Speaker 1: Hey there, folks, what do we do with Joe Biden?
Speaker 1: And that's where we start in this episode of Amy
Speaker 1: and TJ. Robes. I'm almost a little I'm rethinking and
Speaker 1: a little embarrassed about how we went into watching the
Speaker 1: presidential debate between Trump and Biden tonight. We're of course
Speaker 1: recording this episode right after watching, but we went into
Speaker 1: it almost thinking there was going to be a lot
Speaker 1: of entertainment value, and I'm almost now, after what we saw,
Speaker 1: I'm almost a little embarrassed that we went into.
Speaker 2: It that way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, we went into it looking at it as
Speaker 3: political sport. I don't think that's unfair. I think that's
Speaker 3: how we've looked at lots of debates. So we brought
Speaker 3: our daughters into it. We kind of had a watch party,
Speaker 3: so to speak, just bringing our kids into the political forum.
Speaker 3: But what ended up happening was something that you and
Speaker 3: I have never seen, and I think most people who
Speaker 3: watch tonight's debate have never seen and those of us
Speaker 3: who have covered debates. I mean, I felt like my
Speaker 3: jaw was dropped. I actually you saw me multiple times.
Speaker 3: I actually covered my face and went into almost fetal
Speaker 3: position because you couldn't believe what you were hearing and watching.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think every message I got from anybody during
Speaker 1: the debate included the word cringe in it somewhere. But
Speaker 1: to your point, and I think you said, we've made
Speaker 1: this kind of a communal event. It was a watch party.
Speaker 1: We were going to watch party, like, everybody, come over,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be crazy, right, Trump versus Biden. Finally
Speaker 1: we're going to see these two on the stage together.
Speaker 1: And USA was playing Panama in the Copa America Cup
Speaker 1: ahead of time at six o'clock. So we actually had
Speaker 1: a really fun evening of television watching plant and the
Speaker 1: tone really changed in it had to be. On the
Speaker 1: very first answer that President Biden gave, you became concerned
Speaker 1: and it kind of went in line with a lot
Speaker 1: of the concerns people have had about him for a while.
Speaker 1: And now we all got to watch him live. This
Speaker 1: isn't about politics and policy and where you fall on
Speaker 1: whatever side of the aisle and trying to spend Sometimes
Speaker 1: we all have to agree on just what we all witness.
Speaker 3: So I was going to say something very similar. I
Speaker 3: watched my twenty one year old daughter put her hands
Speaker 3: over her eyes and it wasn't about your political beliefs.
Speaker 3: It wasn't about what side of the aisle you're on.
Speaker 3: It was about watching someone struggle as a human being
Speaker 3: and actually feeling compassion and I don't want to use
Speaker 3: the word pity, but there was there were a few
Speaker 3: moments where you actually felt that what if that was
Speaker 3: my dad, but if that was my grandfather? And you
Speaker 3: kind of looked at Joe Biden in that way, or
Speaker 3: at least I did, versus do I agree with him?
Speaker 2: Do I support what he's saying?
Speaker 3: It became less about who ideologically you supported, and it
Speaker 3: became more about, oh my god, what am I witnessing?
Speaker 2: And and help.
Speaker 1: We almost wanted to give him a lifeline. We've all
Speaker 1: been in that play and it's tough to talk about.
Speaker 1: I have no idea that I hadn't seen Joe Biden
Speaker 1: in years, right, So I don't know. I can't speak
Speaker 1: to him personally what he's like behind the scenes. But
Speaker 1: we've all been somewhere with somebody who is frankly elderly
Speaker 1: and your family and you're like, hey, come on, we're
Speaker 1: going this way. Hey, hey, come on over here. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: remember they said that thing to you oh, right over here, Grandma,
Speaker 1: that you where you have to guide them a little bit. There,
Speaker 1: they're there, They're still all there, but you got to
Speaker 1: just kind of guide them or show them the way
Speaker 1: just a little. He feels like, you're all right, come on, Joe,
Speaker 1: come on, like you're almost rooting trying to direct him
Speaker 1: as you're seeing it. And we've all been there, and
Speaker 1: I don't know what we're doing, what we're supposed to
Speaker 1: make of it. When you're watching the president of the
Speaker 1: United States struggle in a way, in such a.
Speaker 3: Way, I had so many confusing thoughts in my head.
