Daily Wire Backstage: The Presidential Debate
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Hey, folks, Ben Shapiro here. Don't miss our latest episode of Daily Wire Backstage. Join me, Matt Walsh, Andrew Klavan, Michael Knowles and Jeremy Boring as we cover the top stories in politics and pop culture with enough laughs and insights to get you through these insane news cycles. Take a listen.

Welcome to The Daily Wire backstage and our coverage of the CNN presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. This is basically the Super Bowl of American politics, but instead of two teams filled with viral young men with their whole lives ahead of them, filled with vigor and optimism and hope of future glory, performing enormous feats of athletic prowess and simulated combat, it's just two octogenarians sitting in chairs quietly waiting for the nice young man to turn on their microphones so they can mumble at each other for 90 minutes

in the hopes of making it home in time for the Gunsmoke Marathon. I kid. If there's a Gunsmoke Marathon tonight, none of us would be here. I am joined, as per my want, by the illustrious hosts of all the Daily Wire shows, except Brett Cooper, who never gets invited. Michael Knowles, of course.

Matthew Balsh, I call him Matholomew. You don't have to. Andrew Klavan. Please don't. And Ben Shapiro. We're very grateful to you guys for joining us tonight. We've just watched what may end up being... I mean, this may end up truly being one of the most consequential or the most consequential presidential debates in the history of the country. Holy shit.

We were all joking earlier about how Biden's doctors administer narcotics to him. I now believe they practice necromancy. That was the closest to a dead person I have ever seen on TV. Trump said that Biden has never fired anybody. His doctor might be the first. Yeah.

Or is working for Kamala Harris and hit him with the Valium right beforehand. I don't understand why this works, but isn't his doctor his wife? I don't know. He's a great surgeon. The Biden team actually put out two unnamed sources. Their excuse was he had a cold. In the middle of the debate, they literally started tweeting out that he had a cold. I think what they meant is his body has a strong temperature. Because...

Okay, let's be clear about this. There is no substantive takeaway from this debate. None. Wait a minute, wait a minute. What about you buy the six handicap? Come on. Yeah, yeah. Come on. There was Trump talking about how we have H2O, which is exciting. There was almost no substance that came out of this debate. I would say, I'd get rid of the almost. There's just none. I mean, like, nobody came out more informed and intelligent about the issues. There's only one thing they came out with, which is one of these candidates is an alive person, and one of these candidates has...

has been dead for months. And this raises every single question. I mean, again, when I say that, I don't mean that Biden, you know, that Trump didn't clock him on actual issues. I mean, he did. Trump clocked the living crap out of him on immigration. That was really the big one. He just kept punching and punching him. He clocked him on the Middle East, punched him and punched him. Unentitlements even? Unentitlements. But debates are moments, right? That's what they are.

Four years on, you don't remember the whole debate. You don't remember the policy. You remember the moments. You remember Mitt Romney being told by Barack Obama in 2012 that the 80s called and they want their foreign policy back. Or you remember Donald Trump saying in 2016 to Hillary Clinton that if I were president, you'd be in jail. Or you remember Biden in 2020 saying to Trump that he should shut up. In this one, the only takeaways, the only moments are Trump saying, one, I have no idea what the hell you just said at the end of that sentence.

That was a huge one. And I don't think you do either, he said. Yes, and I don't think you do either. Him mocking the six handicap by saying he can't hit the ball 50 yards. It's all that stuff. The Zingers were pretty good, even when Biden said, I beat Medicare. He said, yeah, you beat it to death. Even less than the Zingers, it's Biden. The debate was over

Really, from the moment he walked out, wandering out, slack-jawed, just the way he presented himself, the debate was already over. Ten minutes in, when he tried to give an answer and he trailed off and couldn't even string together a sentence, what Biden needed to do was avoid a moment like that because, as you said, it's really all about moments. There's going to be like one viral moment to come out of this. That's going to be the moment when he trails off and can't finish his sentence. And the ironic thing is that there was a little bit of the reverse of what we said, where actually we thought that

Biden would come out juiced up on drugs and then he would trail off at the end. He actually improved a little bit in the final 30 minutes, a little bit. He was still terrible. I agree with you. But it doesn't matter because by that point, it was over. I have a neuroscientist friend, a brain surgeon, who is texting me during the debate. And he said they probably hit him too close to time.

They probably shot him up too close to time. He needed a little lead time. And so what ended up happening is you saw it. He trailed off at the end also. His closing statement, he was dead again. But he had about like a 35-minute lucid period, which happens in stage three, stage four dementia. But again, the takeaway from this is that this man is not fit to be president. And you can see it from every... It's not us saying it. It's Democrats. If you go on Twitter right now, Casey Hunt...

at CNN is saying this thing is over for Biden. Nick Kristof at the New York Times. I mean, look at what Casey Hansen says. The voice, open mouth look and visual contrast between President Biden and former President Trump all have Democrats I'm talking to nearly beside themselves watching this debate. Nick Kristof is openly calling for Joe Biden to step out of the race at this point. But here's the thing. Ain't no mechanism for getting rid of him. Because if he doesn't step out, those delegates have already been assigned. The primaries are over.

I have to say, first of all, I'm not sure there was no substance. I thought when Biden said... Biden never heard a president say after guns. But also, I disagree with this thing that people take away the zingers because the press...

pushes that idea on us. But I think people are a lot smarter than that. There wasn't a lot of substance in this debate, but there was a lot of leveled accusations by Trump that were absolutely true. The things he said about Biden in Afghanistan, the things he said about Biden on the border, these are true. These are true statements. And Trump, they come out in this Trumpian way, but they're absolutely true.

