President Joe Biden was praised by his wife on Thursday following his first presidential debate appearance despite a widely-criticized performance.
First Lady Jill Biden greeted her husband on stage at the debate after-party with a live audience, seeming to celebrate the mere fact that the president responded to moderators’ questions.
“Joe, you did such a great job! You answered every question, you knew all the facts!” Jill Biden cheered to a smiling Joe Biden on-stage.
Biden and First Lady Jill Biden speak to supporters at a watch party for the CNN Presidential Debate in Atlanta, Georgia. Biden and Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump faced off in the first presidential debate of the 2024 campaign. (Tasos Katopodis/Tasos Katopodis)
“And let me ask the crowd. “What did Trump do?” the first lady continued, turning to the audience and gesturing before shouting “Lie!”
The moment has gone viral since the debate, with many articles reporting on Jill Biden’s manner of speaking being reminiscent of praising a child.
Biden’s performance at the debate has been almost universally panned by commentators due to his inarticulate speaking and unstable demeanor.
Jill Biden greets her husband’s supporters at the campaign’s watch party for the CNN Presidential Debate. (Tasos Katopodis/Tasos Katopodis)
Repeated stammering, long periods of silence and facial expressions that conveyed intense confusion have convinced some of Biden’s loudest cheerleaders that the president must step down from the re-election campaign.
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, a longtime Biden ally, wrote the debate “made me weep” and realize Biden should step aside.
“I cannot remember a more heartbreaking moment in American presidential campaign politics in my lifetime — precisely because of what it revealed: Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, has no business running for re-election,” he wrote.
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The Bidens can be seen walking with Mayor of Durham Leonardo Williams (R) upon arrival at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
CNN commentator Van Jones, who cried for joy when Biden won the 2020 presidential election, offered an emotional plea for the president to step aside.
“I love that guy as a good man. He loves his country. He’s doing the best that he can. But he had a test to meet tonight, to restore confidence of the country and of the base, and he failed to do that,” Jones said. “And I think there’s a lot of people who are going to want to see him consider taking a different course now.”
Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
