First Lady Jill Biden reportedly assured donors her husband was "ready to go" ahead of his disastrous presidential debate.
Time Magazine published a damning report offering an "inside" look behind President Biden's shocking debate performance, which began with a scene involving his wife meeting with "financial bigwigs" before he took the stage.
"As President Joe Biden was going over his final notes with his inner circle and getting ready to debate Donald Trump on June 27 in Atlanta, his wife slipped into a nearby meeting of the Democratic Party’s biggest donors," Time reported Friday. "The Biden Victory Fund and the Democratic National Committee’s financial bigwigs had all assembled in the Ritz Carlton as part of a two-day political briefing that featured emotional pep talks and face-time with VIPs. ‘Joe’s ready to go,’ Dr. Biden told the group. ‘He’s prepared.’"
"Fact check: false," the magazine added.
MEDIA FIGURES SHOCKED AT BIDEN'S 'BAD' DEBATE PERFORMANCE: ‘TOTAL AND COMPLETE DISASTER’
At the debate after-party, Biden was enthusiastically praised by his wife, who seemed to celebrate the mere fact that the president responded to moderators' questions.
"Joe, you did such a great job! You answered every question, you knew all the facts!" the first lady gushed over a smiling Joe Biden on-stage.
Time magazine offered a brutal post-debate assessment, posing the questions for Democrats, "Was there any way to get him off the ticket? And if not, was there any chance to stagger across the finish line with a deeply flawed candidate?"
"Either way, it was nothing like what Biden and his team had plotted while secluded at the presidential retreat of Camp David in Maryland’s mountains for six full days of rehearsal in an airplane hangar and movie theater," Time said. "For all the talk about the most successful first-term agenda ever and a history-defying midterm election, Biden's team spent the wee hours of Thursday and all of Friday trying to talk Democrats off a ledge."
The story was accompanied by a cover depicting Biden wandering off the page with the caption "Panic."
There has been a liberal media meltdown since Thursday's explosive presidential debate, sparking calls for Biden to step aside.
"Mr. Biden has been an admirable president. Under his leadership, the nation has prospered and begun to address a range of long-term challenges, and the wounds ripped open by Mr. Trump have begun to heal. But the greatest public service Mr. Biden can now perform is to announce that he will not continue to run for re-election," The New York Times editorial board wrote Friday.
NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD CALLS FOR BIDEN TO DROP OUT: HIS CANDIDACY IS A ‘RECKLESS GAMBLE’
Several New York Times columnists shared similar views, including longtime Biden ally Thomas Friedman, who wrote the debate "made me weep" and realize Biden should step aside.
"I cannot remember a more heartbreaking moment in American presidential campaign politics in my lifetime — precisely because of what it revealed: Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, has no business running for re-election," Friedman wrote.
CNN commentator Van Jones, who cried for joy when Biden won the 2020 presidential election, seemed on the verge of tears as he described how "personally painful" the debate performance was.
"I love that guy as a good man. He loves his country. He’s doing the best that he can. But he had a test to meet tonight, to restore confidence of the country and of the base, and he failed to do that," Jones said. "And I think there’s a lot of people who are going to want to see him consider taking a different course now."
"We’re still far from our convention and there is time for this party to figure out a different way forward if he will allow us to do that. But that was not what we needed from Joe Biden," he added. "And it’s personally painful for a lot of people. It’s not just panic. It’s pain of what we saw tonight."