And the fact that Biden was completely gone. And, you know, the fact that he zoned back in a little bit, but he didn't zone back into like living level. You know, it was kind of that moment before a guy passes away when he has a moment of rigor mortis. Or the moment after. We're going to get into all the questions that this raises. And it really does. I mean, I don't think we've ever walked out of a debate. First of all, we've never seen a presidential debate that happens.

before the party conventions when it's still possible to make an effort to replace one of the candidates. And it's almost impossible to imagine at this point that there isn't an effort to remove Joe Biden. Whether or not that's possible is the kind of thing that we should get into. We're going to be taking questions also from our dailywire.com. Members, head over to dailywireplus.com right now and become a member if you're not one. Use promo code debate for 30% off

Our members make it possible for us to bring you coverage like this. This is the first time that we've ever had to pay in order to stream a debate. It costs an enormous amount of money. CNN, you may have noticed it wasn't like American flags.

behind the candidates. It was like multiple CNN logos because this debate is so unique in our history that we just didn't have free access to it. Journalists weren't able to attend it in the room. And the result of that is basically we depend on dailywire.com members to make this possible. So if you're a member, thank you. Make some questions for us. You make it possible for us to do this. If you're not a member, head over there to dailywireplus.com. Become a member today. Promo code debate for 30% off.

We'll be taking questions throughout the broadcast. We'll also be checking in with our own Cabot Phillips, who is as close to debate as they actually allowed reporters to get in the free Democratic Republic of America. He's in the next room. One room over. You're allowed to watch the feed, like the hoi polloi. So we'll be checking in with Cabot and seeing what the temperature is like over there, which is hopefully a bit warmer than the temperature was over on that right hand podium. What does it mean?

I mean, we've never seen anything like it. What happens next? He's toast. I mean, Biden is toast. It's like he loses. It's like what can change that would now allow him to recover other than

Trump actually having health crisis. They could imprison Trump or home imprisonment. I think that would secure the victory. I agree because now it looks as though they'll do anything in their power to stop Trump from being elected. So he gets imprisoned after this and it looks like you want this dead guy in there so you're willing to imprison. Quick final note on the debate that I think is worth noting. This format actually is kind of great. And the moderators

Fine. They were fine. They did a good job. They did a good job. They asked some left-wing questions. They asked some questions that were pretty pointed of Biden. They gave people room to speak. They didn't feel the necessity to jump in and sort of fact-check Trump, but not fact-check Biden. Actually, kind of great. Yep. Kind of great. To your point, Ben, on Casey Hunt, Casey Hunt is actually an important figure in how to process this debate because-

Look, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash were on that stage too, and they're CNN anchors, but they did a good job and they seemed kind of moderate, whatever. When we watched Romney versus Obama, we would say, oh, Romney won that debate, and the Democrats would say, Obama won that debate. Casey Hunt is not Jake Tapper and Dana Bash playing the moderate in this debate.

Casey Hunt is a huge lib. She is like a libs lib over at all the lib networks, and she's worked for a lot of them. And she is admitting. And every honest leftist in America is admitting. Because you have to at some point. If you don't admit it, you become the buffoon, and they're not going to sell their career for anybody. Can we just say, this thing's evolved. I mean, it did. I mean, the first 40 minutes,

were better and then it got worse and then at the very end it just turned into two old men arguing about their golf game. That was my favorite part. One of them like drooling into his gruel and nearly dying in his closing statement. But the...

The Trump actually for the first 40 minutes was the most disciplined candidate he has been for 10 years. This is the Trump. Everybody was sort of like if he could just contain himself, if he could just stop himself. Like you guys were in the room with me. But for those who couldn't see me when he gave his answer, original answer on January 6th, I nearly jumped out of my seat.

because he did the thing he needed to do. They asked him about January 6th, and he said, on January 6th, inflation was low. On January 6th, we didn't have massive crime and massive illegal immigration. The Middle East wasn't on fire. Ukraine hadn't been invaded. That's what was happening on January 6th. That is such a phenomenal misdirect. It's such a great reshifting of the actual answer. And then, you know, they followed up, and he said some stuff about January 6th. But

But he did that a couple of times. They asked him about retribution, and he said, my best retribution is success. That's a great answer. This is a contained Trump. This is the first time, honestly, God, I think we may be in the only cycle where Trump either thinks he's going to win or thinks it is possible that he could lose. So in 2016, I think that for nearly the entire cycle, he thought he was going to lose, and

And so it was like, let it all hang out, man. Just let your freak flag fly and go for it. And then in 2020, I think he felt like, you know what? There's no way I can possibly lose to this guy. And then he didn't win. And this time, he's looking at the polls and he realizes, if I show like one iota of discipline, I will be president again. And if I win again-

That makes me one of the most historic presidents in the history of the United States. I mean, it's an unbelievable thing. And you know, a good president losing come back is crazy. The other thing about Trump that I've been saying for years and no one will believe this, but it's true, is he learned stuff. He does more than other people his age and more than most politicians.

He changed, you know, he responds to incentive structures. What's that? He responds to incentive structures. Yes. Well, that's that's unfair. I think that's that's actually no, I think I think he actually learns how to do stuff. Look, the guy is an amazingly successful man. This is a guy who has been on the top of the real estate business in New York. Very tough. Top of TV programs.

Very tough. Won the presidency on his first time out. Very tough. This is a guy who knows how to do things. And I'm sorry, you know, there are times when I don't like him. There are times when he acts in ways that I wish he wouldn't. But you have to respect the guy. He does know what he's doing. And he saw, you know, the one thing that I,

I say happens to every president is when he comes into office, he finds out things are actually as bad as he said he was, as he said they were. And it's always a shock. And I think the thing about Trump is he kept saying the government is corrupt. I don't think he knew how bad it was until the RNC turned against him, until he was littered with people trying to overturn and block his presidency.

Now he knows, and he does not forget this stuff, and he incorporates it in what he does. And I think to talk about him like he's some kind of animal responding to incentives is not right. This is a smart man. When I say he's responding to incentives, what I mean is he can read the political room. Oh, yeah. And that is a form of learning, because for a long time he couldn't. For a long time it was like, okay, I'm just going to say the thing that I want to say when I feel like saying it. Because it worked. Right, and so he realizes...