Speaker 3: First of all, I will say this, I feel like
Speaker 3: former President Trump actually took the opportunity to not pounce
Speaker 3: on what we all saw. And I will give him
Speaker 3: credit for that on the debate stage, because I was
Speaker 3: actually impressed by his restraint. There was one point he
Speaker 3: pointed out, I don't know what he said, and I
Speaker 3: don't even think he knows what he said, but he
Speaker 3: said but it was valid, But it was valid.
Speaker 2: It was what we were all thinking.
Speaker 3: And I have to say my mind went to like
Speaker 3: we are obviously in and a very tumultuous world, and
Speaker 3: I kept thinking, God, what are our enemies thinking what
Speaker 3: are the people who wish us harm thinking as they
Speaker 3: watched this debate.
Speaker 2: It made me nervous. It did in a way that
Speaker 2: I've never felt before. This was.
Speaker 3: This was a debate I have never witnessed or could
Speaker 3: have imagined I would have seen.
Speaker 2: In my lifetime.
Speaker 3: And it speaks to so many issues within our country,
Speaker 3: like why we have the system we have in place
Speaker 3: to incentivize or at least encourage people to run for office.
Speaker 3: I think we have a broken system if these are
Speaker 3: our choices. And I'm not even talking about politics. I'm
Speaker 3: just talking about the people willing to put themselves on
Speaker 3: the line, people who maybe have been career politicians or
Speaker 3: someone who's obviously fairly recently jumped into the foray but
Speaker 3: has a business resume. But I just like so many
Speaker 3: people have said this, but tonight it was on full display.
Speaker 3: It's just discouraging, disappointing, and frankly for me and even
Speaker 3: for the younger generations, we were watching with.
Speaker 2: Frightening. That's where I was left after tonight.
Speaker 1: There will be some who will discuss incumbents losing the
Speaker 1: debate their first debate. There is a long history of
Speaker 1: incumbent presidents not doing well in their first debate. A
Speaker 1: lot of that has to do with style, A lot
Speaker 1: of that has to do with strategy, how they went
Speaker 1: about it, and sometimes it can be about substance and
Speaker 1: them how they made their points. This is not what
Speaker 1: this debate was about at all. I have no idea
Speaker 1: what substance was about in this debate. Style was not
Speaker 1: an issue how he answered, how he chose to attack,
Speaker 1: and the strategy. It wasn't that. This was strictly about
Speaker 1: us all watching a guy who seemed to struggle putting
Speaker 1: his thoughts together and at times being incoherent. You're really
Speaker 1: not understanding what he's saying. So this debate, we are
Speaker 1: not debating at all about who won on style or substance.
Speaker 1: We have to talk about President Biden, and we will
Speaker 1: be talking about President Biden. Do you do you see
Speaker 1: any way that this he's had an off night? Is
Speaker 1: there any chance of that? And I want to hold
Speaker 1: off and maybe there's something else going on.
Speaker 2: You know, it's a hard thing.
Speaker 3: To see what somebody was even four years ago and
Speaker 3: then to see where they are now. But I think
Speaker 3: the thing we all have to think about is where
Speaker 3: he will be four years from now, and what he
Speaker 3: would be like during those four years, And those are
Speaker 3: all real valid concerns. And you know, just as much
Speaker 3: as we have an age requirement, you know, presidents to
Speaker 3: run for resident you have to be thirty five, correct,
Speaker 3: that is.
Speaker 2: The age requirement.
Speaker 3: I think this will beg the question whether or not
Speaker 3: there should be an age requirement or an age limitation.
Speaker 3: My father will point out he was forced in his
Speaker 3: industry to retire at sixty five for maybe it's a
Speaker 3: lot of financial reasons, but for many reasons. And so
Speaker 3: if you can have an age requirement, can you not
Speaker 3: have an age limitation? And this might be one of
Speaker 3: these moments where we have to think about that as
Speaker 3: a country, because this is about you know, this isn't
Speaker 3: about this is above politics.
Speaker 2: This is about so much more than that.
Speaker 3: And you know, whatever you think about where each candidate stands,
Speaker 3: competency has to be something that we can talk about
Speaker 3: and not make it look as though it's political. But
Speaker 3: competency is that has to be one of the stipulations
Speaker 3: of being president.
Speaker 1: And cognitive ability aren't necessarily always directly tied to somebody's age.
Speaker 1: And I know you agree with this because we have
Speaker 1: talked to so really impressive, very recently, seventy plus late seventies,
Speaker 1: eighty year old folks who are as sharp as anything
Speaker 1: you will ever see.
Speaker 3: We even talked about whether you like him or don't.
