Six Days Shook Biden’s Candidacy. Can He Turn It Around?

Good evening. Things are moving fast right now. Tonight, I’ll start by telling you the very latest, and then I’ll explain how six days turned politics upside down. We’re also looking at how Biden is fighting for his candidacy on the air.

I told you this election wasn’t going to be boring. But I didn’t think it would take less than a week for American politics to turn wholly upside down.

In just six days, President Biden’s bid for re-election plunged into crisis, so buffeted by doubt about his fitness to face former President Donald Trump in November that, according to a key ally, even the president himself is considering whether or not he can recover. The Supreme Court vastly expanded presidential power, heightening the stakes of the election in the most uncertain moment of the campaign. And all eyes are now on a series of tests that Biden has set for himself as Democrats agonize over the best way forward.

With four months to go until the election, Biden isn’t running against Trump right now. He’s running against — and trying desperately to change — the public’s impression of himself.

Since the debate on June 27, Biden has suffered from a series of self-inflicted wounds — the worst of which was a perceived denial over how much had gone wrong — that have brought long-simmering worries about his campaign to the fore. Understanding those can help us understand his efforts to recover — and where he might go from here. Let’s look back at six extraordinary days.

By now, we know what happened when Biden stepped onstage for a debate that had been proposed by his team. While Trump used the opportunity to spew falsehoods about his record and about Jan. 6, Biden’s halting performance left many Democrats in shock.

At a watch party after