And his entire team was telling him, everyone was telling him, if you hem it in, you're going to win. And he paid attention. And then he did it. Well, there's this other thing you have to remember, which is that he didn't think, he didn't run in 2016 to win. He didn't think he was going to win. He, of course, ran in 2020 to win and thought he was going to win. That's a completely different...

He's running a 2024 knowing that he has to win because they have arrayed the entire justice system against him. And should he not be victorious in November, there's a very good chance that the guy spends a significant part of the rest of his life. They'll banish him to St. Helena. I mean, this and he's been president. And this is why to the points we're all hitting on, you know, this answer was really good. And this was the perfect answer. One answer that I have been championing for years now. And I, I, I, I,

I'm so elated that Trump gave it was on foreign policy and, you know, the world will be set on fire if Trump wins. And Trump can say, look, you keep putting all this Putin-Russian nonsense on me. Well, when Bush was president, Putin took land. When Obama was president, Putin took land.

When Biden was president, Putin took land. I'm the only president of the last 20 years that Putin hasn't taken more land under. The proof of the pudding is in the tasting. The fact that this man was president, we can compare just three years ago how things were. That is an amazing and undeniable fact. His answers on abortion, I thought also, I didn't, obviously I don't agree with the stuff about give it to the states.

But he did pivot back to the Democrats' extremism on abortion, which is exactly what he should be doing. I think we even saw in this debate where he started, it's exactly that January 6th moment. He gave the great answer, then they came back to him, and he started getting defensive. And then it was shortly after that where he actually said the phrase, which you should never say in a debate, of, I didn't have sex with a porn star. That's right, 101. And that's when he starts getting defensive, and it's like things get rocky.

Goes into the commercial break, comes out, and it seems like he's focused again. And then he gets off on the golf game thing, but that was charming. Because then he said, look, the biggest lie you've said tonight, you're six over par or whatever. It's not true. I've seen your swing, but let's not act like children. He's crazy.

Again, the only takeaway from this, and apparently CNN is having a full-scale meltdown in real time. So after this show, make sure that you tune in for the live filling of the leftist Sears tumblers from the anchors over at CNN. Apparently they're talking about like full-scale meltdown inside the Democratic Party at this point, which brings us back to the question, what happened?

next that you asked earlier and then I avoided. And so it really is a process question. Is there a process that exists to get rid of this guy? And the answer is no, there's not a process to get rid of this guy. You cannot oust him unless you were to convince an enormous number of delegates who are already pledged by Democrat Party rules to actually vote for him at the convention. How do you do that? The only way that this would happen is somebody gets in Joe Biden's ear and they say to him, you need to step down.

Is Joe Biden, I don't see how that works. I don't. I think this man is, I think he's addled so much so that he thinks I can either go out in disgrace or I can go down swinging, but no one achieves the presidency and then walks away. No one. By the way, you can't get 80-year-old men to walk away from companies they've built when the company's collapsing from underneath their feet. Like, so the idea- They get them to stop driving. That guy's a driver's license, by the way. He's driving around in a Corvette. Yeah.

Whoa! Watch out on the roads in Wilmington, my friends. I don't see a process for getting rid of him. I think that's wishful thinking. Honestly, the only question I think at this point is, does he actually die before the election? I mean, he looks like death. He looks like actual death. What Democrats are going to do, because they can't get rid of him, you're right, it's

they're going to pivot to 2028. And they're going to say, okay, what can we do? Trump's going to win. What can we do while he's in office to undermine him and make him so he can't do anything? Lame duck president, use the systems we have in place to totally undermine him and pivot to 2028. They're not going to say that, but I think that's going to be the strategy. Well, this may be true. You said there isn't a mechanism by which they can force him out. That, of course, is true. He would have to step aside.

And they have problems if he steps aside, because if he steps aside, the presumptive Democrat nominee is Kamala Harris. And I don't think, on one hand, it's very hard to imagine that she makes it through the convention as the nominee. At the same time, it would be very difficult. There's a trap of their own making, Democrats setting aside who would be the first black woman to be president in favor of whom? Gavin Newsom. Gavin Newsom, the whitest of white men.

That's a real challenge. I've said for months, I think there's always been a 30% chance that Michelle Obama was the next president. That's the Undertaker's music. She is their...

She is the solution to the problem because it is a problem. What if Joe did step aside? Now you still have a giant problem. Michelle Obama is the obvious solution to that problem. And I don't know that she's defeatable. She wouldn't actually run. It would be like unanimous decree at the convention. She would do three or four speeches. She would refuse to ever debate Donald Trump. And it would be a kind of coronation moment that would happen within the party. She says she doesn't want it. So did George Washington. And he's on the dollar bill and-

first in the hearts of his countrymen, everybody wants it. It may be true that Michelle Obama doesn't want to be president, bad enough to run for president. But in this circumstance, she wouldn't have to. The only question is, can you convince Joe Biden

No, no. This man, I mean, to your point, one of you guys made it earlier. I thought it was you. I mean, it was Ben said that the guy was elected before he was legally. You made that point before he was constitutionally eligible to be elected. So all these guys are psychopaths who have been dreaming about being president since grade school. But Biden's been dreaming about it since he was in the womb. And so he's not going to give it up.

But there is a way that he could give it up and save face. And that's what people are going to be pitching him over the next month. You'd be the hero if you stepped out, because right now you're losing and the American people aren't with you, but you could save their lives. Watch me do it. Watch me do it. I'm not going to... You watch me do it. I mean, this guy, like, we political nerds, we love all these, here's the way Bernie can still win, you know? We love playing out 10 degrees out. I just...

think there's no way, given the Democratic Party structure, given this bizarre timeline of the conventions happening after the debate, given the fact that this is an historic election because you've got a former president running for a non-consecutive second term, given the Kamala Harris and the Michelle Obama and the Gavin Newsom situation, I just don't see any way. Do you think that if Barack Obama went to him and said, Joe, you did it, you did it? No.