Speaker 3: We were just actually making this comparison because we were
Speaker 3: watching doctor Anthony Fauci talking about stepping aside.
Speaker 2: How old is he? Eighty eight? He's even realized he
Speaker 2: years older.
Speaker 3: So yes, I don't think you can put a necessary
Speaker 3: number on any of this, just as we can't determine
Speaker 3: whether or not somebody.
Speaker 2: Can drive at a certain age.
Speaker 3: But it is and there has to be some measure
Speaker 3: I would argue of mental cognitive ability in order to
Speaker 3: do something as significant. I would just say, if lives
Speaker 3: are on the line, whether you're a physician or is
Speaker 3: someone who has lives in your hands, based on decisions
Speaker 3: you can make that only you can make. I think
Speaker 3: that it is only fair there is some sort of
Speaker 3: I don't know, cognitive test or some sort of measure
Speaker 3: that we can put into place when you have positions
Speaker 3: that are of this significance, and what we saw tonight
Speaker 3: I believe makes many people question whether or not Joe
Speaker 3: Biden would be able to pass those sorts of tests.
Speaker 1: I yes, we have to wait and see. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know how I am. I'll give it a beat.
Speaker 1: Let me see, right, let me see in that. I
Speaker 1: think that came out a come out sense that he
Speaker 1: had a cold. Not to say that. I don't know
Speaker 1: what that.
Speaker 3: But I think that makes it worse when the White
Speaker 3: House comes out after they see his performance and say
Speaker 3: he had a cold. Because yes, his voice was raspy.
Speaker 3: That was the least of my concerns. Yes, fine, if
Speaker 3: he had a cold, I can I'm fine with that.
Speaker 3: That was not what made me nervous or made me
Speaker 3: concerned watching tonight.
Speaker 1: What does any American who watched that tonight and waking
Speaker 1: up the next morning these discussions taking place, how are
Speaker 1: we supposed to feel when you didn't maybe feel great
Speaker 1: about your choices before, right do you? How are you
Speaker 1: supposed to feel about them? Because there's going to be
Speaker 1: so much on TV and the politics and the inns
Speaker 1: and outs and the convention and who's going to step
Speaker 1: in it's going to be jocking. Oh that's politics. But
Speaker 1: how am I supposed to feel about the leadership of
Speaker 1: this country and where we are? And the choices that
Speaker 1: are already maybe didn't like.
Speaker 3: It's concerning, and here's something that you and I can
Speaker 3: speak to directly.
Speaker 2: So we watched.
Speaker 3: Obviously we watched the debate, but we watched the coverage
Speaker 3: after the debate, and I think you and I know
Speaker 3: in a way that we can speak very confidently about.
Speaker 3: When you see broadcasters defending or at least trying to
Speaker 3: massage something that's obvious to everyone who watched, that's concerning
Speaker 3: to me. I would appreciate in these moments for people
Speaker 3: who are journalists, whatever network you work for, to be
Speaker 3: honest about what you witnessed and then to have a
Speaker 3: real conversation, because that is our job. That is our
Speaker 3: role as journalist to seek the truth right or at
Speaker 3: least to point out the obvious, and not to say, oh, well,
Speaker 3: look back in history, and every incumbent president who goes
Speaker 3: onto their first debate falters slightly. That is not, as
Speaker 3: you pointed out, what we're talking about what we saw tonight.
Speaker 2: So let's all just be honest.
Speaker 3: And I think I would appreciate that from people whose
Speaker 3: job it is to call and put our politicians in
Speaker 3: the spotlight, to say, hey, this is what we're seeing,
Speaker 3: this is what we want to have answers about, and
Speaker 3: to really just look at it from the perspective of
Speaker 3: what is best for the voters to have a clear, honest,
Speaker 3: have clear, honest answers about what we're dealing with and
Speaker 3: who we're voting for.
Speaker 2: I think it just in the way.
Speaker 3: The way we cover politics and how we cover politics
Speaker 3: unfortunately doesn't give many voters that honest, true questions, like
Speaker 3: where you're actually asking what did we see?
Speaker 1: Look, this is a rarity, right, We've been jumping around
Speaker 1: watching everybody's coverage afterwards, but this is a rarity after
Speaker 1: a debate that to your point, we have seen that
Speaker 1: and not a lot of it from what were not
Speaker 1: a lot of defense of President Biden's performance. But this
Speaker 1: is a rare occasion where every Democrat in every Republican
Speaker 1: on a set seemed to be agreeing about what we
Speaker 1: all saw. And there's not a lot of Democrats. There's
Speaker 1: just no denying. So it's rare to see that that
Speaker 1: kind of agreement on both sides about the performance of
Speaker 1: one candidate. Everybody saw the same thing tonight, and it's remarkable. Robes.
