Then-President Joe Biden struggled in practice debates ahead of his disastrous showing against Donald Trump last year — leaving his advisers with little option but to cross their fingers and hope he would be a “game-day performer,” a new book about the collapse of the Democratic administration reveals.
Biden’s advisers “blocked out substantial time to prep over several days” at the presidential retreat at Camp David in rural Maryland in June 2024. When the president turned up after a trip to Europe to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day and attend a G7 summit, he was “rusty and exhausted,” according to “Original Sin,” co-authored by Alex Thompson and Jake Tapper.
Meanwhile, former White House chief of staff Ron Klain was “disappointed” in Biden’s preparation for the June 27 CNN debate, Thompson and Tapper write: “He’d been assured that Biden had been reviewing his prep materials before he arrived at Camp David, but he hadn’t.
“He was rusty and exhausted when he arrived, essentially sleeping that whole first day. And even after that taking lots of naps,” according to the book, a copy of which was obtained by The Post.
In the mock debates, the authors write, “Biden’s performance ranged from bad to passable … His voice was hard to hear, his delivery was halting, and his answers were all over the place.
“Advisers also told him his mouth was agape when he wasn’t speaking and urged him to close it,” the book goes on. “His voice got raspier as the week went on, to the point that aides couldn’t hear him during mock sessions. Biden kept asking for more cough drops.”
Making matters worse, the president developed a cold — which he blamed for his brutal performance — and was tested for COVID-19 on at least two occasions. His sickness reportedly prompted the debate prep team to scale back their initial plans in order to give him room to recoup.
In spite of the warning signs, Thompson and Tapper claim many of Biden’s intimates “left debate prep feeling good.”
“Time and again, aides had seen Biden be bad in prep and then better onstage. As [Biden campaign co-chair and movie producer Jeffrey] Katzenberg said when they left Camp David: ‘Okay, well, our guy is a game-day performer.’”
The Biden campaign had goaded Trump into doing a debate months earlier than most presidential elections, which usually feature verbal bouts in the fall.
Onstage, Biden appeared frail, stone-faced with his mouth indeed agape at times, often losing his train of thought while trying to keep up with Trump.
His bumbling performance sparked a panic among Democrats that ultimately culminated in him becoming the first duly elected president not to seek a second term since Lyndon Johnson in 1968.
“Original Sin” is slated to his bookshelves on May 20.
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