No, because I don't think they like each other. I think it's the last thing that would actually get Joe. Like if Barack came to him and was like, Joe, I need you to step aside for my wife. I mean, first of all, Joe will be like, why his wife? Why not your wife?

I mean, she's the actual president at this point. By the way, this is the real question that we should all be asking. And this should be asked from the top of rooftops from now until the end of time. For three years, the media and the Democratic Party have been lying to you. This man is senile. He is obviously senile. He is obviously addled. And someone else is president of the United States. And it is not Joe Biden. Who is the person who is president of the United States? And why have you been lied to for three years by people telling you that this man is capable of carrying out the office? Okay.

A week ago, you had Joe Scarborough on TV talking about how this dumbass was doing back springs and reciting Virgil in Latin upside down. It's all nonsense. You know, the literary illusion, it does make me think the only way Obama could go and convince Joe is if it's a George and Lenny kind of situation. Think of corn pop, Joe. So we do need to talk about, I mean, as many...

as many of my sin men references as possible for the rest of the night. But we also need to talk about Bull and Branch. We do. So Joe Biden could use a nap. The good news for Joe Biden is that he can get a nap pretty much anytime he wants, but we can't all do that. Now, listen, we've talked a lot about Bull and Branch over the years. We know Bull and Branch. We love Bull and Branch. I myself am a huge fan of their ultra-relaxed signature vintage washed fabric sheets. There's something about that signature vintage washed fabric sheets that helps me sleep like I used to back in the good old days of vintage sheets.

Michael, how's your sleep been? You know, it's been a little tough on account of my third boy just being born. It's true. I'm not, I'm a little sleepy. Well. Like Joe. You might not be getting any sleep at home, Michael, but apparently you've had no problem at the office, thanks to our friends at Bull & Branch. And I have the evidence right here. So for those who can't see, this is Michael sleeping at his desk using his Bull & Branch pillow. Did you take these pictures? Well, I mean, I did have to have evidence for HR.

And then we also have, I believe, more pictures of Michael. There he is, sleeping at a meeting about Michael. Now, I would sleep at a meeting about Michael, but Michael was so tired that he just conked out watching his show, which, again, I also do. I thought I was being more subtle about it there. Well, you look like, I mean, you actually look deader than Joe right there. You got, like, the weekend at Bernie's glasses on and everything. And then, finally... Wait, that's my car. Yes, Jeremy's Cybertruck. We weren't going to tell you about this, Jeremy. What did you do? But...

Yeah. Well, I... So, yeah. So there is... I got to say, though, the bowl and branch look comfortable. They do look comfortable. In fact, they are so breathable. It's like 100 degrees out. So cooling. Yeah. No, he can still use the bowl and branch sheets. That's how breathable and cooling they are. They really are amazing. Plus, by the way, I will point out that he is wearing... This is a proposal that I have made a bowl and branch. It's what I call the Shapiro Sleep Yamaka. Yeah.

right here. He's wearing that. So if you like that, then probably you should let Bowen Branch know about it. They're not carrying it yet, but it is a proposal I put out there. And then this was literally just before the show tonight. He was just conked out in his chair. Weirdly enough, it appears using the Afghan that I brought with me when I travel, which is terrible. So that is one of the things that I do, by the way. One of the best things about Bowen Branch, they get softer with every use. So at the rate Michael has been using them, we are reaching infinite levels of comfort very soon. Michael.

Why don't you just get Bull and Brand Sheets at your house? Can I use a promo code or something? Yeah, probably. Listen to the end of the commercial to find out. To tell you the truth, I was gathering these evidence, these photos as evidence to get Michael fired. But then we use them for an ad that actually generates revenue for the company. So unfortunately, I actually just undermined my own cause by making money off this ad. Sleep better at night or if you're Michael Knowles, shamelessly during the workday with Bull and Brand Sheets, you can get 15% off your Bull and Brand Sheets first set plus free shipping.

at BolandBranch.com slash Ben. That's BolandBranch, B-O-L-L-A-N-D, Branch.com slash Ben for 15% off and free shipping exclusions apply. See side four details. And by the way, I'm not joking. I literally travel with this thing. This Afghan is unbelievable. It's like a bank. It's absolutely spectacular. And again, I assume that Joe Biden will be curling up with one of these very shortly, plus like a cuddly rabbit. And, you know, and then later at night, someone will come in and change his bedpans.

That was a great bit, guys. I can't believe Ben took all those candid photos. Yeah, well, you know, again, I'm trying to get rid of you for years. We'll make some money off of you. So, anyway. I think Drew had a point. I did have a point. I was talking about politics. Who cares? This is the question that everybody in America is asking right now. Can they replace Joe Biden? I want to raise just an objection to this. It's not that I think there's no

of Michelle Obama becoming the candidate. I'm not so convinced that she's unbeatable. I'm not so convinced the American public will suddenly just fall in with that. It's such, you know, people are just smarter than the press gives them credit for, including us. You know, I think that people look at, we're going to look at that and see it's a game that they've been gamed. They're being, you know, they're being toyed with. No,

Because nobody knows who's running the country and the country, whoever's doing it, is doing a bad job. I don't think anybody's going to believe. Hey, he's a doctor. If you're running on protecting democracy and then you just throw somebody at the public two months before the election, that's a tough, I agree, that's a tough pivot to make. And also, the problem is there's no way for Biden to step down now that's

That isn't him stepping down in disgrace. Yes. He could have done it six months ago and just declared victory and be totally fine, protect his legacy and all that. But to do it now, he's just hobbling away in disgrace. So obvious. And there's no way to do it. Now I'm going to present an incredibly dark alternative. Okay, this has nothing to do with like who runs and who doesn't run.

And it's actually not an alternative as opposed to like a very dark prediction. I've been making this prediction actually since January. And that was at some point during this election cycle, I've been saying that I think that Biden's going to fall down on the job and it's going to break the race open. And when that happens, the period between now and when Donald Trump takes office, assuming that he wins,

is going to be one of the most dangerous periods in American history because all of America's enemies are going to move. If you're Iran, you move right now. You don't wait for Trump to get into office. You move now, right? You start coming out with your development of the nuclear weapon now while Joe Biden is president.