Speaker 1: You remember the guy he's on the stage with just
Speaker 1: a few weeks ago was found guilty of what thirty
Speaker 1: four felonies.
Speaker 3: I know, and that wasn't really even a non issue.
Speaker 3: It was a non issue.
Speaker 1: A felon, a convicted felon is debating President Biden. But
Speaker 1: we're afterwards talking about President Biden's performance and what he
Speaker 1: did to night on stage.
Speaker 2: That is remarkable, it really was.
Speaker 3: And you know what, we did have this It seems
Speaker 3: weird to even call it a watch party now, but
Speaker 3: to have the younger We had several young women, one, two, three, four,
Speaker 3: five young women with us.
Speaker 1: This is our life now is just right.
Speaker 2: From twenty one to eleven.
Speaker 3: But it was quiet because I think everyone was not
Speaker 3: only shocked by what they were seeing, but didn't really
Speaker 3: even know what to say.
Speaker 2: It wasn't this spirited debate where you're like, I.
Speaker 3: Can't believe he said that I disagree with this, or
Speaker 3: there was some sort of any conversation about the topics
Speaker 3: or the issues. That was all lost in what we
Speaker 3: were witnessing. And I think I just feel sad, and
Speaker 3: I'm really curious to see what the next steps are,
Speaker 3: like do Democrats and does the Biden administration actually fully admit.
Speaker 2: What's happening.
Speaker 3: What we saw that it wasn't just a bad night,
Speaker 3: because this isn't the first time, obviously that we've seen
Speaker 3: signs that perhaps Joe Biden isn't isn't the person who
Speaker 3: can handle the next four years in office physically mentally.
Speaker 1: Eighty six maybe eighty six. I mean, I know how
Speaker 1: many eighty plus year olds you No, no excuse me,
Speaker 1: I Am not going to get into his age's. Let's
Speaker 1: actually not do that at all. It's we don't want
Speaker 1: to just put it on the eighty year olds in
Speaker 1: your life. No, no, no, that's not what we're talking about
Speaker 1: at all. And to your point, the White House have
Speaker 1: a coupled in the past few weeks came out and
Speaker 1: called these fake videos and what were they saying? Deep
Speaker 1: fakes and all these things. They say, oh it a
Speaker 1: certain way and this and that. But the videos spoke
Speaker 1: for themselves where President Obama had to kind of guy
Speaker 1: presented by an off of stage somewhere. He seemed to
Speaker 1: be looking off in the distance. I know. They said
Speaker 1: that one was altered when the parachute guys were coming
Speaker 1: down and all that, and then him at the concert
Speaker 1: at the White House as well, where he wouldn't seem
Speaker 1: to be moving to the music and seemed to be stuck.
Speaker 1: All those things are.
Speaker 2: Just and clearly tonight.
Speaker 3: You know, even in the cutaways, just there was a vacant,
Speaker 3: absent look to his face that was undeniable, that wasn't edited,
Speaker 3: that wasn't manufactured in any way. And I think you know,
Speaker 3: anyone who watched that debate tonight, it's it would be
Speaker 3: hard to have seen what we all saw and come
Speaker 3: to any other conclusion.
Speaker 1: So but if we for now, if we suspend some
Speaker 1: judgment in some way and wait and wait and hear
Speaker 1: from him, or wait for the next debate that's months away.
Speaker 1: But now the talk is there's no way that debate
Speaker 1: is taking place, no way. So I don't know what
Speaker 1: to wait for. Do we replacing him? And there's this
Speaker 1: new set of chaos, new jockeying, and we got to
Speaker 1: go through more cable news debate and fighting and arguing,
Speaker 1: And I this was a tough tough night if.
Speaker 2: You took the politics out of it.
Speaker 3: I think so many I think about my mom and
Speaker 3: I think about my dad, even who've recently lost their
Speaker 3: parents and they're young and had older parents, but the
Speaker 3: debates that so many Americans go through who have moms
Speaker 3: and dads who are aging. You know, at what point
Speaker 3: do you say, mom, dad, you know, we have to
Speaker 3: make this decision for you, and it's a hard thing
Speaker 3: to do. But I feel like that's almost what's happening
Speaker 3: right now in the country. Looking at Joe Biden, so
Speaker 3: many people can look to their own families and say, wow,
Speaker 3: I had to make the same decision. But it wasn't
Speaker 3: a matter of national security. It wasn't a matter of
Speaker 3: presidential politics. This was about my parents' personal safety or
Speaker 3: the safety of other people if they were to get
Speaker 3: behind the wheel. I mean, this is, to me, wow,
Speaker 3: one of those issues. That's what I saw tonight.
