Biden’s agonising debate performance doesn’t change the reality of this election

If the president is not politically viable, the stakes of this election not only remain, but are even higher than ever

Post-debate, Joe Biden soldiers on. He flies to fundraisers. He campaigns. He is overcoming another obstacle in the pattern of his story, his self-image up from underestimation. But if Biden is not politically viable, the stakes not only remain but are even higher than ever. Picture: Gerald Herbert/AP

I saw western civilisation pass before my eyes as Joe Biden drowned.

“Putin is waiting for Trump,” John Bolton, Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, has said. When the presidential debate turned to foreign policy, the former president made an apparently startling revelation. He implied that he had a previously unknown conversation with Vladimir Putin before his invasion of Ukraine, perhaps in late 2021 or early 2022. 

According to Trump, Russia’s president discussed the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“When Putin saw that, he said, you know what, I think we’re going to go in and maybe take my — this was his dream. I talked to him about it, his dream,” he said. That dream, of course, is the conquest of Ukraine as the restoration of the major piece of the collapsed Soviet Union after the cold war.

Biden, overprepared to hit his voluminous talking points, was not listening closely. He did not pick up on Trump’s astounding claim: “I talked to him about it, his dream.”

The president’s response was accurate and so concise, his words jumbled: “And listen to what he said when he went in, he was going to take Kyiv in five days, remember? Because it’s part of the old Soviet Union. That’s what he wanted, to re-establish Kyiv. And he in fact didn’t do it at all. He didn’t — wasn’t able to get it done. And they’ve lost over — they’ve lost thousands and thousands of troops, 500,000 troops.” Abruptly, Biden ended speaking.

He had the time, but did not explain the meaning. He bollixed what he wanted to say about Putin’s effort to occupy Ukraine into “re-establish Kyiv”. Biden did not draw any conclusion. 

He had not listened closely to Trump’s winding patter. He didn’t sift through the word salad to find the nugget of gold. He did not expose Trump’s worship of Putin, whom he “idolises”, according to Fiona Hill, the Russia expert formerly on Trump’s national security council, who also wrote that Trump believes Ukraine “must be part of Russia”.

Trump shares Putin’s “dream” to make Russia great again. He aspires to be an unfettered strongman like Putin, dictator “from day one”. That is why, as Bolton says: “Putin is waiting for Trump.”

Trump’s campaign is the essential linchpin of Putin’s strategy. Without Trump, he faces endless winter. Trump is his indispensable useful idiot.

Trump shares Putin’s 'dream' to make Russia great again. He aspires to be an unfettered strongman like Putin, dictator 'from day one'. That is why, as Bolton says: 'Putin is waiting for Trump'. Picture: Justin Lane/AFP/Getty

Biden’s whiff on this or that exchange was more than isolated missed opportunities. His painful performance showed him trying to spew out his numbers, often missing the main point. He often countered without making any argument. It seemed like a PowerPoint presentation missing the closing slides.

At times, he lost the plot. “We beat Medicare,” he said confusedly. His acuity and agility were evanescent. Yet sometimes Biden hit his mark. He tore into Trump’s low character, “the morals of an alley cat”, though unfair to cats who don’t choose to be in the alley. He called out Trump’s lies, though accounting for them would have consumed every second in every response.

But Biden’s physical appearance was more than a problem of optics. His stiffness was accompanied by a frequently vacant look. He was not the Biden of less than four months ago with his firm and adroit handling of his State of the Union address in which he spontaneously talked down his Maga hecklers.

Biden cannot hope for a recovery through a future performance. There is not another State of the Union. The acceptance speech at the Democratic national convention will be read through a teleprompter. There will almost certainly not be a second debate with Trump. 

What’s in it for Trump? He has already banked what he needs, a gift beyond his wildest dreams, not to mention Putin’s. Trump will not lend Biden a second chance. And would Biden’s handlers risk it?

Biden’s halting image will cast a shadow over any message he wishes to make. He will not be able to deflect the fake videos because of the debate. He will not be able to have his aides explain his capability as chief executive without doubt falling on him.

Biden’s age had been set aside until the debate. His accomplishments are the result of his political skill, experience, and knowledge. For the Democratic party, Biden was a political necessity. The centre held around him. 

His renewed candidacy prevented a tumultuous free-for-all, but his ability to run on the platform he has built through three and a half years has been severely undermined in 90 minutes.

Biden has run again because he understands the state of the world. He has held together the centre of the western alliance. He decided he would run again because he was the crucial leader at an unprecedented, perilous time. 

His premise that he must win the presidency to sustain the west against the overarching menace of Putin and his sidekick Trump has been the fundamental reason for his second candidacy.

Post-debate, Biden soldiers on. He flies to fundraisers. He campaigns. He is overcoming another obstacle in the pattern of his story, his self-image up from underestimation. But if Biden is not politically viable, the stakes not only remain but are even higher than ever. The cause is always greater than the man.

• Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, 'Wrestling With His Angel', and 'All the Powers of Earth'.
• Guardian