Because Biden is still delusional enough to believe that if he appeases Iran in some sort of way, that they will keep things quiet up till the election. Because when we say it's going to break wide open, we don't mean it's going to be a 60-40 election. We mean that probably in the polls, you'll have Trump pop another four points and suddenly he's leading by seven or eight. And Biden will figure, OK, well, maybe it'll close up back or whoever's running his campaign will figure that. If you're China, do you blockade Taiwan right now? Is that the move that you make? Because you're like, I don't want to do that while Trump is president.

Things just got very, very dangerous and like more dangerous even than they are because the possibility of Donald Trump coming in scares the living out of the bad guys. Well, and even if there weren't an election,

The performance by the sitting president of the United States on national television just now. It's a good point. Dangerous. That's a really good point. I mean, I'm looking, I've been watching him, you know, for a year thinking if I'm in charge of China, I take Taiwan, you know, I don't see why they haven't done it. I guess the rules of engagement are so well set.

although Biden hasn't been very clear about him. But still, I agree with you guys. I think that this is a dangerous moment. I think it's a dangerous moment within the country because our enemies within the country are hysterical and radical and the press has supported them for so long. You know, if we had six patriots in the media to just say, you know, even if it's Trump, we're going to go with it. That would be a beautiful thing because I would like to, I would like the next time they ask Trump if he'll accept the election, I think you should ask the press, will you accept the election? Because they didn't last. Ain't going to be no second debate, right?

That's the only debate. I cannot believe it. I didn't believe in this one, so. But how does he get out of it? Because he already agreed to the ABC debate. He just waits until Trump says something bizarre on social, and then he's like, I can't debate a man who hates. By the way, you know, it's a note that happened in that debate, which is totally like really insane. So you remember, obviously, Hillary Clinton declaring the deplorables.

You remember this? Yeah. In this debate, Biden was asked directly, there are tens of millions of people who are going to vote for your opponent. You say he's a threat to democracy. Are the tens of millions of people who are going to vote for your opponent threats to democracy? They don't like democracy. And he said yes. Yeah. He actually said yes. He just declared 75, 80 million. Well, he said the more they know about him, yes. Right. The more they know about him, yes. But the question wasn't about Trump. The question was about the people voting for Trump. That's right. So that means that he is now actively saying that everybody in this room, because we're all going to vote for Trump,

I've financially supported him. You know, like that all of us are effectively enemies of the country. Well, he's not actively saying anything. Well, that's fair. He may have thought that he was just, you know, citing the alphabet and or singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, if you can remember all the words. But he has been saying, but he's been saying that all along. But that's unbelievably dangerous. You want to talk about divisive? You want to talk about Civil War kind of stuff? Half the country being actual enemies of democracy.

Like, he's always shied away from that a little bit, right? He's always said, like, well, you know, there's these super ultra-MAGA Republicans. And then when asked about it, he's like, I don't mean you. I don't mean the moderate Republicans. He did say ultra, super-duper MAGA Republicans. He did say Romney wanted to put black people in chains. You know, so it does sneak out every now and again. Right, but labeling, like, this is, by the way, it's always a bad strategy. And the Biden campaign, even up till now, has been basically labeling the American people stupid and unable to understand their own interests and terrible. And now he's labeling them threats to democracy if he loses. Yeah.

So what is that? What is that presage? If Trump wins and Democrats really believe that like the fascist dictatorship just took over,

Though in fairness, they do that whenever any right-wing candidate wins anywhere in the West, you know, be it Orban in Hungary or Maloney in Italy or the Brexit passing in the UK. That's always the undermining of democracy because I think it was Vermeule made this point most popularly that when the Libs say democracy, they just mean liberalism or leftism. So he does that a lot. But you're right. I mean, this is such an explicit way to say

If the majority of the American people oppose me, democracy's over. What does democracy mean in that state? And he still has a lot of other trials he's got to face. I mean, he said that with a kind of glee. After saying, how dare you threaten me with retaliation, he's literally threatening him on stage with retaliation. Again, I thought that was one of Trump's best moments, is when Trump said, my retaliation is success. I thought that was, again, one of his better lines. And the attacks on the...

Courts that have been going on in the press basically saying if you delay these trials until after the election, those are bad decisions. I mean, this is really, I mean, this is the worst thing about this administration has been what they call it lawfare, but it's really, you know, third world. Honestly, this discussion, it tells me like even the way we're all thinking about this.

Biden is finished. He's finished. I mean, unless barring some crazy circumstances, again, we get why. Because have we said Trump's name like five times in this whole conversation? The question is, who is the election referendum on? If it was a referendum on Trump, Trump was going to lose.

no one is talking about Trump after this debate because Trump was perfectly in line with or better than he has historically been. He was good. He was Trump, but he was contained Trump. And then he was a little uncontained Trump. And then he was contained Trump and maybe a little touch here of some pepper of uncontained. But he was all well within the sort of radius of Trump. And meanwhile, Biden is like, as Matt said on Twitter, Biden is staring into the afterlife. I

I mean, that guy blinked seven times during the whole debate. He looked as I mean, it was like the end of Apocalypse Now with Kurt saying the horror. It's wild. Is this look? And that was his normal look.

That wasn't him being horrified at something Trump was saying. That was just his resting. It was his resting death is upon me face. It's like the look that you give at 3 a.m. when the Grim Reaper is coming through the door with the Sid. I wonder what they're telling him now. You know, great job, Joe. Yeah, well done, Mr. President. He was holed up for like two weeks doing debate press. Yes, that was after seven days of rest.

And they never even told him, like, shut, close your mouth when you're at least standing there. Since we keep making all these literary references, you know, to Conrad or myself. Virgil. Virgil. It does remind me, there's a famous poem by Wallace Stevens, The Emperor of Ice Cream. It's about death. And I'm just picturing Joe Biden with that ice cream. The only emperor. Emperor of ice cream. Goodbye, Joe. It is an amazing moment. And I...

