IMO - this was clearly a media hit job as usual, except the target was Joe and he didn’t see it coming. Joe refuses to step aside and the elites had to do something, otherwise it’s 4 more years of Trump - with a legitimate vendetta.
They turned the media on him. Every single news outlet had the same message after the debate, with the same messages. Multiple talking heads saying “my phone started buzzing immediately during the debate, I’ve never had that happen before”, “a disastrous performance”, “when he was on message, the message was good, but Joe was terrible”. Same thing said on multiple channels. In other words, “we have the right message, it’s just we can’t win with Joe”.
This was all decided before Joe opened his mouth. They knew he’d spent days practicing, probably with the questions provided - yet still this. Of course the questions were loaded (’climate crisis - increased hurricanes & severity’, ‘abortion - rape & incest!, etc) in Joe’s favor and STILL this.
They gave him every tool to succeed and he still came across as barely rubbing a few brain cells together. Now they’ve turned on him. He’s going to get extreme treatment to force him out. You can taste their fear, Trump is going to win. Panic!!!
And I think it is too late, the Democrat bench is light—Harris as most likely nominee. Failed Newsom might be slick but I don’t think he’s viable. Whitmer? Who else?