Joe Biden’s Close Ally Uncertain About Another Debate With Donald Trump

Representative James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, said on Sunday he is uncertain if there should be another debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

Biden and Trump became their respective party’s presumptive 2024 presidential candidates earlier this year following a string of primary victories, likely setting up a rematch of the fiercely contested 2020 election. On Thursday, the two participated in the first presidential debate of this year’s election cycle, which was hosted by CNN in Georgia.

Amid mounting concerns about Biden’s age and mental acuity, Democrats hoped for a youthful and energetic performance when the president took the debate stage. However, during the debate, the 81-year-old rambled through his administration’s current accomplishments and goals. A Biden aide, meanwhile, told Newsweek late Thursday night that the president was battling a cold during the debate.

Biden’s debate performance has sparked concerns among some members of the Democratic Party about his ability to serve a second term in the White House and consider replacing him as its nominee. There is no indication of who would be proposed as a candidate and Biden’s campaign has not signaled stepping down. Biden and Trump are expected to face off in a second debate on September 10, which will be hosted by ABC News.

In an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, Clyburn, a close ally to Biden who helped him secure the nomination for president four years ago, spoke about the aftermath of the debate as he shot down any suggestions that Biden should step down from the ticket.

“It is very clear he should stay in this race. He should demonstrate going forward his capacity to lead the country. And I think the American people are demonstrating that,” the congressman said.

Host Dana Bash then asked Clyburn if there should be another debate between the two.

“Well I don’t know, I think Joe Biden would do well with the debate. I think it all depends upon what the rules are. I don’t like the debate where nobody will do any fact-checking. You just say what you want to say, you know it’s a lie—the guy [Trump] told 30 some odd lies and nobody checked him on it and say that was up to Joe Biden to do. I’m not too sure. So that to me was not the way to plan the debate. And whoever did that agreed to that really should think about what they are doing,” the congressman responded.

CNN counted over 30 false statements made by the former president while the network said Biden made at least nine false or misleading statements during the debate.

Bash noted that the Biden team agreed to the debate format.

Newsweek has reached out to Clyburn’s office and Biden’s campaign via email for comment.

Meanwhile, Clyburn addressed Biden’s debate performance as he said it was due to “preparation overload.”

“It was a bad performance. I’ve been around these things. I’ve been a part of debate preparation before, and I know when I see what I call preparation overload. And that’s exactly what was going on the other night,” the congressman said.

If there is another debate in September Clyburn suggested that Biden needs to prepare for it with “deflection” instead of just with information.

“If we’re going to have another debate the preparation for that debate needs to be different, no question in my mind, we cannot overload the candidate,” he added.

In 2020, Clyburn endorsed Biden ahead of the South Carolina primary, which was widely seen as helpful in his victory.

Clyburn’s comments come after a CNN poll following the debate found that 67 percent of debate watchers said Trump won the debate, compared to 33 percent that sided with Biden. The poll found that ahead of the debate, 55 percent of respondents believed Trump would better perform in the debate, compared to 45 percent that sided with Biden.

Meanwhile, this is not the first time Clyburn has expressed his thoughts on Biden’s reelection efforts as he said in an interview on State of the Union in January that he sat down with Biden to express his concerns about his reelection campaign, but stressed he was “not worried,” but “very concerned” about voters, specifically Black voters showing up for Biden in November.

“Well I’m not worried, I’m very concerned…I have no problem with the Biden administration and what it has done. My problem is we have not been able to break through that MAGA wall in order to get to people exactly what this president has done,” Clyburn said at the time.

According to a June poll conducted by USA Today and Suffolk University, the swing states of Michigan and Pennsylvania showed an increase in Trump’s support among Black voters compared to 2020. It comes as there was decline in Biden’s backing from the crucial voting bloc in the two swing states.

Despite Trump’s gains, Biden still maintains majority support among Black voters. The poll highlighted a growing interest in third-party candidates and a significant portion of undecided Black voters, indicating a fluid situation. The Black vote helped Biden win in swing states like Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin in 2020.