While there may not be a mechanism for unseating him as the nominee, you're going to see a lot of pressure over the next several weeks. And by the way, that in and of itself sings him, right? That's right. And conversations, I guarantee you that tomorrow night on the news, there's going to be lots of conversations about superdelegates for the first time since 2016. Yep.

And I don't know what the media are going to do with this because normally in a debate like this, they're somehow like, we're going to rip on Jake Tapper and Dana Bash or whatever. But here's the thing. The issue wasn't the issues. The issue wasn't the questions. The issue wasn't the answers. No. Right. For a month, they've been pushing this cheap fake crap.

Or it's like we've seen videos of Biden like wandering off into the woods and being eaten by cannibals or Biden just again, like falling off bicycles or not being able to climb into a coat or falling upstairs. Like we've all seen a thousand videos of him not being with it over the past couple of years. And they kept calling them cheap fakes. And it's all in your imagination and all this crap.

What happens when the entire crowd realized that not only does the emperor have no clothes, the entire media that's been protecting him has no clothes either? Well, this is the thing that always gets me about the media. They have sacrificed during the Obama administration. They sacrificed their credibility. During COVID, they sacrificed their credibility. I don't think they have any credibility. I think people are now... One of the things I've noticed...

within the last six, seven months is people are getting better at parsing information. We're all being awash in information. We're getting hit like this absolute flood all the time of undistinguished information. And people are just getting better at picking it apart. I don't think anybody gives a rat's what CNN thinks. I think we talk about CNN more than anybody else in the country because they're so funny and they represent that leftist bias. But I don't think people are getting their news

from CNN anymore. When you look at the ratings, they actually- They're gone. There's nobody there. And I think people are being able to take the conspiracy theories out and

You know, COVID was a turning point in this country that nobody has paid for and nobody has really figured out. How could we? It's too soon afterwards. But people learn stuff. They learn that the government lies. They saw them lie. They saw that the conspiracy theorists sometimes were in the right, you know, and I think that has taught people. People get better at things. They adapt. And one of the things they have to adapt to is the Internet. And I think they are. One of the things that I was just thinking a moment ago, and this is like almost blasphemous for me, but the wisdom that there.

Peculiarly enough, the wisdom of nominating Donald Trump over some of the other candidates in the race was made apparent tonight. Yeah. Not because Trump was like a stellar debate performer. Because I thought that this was the best Trump has performed in a debate for a while, but I didn't think this was a historically great performance by Donald Trump.

on the order of, you know, Lincoln. Yeah, exactly. I mean, it wasn't like, if you think of like ideal debates, that was not it. I mean, there was a lot of saying over and over, he's the worst president in American history and the border's white. Like, okay, just on a purely intellectual level, this isn't something you're gonna be teaching in class. But the one thing that Donald Trump is, that none of the other Republican candidates is, and I'm gonna use the word here, and it's so weird to use this about Trump, is boring. There ain't no new information about him. Ain't nothing.

Right. Donald Trump is the most well-known commodity in the history. We drank out of the fire hose of Donald Trump for eight years now. Ain't nothing surprising about him. So you get that guy on the stage and he's just himself. And there is there is nothing for the Democrats to pick over. There's nothing there. Right. If this had been, say, Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis or somebody else, then it would've been like, oh, this is something new. Right. This is something for me to dissect. This is not there. So there's a place for me to dig in right here.

And maybe you open up a gap with the Republican base. Or maybe he says, like, if Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley had said, I'm fine with the abortion bill on a national level, which he said in that debate, right? Then a lot of the pro-lifers would be like, what are you talking about now? But Trump says it. And we're all like, well, you know. And so what that means is that there is no place for Biden to go. And so the Republican base voter, I think, innately understood. And you can see it actually in the primaries. The minute that Biden started to sink in the polls below Trump,

The Republican base was like, okay, I guess it's Trump. Because it was like the only case against Trump really was he can't beat Biden. And once it became clear that he could beat Biden, then it started to become clear maybe he was the only one who could beat Biden. Because if he's beating Biden now and everybody knows everything about him, what new information could be added to that equation? Same is true of the media too. Because you remember recently when that thing, somebody made an ad and the word Reich appeared in the newspaper. And they said, this is Hitlerian. You felt like, oh, plight.

Please, you know, come on. That's the feeling. Like everything with Trump is like, you're doing this crap again for the thousandth time again? Really? So we have our very own Cabot Phillips coming to us live from the CNN presidential debate, or at least from the room next door where he was able to watch on a screen. But he has been able to talk to a lot of the people, surrogates of the campaign. He understands the temperature in the room. Cabot, what's happening over there right now?

Well, we'll start with the temperature in the room where the press were throughout the evening. At the beginning, they were stoic. They were all working studiously. There was an audible gasp in that first moment where Joe Biden lost his footing and was stumbling around. There was a out loud gasp. People were looking around sort of thinking, can we even believe what's going on right now? And just to give you guys an idea of what's going on in the press, listen to some of these headlines right now coming out of the debate. Politico Dems freak out over Biden's debate performance. Biden is toast.

NBC News babbling and horse Biden's debate performance sends Democrats into a panic. Listen to the CNN chyrons. These are the CNN chyrons right now. Dems saying we have a problem after Biden's performance tonight. And then again, aggressive panic for Dems after Biden's performance. There were multiple CNN hosts on the left openly saying.

it might be time for us to remove President Biden as the nominee. There was complete pessimism coming out of this. But one interesting thing is that a lot of the Trump surrogates I spoke to and heard from, they were essentially saying, keep Joe Biden on the ticket. They had no interest in entertaining the idea of replacing him. To that point, I talked to Congresswoman Elise Stefanik. Here's what she had to say when I asked her if Joe Biden is and should continue to be the nominee.

