Biden’s evolving reasons for his bad debate: A cold, too much prep, not feeling great and jet lag

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has offered plenty of excuses for his terrible performance in last week’s presidential debate. None of them have done much to assuage Democrats’ concerns about Donald Trump returning to the White House.

For its part, Biden’s White House insists these are explanations, not excuses. But they have only intensified the concerns Democrats have about their presumptive nominee’s readiness.

A bad cold

In the initial moments of Thursday’s debate, shortly after the 81-year old Biden claimed to a baffled audience that “we finally beat Medicare,” aides said the president was suffering from a cold.

Biden’s voice was raspy. His eyes looked glassy at times. But despite the cold, he went from the debate to a watch party and then a Waffle House. Then he gave an energized speech Friday in North Carolina.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at Wednesday’s news briefing that she initially leaned into the cold as an explanation, but she knew his schedule and jet lag were issues. She later suggested that Biden traveled and then got a cold, possibly linking the two.

“That was my bad,” Jean-Pierre said of not discussing jet lag earlier.

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