Speaker 1: To what you just said just made a light bulb
Speaker 1: go off for me in that he didn't just have
Speaker 1: a bad night tonight, meaning this didn't just happened to
Speaker 1: him this evening. No, it means yesterday and the day before.
Speaker 1: People that are around him are seeing and witnessing him,
Speaker 1: and they put him out there tonight.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I to what you're saying that you're seeing a
Speaker 1: decline like we are just seeing this with a No,
Speaker 1: this wasn't just sprung on us this evening, and it
Speaker 1: wasn't just sprung on the country, wasn't just sprung on
Speaker 1: the administration. If in fact, this is where he is
Speaker 1: and we saw who Joe Biden is on a daily
Speaker 1: twenty four to seven basis. If that's who he is,
Speaker 1: then who's responsible and responsible? To your point, You're right,
Speaker 1: you have to speak to your grandparent or whatever sometimes
Speaker 1: say hey, we had to make this decision for you.
Speaker 3: I don't know, and then I just yes, I think
Speaker 3: about who's responsible? Who would be responsible for speaking up
Speaker 3: number one and number two? What message does that send
Speaker 3: to the world? It is this to me, this was
Speaker 3: a very sad night, a very sobering night, and a
Speaker 3: night that I think is going to require our government
Speaker 3: and the people who you know, we choose to elect,
Speaker 3: we need to really think about what we want to
Speaker 3: require of them in terms of transparency and national security,
Speaker 3: and do we need to make changes in who we
Speaker 3: elect and what the rules are around that. Do we
Speaker 3: need to make some amendments. Do we need to acknowledge
Speaker 3: that we have to make hard decisions and have hard
Speaker 3: conversations that people have to make privately.
Speaker 2: In their own families. But now I think we're facing
Speaker 2: that as a country.
Speaker 1: Well maybe that's a and again, only I'm only seeing him,
Speaker 1: We're only seeing him robes from a distance through that
Speaker 1: treaty screen and seeing what seemed like an off night
Speaker 1: and a bad night. And maybe the people who see
Speaker 1: him every day will look at that and say, like,
Speaker 1: that is not Joe Biden. He had a rough night
Speaker 1: for whatever reason. He's going to come back and be strong.
Speaker 1: Maybe that'll be the case, and I hope it is.
Speaker 1: But it was just it was difficult to watch. But
Speaker 1: however we go about, like you said, the conversations we
Speaker 1: might need to have, just please y'all be kind, I mean,
Speaker 1: just be kind to each other. No matter where you
Speaker 1: are on politics. You might agree with this guy on nothing,
Speaker 1: but he's a human being, I mean, and just he's
Speaker 1: got a family and everybody's going through something. He's just
Speaker 1: going through it in front of the world.
Speaker 3: I feel like this was a moment where I hope
Speaker 3: maybe we can all at this point transcend politics and
Speaker 3: really talk about things in a real, honest, authentic way.
Speaker 3: And if we all really do want what's best for
Speaker 3: our country, we have those honest conversations, and that's what
Speaker 3: I hope can come out of tonight because I just
Speaker 3: don't think there was any other way to look at it.
Speaker 3: This didn't feel political, This didn't feel ideological, This didn't
Speaker 3: feel topical, This didn't feel I don't.
Speaker 2: Even know that I got anything.
Speaker 3: Out of tonight in terms of where folks stand on things.
Speaker 3: Were I felt about them from a where you stand
Speaker 3: on things. It was really just about something incredibly sad
Speaker 3: and something I felt actually angered about as an American
Speaker 3: that I didn't know more about before tonight because it
Speaker 3: was undeniable, it was not edited, and we have to
Speaker 3: as a country, I think, address it.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: Folks.
Speaker 1: We just wanted to hop on tonight and after the
Speaker 1: debates and chime in about what we saw. And please,
Speaker 1: as a reminder, as you go about your discussions with
Speaker 1: I know which we know you will about this and
Speaker 1: everybody we talking about it for the next several days,
Speaker 1: we just be mindful, be kind,