In your opinion, do you think that this President Biden will still be the Democratic nominee by the time we get to November? He is the Democratic nominee. He will be on the ballot and we are going to defeat him this November and elect President Trump the next president of the United States. And the American people see crystal clear Joe Biden's failed policies, whether it's the border crisis, Bidenflation, or his weak role as commander in chief leading to chaos and weakened national security. This was an absolute disaster.

overwhelming knockout victory by President Trump against a failed, feckless and weak Joe Biden. Guys, the moment the debate ended, the floor behind me was instantly flooded with a dozen plus Republican surrogates. There's Lindsey Graham, who was doing handstands. I never thought I'd see that. There was J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio. There was Doug Burgum. There was a litany of Republican lawmakers who were just jubilant in talking about what happened.

For the first 20 minutes, there was not a single Democrat surrogate to be found. Right now, the only people I'm seeing behind me are Gavin Newsom and Raphael Warnock, who are doing their best to maybe push attention away from Gavin Newsom being the nominee, as he was doing earlier this evening when we heard from him. But the Democrats are very clearly...

You can get a sense of how they feel about this debate based on the way that their surrogates are reacting. Here's again what Stefanik had to say when I asked her about the performance from Joe Biden versus Trump. And this is the general idea of what we're hearing from Trump's surrogates. The debate expectations for President Biden were fairly low. Do you believe that he exceeded or failed to reach those expectations? No, I'm going to correct you. The Biden campaign said this would be the reset moment for Joe Biden's candidacy. And what they saw is the American people saw a weak response

horrible president who is the weakest president in our nation's history with the weakest performance, capstoning the weakest presidency with a border crisis, Bidenflation, weak national security. So this reset will only continue to skyrocket President Trump's support in the polls. Thank you very much.

So you get an idea that is what we're hearing from the Republican surrogates. Again, only two surrogates that I'm seeing right now. They were very slow to come out. And what we have heard from the Biden campaign so far, no one is trying to pretend that he did a good job. There are very few Democrat campaign officials saying this was anything but a disaster. All of their talk is about Donald Trump. The Biden campaign is now rolling out project 2025.com trying to direct people towards what Donald Trump will do if he wins. They're not wanting to talk about their guys performance.

And Cabot, we hear that Trump himself made an appearance in the spin room. What was that like? We have not seen. We've been running up and down. I have not seen if Trump has come in yet. I don't believe that he's made an appearance yet. He had hinted beforehand in his campaign and sort of said, well, depending on how the evening goes, he might make an appearance.

I think given how tonight went, that he almost certainly will come down. We'll get footage of that. Get back to you guys. If he does, join us. Well, just as surely as the Dems will try to fire Joe Biden from being their nominee, I'll fire whoever wrote that in the teleprompter. That's obviously not true. Cabot, thank you. We'll check back in with you here in a bit. Thanks, guys. By the way, there is footage that has emerged of Jill, I'm not kidding, leading Joe Biden off the stage at the end of this. It is very difficult to watch.

like truly difficult to watch. He can't walk. I mean, he's literally like stuck there. Well, he's been standing for 90 minutes. Yeah, the stage is empty. There's no one there. There's no place where he has to go. And she's up there. I mean, sad. It's like, honestly, as somebody who wants Joe Biden not to be president anymore, I think he's an awful president. I think he's a bad person. It's tough. It was tough to watch that debate. I mean, I don't, I think Biden has been an awful president and I think he's a terrible guy. But,

You know, you don't want to see human beings suffer. It's tough because we love our grandparents. That's actually why. You should think, oh, man. Well, you know, it's just as a human being. You know, if a guy's crumbling, he should be home. Yeah. It's elder abuse.

Honestly, what we're watching right now is the L Derby. I know. It is, yes. Look, I still, I know I was making fun of everyone for saying, maybe it'll be, you know, this candidate or they'll replace him with this. But I still maintain he's the nominee. And you could hear how giddy Elise Stefanik was. No, no, no, he's the nominee. No take backs. No take, no, you got him. But I am much less confident in that view than I was two hours ago. You know, if there is a chance to get rid of him,

every Democrat will do it. Yeah, they're going to- Including Jill. They are going to mobilize. Yeah, the going conspiracy theory now is that the DNC knew that he was this bad and they set up the early debates so they still have time to get rid of him. That's the going conspiracy theory of the day. But I will say that the Republicans are being smart in how they're approaching this. So Stefanik's response is there. You notice the thing she didn't say is he's seen Alan out with it. And that's what Republicans should do from here on out. They should just

They should just clock him over and over on his policy and let the American people notice the thing. You don't have to say the thing. Just let them notice the thing. I agree with you. Everybody notices it. You don't have to say that he's senile. You don't have to say it. We can all say that. But, I mean, if you're a politician, if you're Trump, just don't say any of it. Yeah, yeah. Just be like, he's terrible. Why not say it, though? Because once you start bullying the old man, then it starts to look mean as opposed to just letting people notice that he is not –

capable. But like we just talked about, it's a major national security issue. Like, this guy is literally senile. It's a danger to the American public. Okay, so I should correct. Him saying like that, I agree with you. Like, the way you're putting it is better as a national security issue as opposed to kind of like the jokes that we've been telling, which I think Trump will also be very, very tempted to tell because they're funny. Of course. I mean, look, he told an erection joke on stage and it was very funny when he did it, the wood joke. But, but, I,

Did you guys not catch that? Oh, no. Yeah, okay. All right. No. He said... Did we knock on wood whenever we get near it? Yeah, yeah. Wherever we can find it. Wherever we can find it. Whatever. Something like that. That's what you read into that? No. Go back to the tape. I think that's what... It was at the podium. By the way... I didn't read that as an erection. I love the internet. The internet is an amazing place. I'll tell you the...

You know, I know Cabot said, I think Trump is going to come into the spin room. He should. I hope he doesn't. I hope he doesn't. He had such a clean win. It was so... Take the win. You killed it, Mr. President. You destroyed... Well, this is the best advice that I've ever heard about celebrity is Jerry Seinfeld, who years ago said... Go home. Go home. Go home. You finished the show. They clapped for you. Yeah. Go home. Yeah. I think...

