Jon Stewart reacts to Biden-Trump debate disaster

Jon Stewart and CNN panelists reacted Thursday evening to this very dramatic — and disturbing — debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

On a live edition of The daily show, host Stewart roasted both contestants' performances and seemed extremely frustrated. Stewart was particularly concerned about Biden's performance, with the president appearing pale, frail and trembling on stage during CNN's 90-minute telecast.

“The only thing we proved tonight was that the MAGA conspiracy theory about Biden's upcoming debate performance was absurd,” Stewart said (video below), and played clips of conservatives claiming Biden would use performance-enhancing drugs to be loaded during the debate. . “Let me just say that after watching tonight's debate, these two men should use performance-enhancing drugs – as many as they can get, as many times a day as their body allows. Performance-enhancing drugs that will improve their lucidity, their problem-solving abilities and, in the case of one candidate, improve their truthfulness, morality and malignant narcissism. Whatever magic drugs can turn their brains on, because that's not Olympic swimming. “Oh, he solved the Middle East problem, but he was doping, so that doesn’t count”? And if these drugs don't exist, if there aren't any real performance-enhancing drugs for these candidates, I could definitely use some fucking ones recreationally right now. Because this can't be real life! This is simply not possible! Whore ! We are America!

But the most memorable moment may not be Stewart's. The host played a clip of Biden appearing to have lost his train of thought about 10 minutes into the debate. Stewart's audience fell silent and emitted a few groans of pain.

“Call the real estate agent in New Zealand,” Stewart joked. “Sure, [Biden’s lapse is] It’s not something that was repeated throughout the debate, forcing Democrats across the country to jump out of windows or silently vomit into the nearest recycling bin. Anyone can screw up… while talking. Many people have a relaxed face when it comes to the 25th Amendment.

Stewart also criticized Trump for saying a lot of things that were blatantly false. “Everything Donald Trump said in that clip is a lie,” Stewart said at one point. “Clear and full. And we had little time to put it all together. There are many others. »

The CNN panel after the debate was scathing about Biden's performance (video below), with CNN anchor John King saying, “This debate was a game changer. Right now, as we speak, there is a deep, broad, very aggressive panic within the Democratic Party. It involves the party strategists, the elected officials. It involves the fundraisers, and they're having conversations about the president's performance, which they think is dismal, which they think will hurt other people in the party on the ticket, and they're having discussions about what they should do about it.” King added that in all his years of covering debates, he's never received the kind of panicked, anxious text messages he received tonight.

Political analyst Van Jones looked very serious and added: “I like Joe Biden. I worked for Joe Biden. He didn't do well…I just want to speak from my heart. I like this guy. He is a good man. He loves this country. He's doing his best. But he had an opportunity to restore confidence in the country and in the base, but he failed to do so. And I think there are a lot of people who will want to see him consider going a different path now. We are still far from our convention. And it's time for this party to find a different way for people to do this. This was personally painful for many people. “

Former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin said: “I think Biden lost in the first three minutes. I think a lot of voters have probably turned away and millions of people are talking with family and friends about whether the president is up to the task and whether he should step down. I am someone who thinks the former president is a threat to democracy. I think he is a threat to America and we know he wants to fundamentally change our institutions. He outlined his plan. I'm not sure this will happen. [Biden is] man to confront him. He can't tell me that democracy is at stake and then give me this performance.