President Joe Biden was seen ‘dapping’ with a supporter at a Waffle House in Atlanta just hours after the car-crash TV debate with Donald Trump that prompted calls for him to step down from the upcoming election.
He and First Lady Jill Biden paid a visit to the restaurant early Friday morning following his first head-to-head battle with Trump, telling local media ‘I think we did well’ and that ‘it’s hard to debate a liar’.
During the visit the President shared a ‘dap’, a form of handshaking that typically involves fingers being hooked or locked together, with supporter LaJarrius Russell and joked that the Waffle House patron ‘spends too much time at the gym’.
Biden faced global derision and scorn over his performance in the debate, which saw him stumbling over his words and losing his train of thought.
Left-leaning media outlets, most notably The New York Times, have demanded that Biden drop out of the race for White House, alleging that during the debate he appeared to be a ‘shadow’ of himself and the argument that he was the best Democratic candidate to take on Trump was no longer valid.
Biden is said to be ‘humiliated’ and ‘painfully aware’ of his image following his debate performance, but seems to be staying firmly in the race with his wife stubbornly standing by his side.
President Joe Biden was seen ‘dapping’ with a supporter at a Waffle House in Atlanta just hours after his car-crash TV debate with Donald Trump. A dap is a form of handshaking that typically involves fingers being hooked or locked together
During the Waffle House visit, Biden was probed about his performance during Thursday night’s debate. He told the media ‘I think we did well’ and said ‘it’s hard to debate a liar’
Biden and his entourage visited a the Waffle House on Cobb Parkway in Atlanta on Friday, June 28 after his disastrous debate with Trump.
Trump, 78, repeated a series of well-worn, glaring falsehoods during the 90-minute debate on Thursday, including claims that he actually won the 2020 election.
Biden, 81, failed to refute them and his fumbling, halting performance has raised questions about his ability to serve another term and sparked calls from Democrats for him to drop out of the race and for resignations among top aides.
But despite his calamitous debate performance, the President was all smiles as he visited the restaurant. Supporters were heard cheering for the Bidens as they entered the eatery, with some noting how the First Lady looked ‘good’ and ‘amazing’.
Biden then approaches Russell and the pair exchange a dap.
‘How you doing, sir?’ Russell asks as he shakes the President’s hand.
‘You know, you spend too much time in the gym, I think,’ Biden replied, prompting laughter from Russell and others in the restaurant.
Other footage from the visit shows Biden, looking somewhat spacey and holding a soft drink, speaking with reporters inside the restaurant.
The President is asked about the presidential debate, to which he responds: ‘I think we did well’.
He is asked again if he has ‘any concerns about your performance’ to which Biden replied: ‘No. It’s hard to debate a liar.
‘The New York Times pointed out he made lies 26 times, big lies.’
Yet that very outlet, in a scathing opinion piece on Friday morning, argued that Biden should step down in the election.
LaJarrius Russell, who met the President at the eatery, and Biden shared a ‘dap’, a form of handshaking that typically involves fingers being hooked or locked together. The supporter was heard asking ‘how you doing, sir?’ as they shook hands and Biden joked that Russell ‘spends too much time at the gym’
Biden is seen speaking to patrons at Waffle House in the early hours of Friday morning
President Joe Biden, center, and first lady Jill Biden, right, pay for a purchase as they greet supporters at a Waffle House in Georgia on Friday
Unable to ignore the president’s performance, the publication put it bluntly, saying: ‘Mr. Biden can’t continue this race.’
The editorial board wrote that Biden ‘appeared on Thursday night as the shadow of a great public servant’ and ‘struggled’ to respond to Trump’s ‘provocations’ or hold the GOP hopeful ‘accountable for his lies, his failures and his chilling plans’.
It added: ‘More than once, he struggled to make it to the end of a sentence.’
The paper agreed with Biden’s opinion another Trump presidency would be a disaster for the country and would imperil the nation’s democracy.
They wrote glowingly about Biden’s administration, calling him an ‘admirable president.’
Given the magnitude of the election, the editorial board said that the mere fact that Biden beat Trump in 2020 is ‘no longer a sufficient rationale for why [he] should be the Democratic nominee this year.’
In a moment of somber candor, the paper conceded that voters ‘cannot be expected to ignore what was…plain to see: Mr. Biden is not the man he was four years ago.’
The editors further opined that Biden’s candidacy is a ‘reckless gamble.’
‘There are Democratic leaders better equipped to present clear, compelling and energetic alternatives to a second Trump presidency.’
Supporters were heard cheering for the Bidens as they entered the eatery, with some noting how the First Lady looked ‘good’ and ‘amazing’
Joe Biden is seen entering the Waffle House on Cobb Parkway in Atlanta in the early hours of Friday, June 28, 2024
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden pick up an order from a Waffle House in Marietta, Georgia, after participating in a presidential debate in Atlanta
Following Thursday’s debate it was revealed that Biden had been left ‘humiliated’ and was set to discuss the future of his re-election campaign.
The president retreated to Camp David with is wife, children and grandchildren to take a break from the campaign trial and weigh his options, NBC News first reported.
