a cold that affected his performance.

Ben Rhodes, a former adviser to president Barack Obama, was among those who criticised that explanation. "Telling people they didn't see what they saw is not the way to respond to this," he said on X.

Jamie Metzl, who worked in Bill Clinton's government, said Mr Biden has made a “tremendous contribution” to the US, but should step aside.

“His greatest act of patriotism must now be to pass the torch to a new generation,” Mr Metzl said on X.

Writing in The New York Times, American political commentator Thomas Friedman said could not remember “a more heartbreaking moment in American presidential campaign politics”.

Mr Friedman is known to be a close friend and supporter of Mr Biden.

Journalist Nicholas Kristof said he had “seen enough” and that “Biden remaining in the race increases the likelihood that Trump will move into the White House in January”.

Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged Mr Biden had a "slow start" in the debate, but said his recor din the White House outweighed the 90-minute debate.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, who could be a leading contender if Mr Biden stepped aside, dismissed the notion that Democrats could change its candidate.

She did not appear to be with the former president when he arrived in Atlanta before his first election debate against President Joe Biden in four years.

And she was not by his side when the event ended, leaving Trump to exit on his own as Mr Biden was joined on stage by his wife, Jill Biden.

When asked in March whether she planned to hit the campaign trail, Ms Trump replied: “Stay tuned.”

But she has largely refrained from making public appearances, aside from attending a couple of fundraisers in April and their son's high school graduation.

She was notably absent during Trump’s month-long hush money trial in New York and did not appear on June 14 at a 78th birthday party organised for the former president by his supporters.

Ms Trump has also been missing from campaign events as her husband looks to return to the White House in November's election.