Presidential debate showdown between Biden, Trump was festival of the unprecedented

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President Joe Biden hoped that Thursday night’s debate would put to bed concerns that he is mentally and physically unfit for the office of the presidency. Instead, his performance was a cacophony of alarm bells announcing his time is clearly up.

The presidential debate showdown between Biden and Donald Trump was a festival of the unprecedented, from the eerie silence of the crowdless hall, to the game-show style microphone manipulation, to the fact that it is only June.

Let’s be clear on one thing, there are caves deep in the Pacific Ocean that are lower than Biden’s expectations were heading to Atlanta. Basically, if he could look normal, literally just clearly make a case, he’d pass the test and remain secure in the nomination.

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He failed that test, and failed it badly.

For Trump, the challenge was entirely different. Could he behave? Would the Rube Goldberg rules and the potentially hostile moderators get under his skin? Could he remain, at least his version of presidential and blunt Biden’s attack about his supposed danger to democracy?

In this, Trump largely succeeded.

For his part, Biden, with a faltering and scratchy voice, looked old and feeble from the moment he slowly shuffled to his podium. It didn’t get any better when he