Insiders described Biden’s mood as ‘humiliated and devoid of confidence’ following his face off with Donald Trump that saw him stumbling over his words and losing his train of thought multiple times.
Biden is said to be ‘painfully aware that the physical images of him at the debate — eyes staring into the distance, mouth agape — will live beyond his presidency.’
The retreat comes as his team keeps insisting that the idea of him dropping out of the race would only ‘lead to weeks of chaos,’ calling the concern of several Democrats the work of ‘bedwetting brigade.’
His family used the Sunday gathering at Camp David to urge Biden to stay in the race and keep fighting despite his dreadful debate performance.
Some family members criticized how his staff prepared him for the faceoff, according to four people familiar with the discussions.
While his family was aware of how poorly he performed against Trump, they also continue to think he’s the best person to beat the Republican presumptive nominee.
They also believe he is capable of doing the job of president for another four years, according to sources close to the situation.
The First Lady and son Hunter Biden, whom the president has long gone to for counsel and advice, both allegedly believe the president shouldn’t bow out when he’s down, and believe that he can come back from what they see as one subpar performance.
The family questioned how he was prepared for the debate by staff and wondered if they could have done something better, the insiders said.
Biden’s campaign has spent the days since the debate – where he appeared raspy, trailed off, and at times gave convoluted answers – working to keep donors and surrogates on board as Democrats increasingly questioned whether he should stay in the race.
The President’s halting performance has sparked calls from Democrats for him to end his quest for a second term and for ‘soul-searching’ or resignations among top aides.
‘My only request was make sure he’s rested before the debate, but he was exhausted. He was unwell,’ said one person who said they appealed to Biden’s top aides in the days before, to no avail. ‘What a bad decision to send him out looking sick and exhausted.’
‘It is my belief that he was over-coached, over-practiced. And I believe [senior aide] Anita Dunn… put him in a venue that was conducive for Trump and not for him,’ added John Morgan, a Florida-based attorney and major Biden fundraiser.
Morgan said Dunn and her husband, Bob Bauer, the president´s attorney who played Trump in pre-debate rehearsals, should ‘be fired forever and never let back anywhere near the campaign.’
President Joe Biden, pictured during Thursday’s debate, is said to be ‘humiliated’ and ‘painfully aware’ of his image following his car crash debate that saw him stumbling over his words and losing his train of thought
Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump participates in the first presidential debate of the 2024 election
Biden’s debate strategy was signed off on by campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon, who helped him win in 2020 and was appointed in January to boost an uneven reelection campaign.
Dunn, a longtime Biden aide and former Barack Obama campaign strategist, backed that strategy.
Confidence going into the event was high. Trump was convicted of falsifying documents by a jury in New York on May 31, while Biden held back-to-back visits in Europe.
To the surprise of some Biden aides, his stubbornly low poll numbers began to inch up nationally in the weeks that followed.
Advisers set up a rigorous debate prep calendar, with Biden sequestered at Camp David for six days.
An inner circle, some close to Biden for decades, were involved: Ron Klain, his first White House chief of staff, Dunn, former White House counsel and long-time adviser Mike Donilon, as well as about a dozen other policy and political experts.
Biden’s campaign said on Friday that no staff shake-up was under consideration. Multiple aides, not just Dunn and Bauer, were involved in the preparation, said a campaign official, who also noted that Morgan was not there.
In an email to supporters Saturday, O’Malley Dillon said internal polls and focus groups showed no change in voters’ opinions in battleground states after the debate.
She warned ‘overblown media narratives’ may drive ‘temporary dips in the polls,’ but said she was confident Biden would win in November.
As Biden and his aides settled in at Camp David six days before the debate, aides figured he had a lot to accomplish, more than his opponent.
Trump could just complain about the present administration – and Biden would need the facts and some zingers at his fingertips.
They expected Trump would be far more disciplined and prepared than he had been in 2020 and believed that they would need to counter a string of rapid-fire lies.
In lengthy prep sessions, they peppered Biden with details, then followed them up with mock debates.
Critics say now that the preparation should have focused on the bigger vision he needs to sell to the country, and that Biden had insufficient rest headed into the debate.
The president has retreated to Camp David with is wife, children and grandchildren to take a break from the campaign trial and weigh his options. He is pictured stepping off Air Force One with First Lady Jill Biden at Hagerstown Regional Airport in Maryland on June 29
Earlier this year, some Biden aides had discussed whether he should debate Trump at all, arguing that it could give Trump a broad public platform that would disadvantage Biden.
But the day after the debate, Biden seemingly bounced back with a forceful speech in North Carolina, and a pledge to keep going. Many donors and Democrats are rallying around him.
Asked on Sunday whether the Democratic Party was discussing a new 2024 candidate, Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin told MSNBC: ‘There are very honest and serious and rigorous conversations taking place at every level of our party, because it is a political party and we have differences in point of view.’
Raskin added: ‘Whether he’s the candidate or someone else is the candidate, he’s going to be the keynote speaker at our convention.’