I think the pivot I'd like to see Trump make here is, I think you have to talk about the fact that the guy's actually senile. It's a real thing. We all know it. But to pivot to a place of concern, where you're concerned for the country, but you're also concerned for this man who, this man is not well and he needs to...

Go home and and be able to live out his days And I think you could you could say that in a way that comes off sincere and because everyone feels it We all feel the same way when you see even though even though the guy's a scumbag It's just it is we're all saying it's difficult to watch So I think that that kind of messaging from Trump and from the Republicans could actually be pretty pretty powerful So I want to play this clip and it's clip number

You know the one? They're in my ear. They said they know the one. Wow. And here it is. Just read your mind, Leo. Amazing.

Do you support any legal limits on how late a woman should be able to terminate a pregnancy? I support Roe v. Wade, which had three trimesters. The first time is between the woman and the doctor. The second time is between the doctor and an extreme situation. The third time is between the doctor, I mean, between the woman and the state. The idea that the politicians, that the founders wanted the politicians to be the ones making decisions about women's health is ridiculous.

So the clip didn't make any sense in that he was trying to articulate the Roe system of trimesters, and then he inaccurately described the Roe system of trimesters. And then his final point was, in the third trimester, he's trying to say abortions don't happen in the third trimester. He says, it's between the woman and the state, and so I don't want the politicians involved.

But you just said it's between the woman and not one bit of it made sense. And he's desperately trying to defend Roe v. Wade. You know, the really sad thing about the overruling of Roe v. Wade, which is the greatest political victory in my lifetime because it reduced the number of surgical abortions, the great tragedy that has come about because of just the state of technology right now is abortions have actually gone up. You know, Roe v. Wade was supposed to be the great victory for the pro-life movement.

but that the number of abortions has increased due to the fact that the abortion pill is now more readily available than ever. New estimates show that more than 1 million babies were aborted in 2023. The abortion pill accounted for the majority of them, 60% of them. On top of that, a recent study reports that the rapidly declining global birth rate will lead to a major population crisis if birth rates continue to decline. So,

We need to do something about that. And at the federal level, it seems like we've exhausted the solutions that are available for now.

There's a fight going on in the States. So what can you do? I've got an answer, and it's a group that not only helps support our shows, but it's a group that I personally support, and I would strongly encourage anyone listening to support, however you can, that is Preborn. Preborn is currently providing free ultrasounds and life-saving resources to expectant mothers, helping them to choose life for their babies. They are the front lines. They're offering support and hope to people facing unplanned

pregnancies. When a woman sees her baby on an ultrasound, it increases the chance that that baby will live. It doubles the chance. It increases it by 100%. So it's something that you can do. It's really tangible. And if you can give $28, there you go. That's great. That's one ultrasound. If you can give $2,800, you know, that's even better. It

Just give what you can. We need your help now more than ever. Please consider donating to Preborn today to support their life-saving work. You can sponsor that ultrasound for just $28. When a woman who's considering abortion sees that baby, that's going to be amazing.

is very likely the deciding factor. So please do it. You know, I don't always put my money where my mouth is when it comes to different political issues or candidates. This is one where I think it's really important and I should be doing more. We all should be doing more. And I would encourage you to do more. Preborn.com slash backstage. Donate today. Preborn.com slash backstage. If you want to use the phone, dial pound 250, say keyword baby.

That is pound 250, keyword baby, or preborn.com code backstage. And you know, it's an important... It's an amazing stat, though. If you look at the... If you see your baby... Twice as unlikely to have an abortion. Just tells you everything, right? You just have to see it with your eyes. And then you know. And that is one of the aspects of the debate that we actually haven't touched on yet. For the first time in my lifetime, neither candidate for president of the United... Neither party's candidate...

is universally opposed to abortion. And it's a consequence of the overturning of Roe because Republicans have been able to say that they were for, with exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother, which is always the boilerplate that they've baked in politically. But with those exceptions baked in,

Every Republican nominee in our lifetime has said that they were against abortion. But in part, you know, in fairness to Trump, it's because he got Roe v. Wade overruled. Him and Mitch McConnell and the judges, obviously. That's what I'm saying, yeah. But so his view is identical to Reagan's view. And frankly, I think Trump has more credibility even than great St. Ronald. Because Ronald, when he was governor of California, he liberalized abortions. And so do I wish Trump would go further on the abortion pill? I certainly do. Do I wish Trump would go further on a federal ban? I don't.

I suppose I do, though it does raise questions of subsidiarity and federalism and government. So I recognize that that actually is somewhat complex, even for the purpose of saving babies. They're pragmatic concerns. There are pragmatic concerns. But Trump even made this point. I mean, this is what I love so much about Trump's answer is,

He said politics is the art of the possible. It's the Tom Keene answer, right? You have to win. To quote cocaine Mitch McConnell, the winners go to Washington, the losers go home. And the guy, he's the first Republican president to show up to the March to Life. Reagan didn't do it. Bush didn't do it. But Trump did it for all of his zaniness and life in New York.

He got the judges who overruled Roe v. Wade. He's held the line at least on saying I'm pro-life with these exceptions. Let the states do what they're going to do. I hope he supports those conservative states when they do pass laws against abortion. But it's a whole new world because...

Roe v. Wade was the law for 50 years. That's the right answer, though. It is a whole new world. There was a fight to get rid of Roe v. Wade. It was a major, major thing because to live in a country that says you have a right to kill babies is to live in an evil country. Now we don't anymore. Now it's up to us. You've got to move back to that position, that starting position, and change the culture. You have to change hearts and minds. I think people can do it. It's going to take another 50 years maybe, but I think we can start to do it.

I'm just, again, I'm repeating myself. I cannot believe the performance by Biden. I can't get over it. I honestly can't get over it. I actually want to pressure test our working assumption right now. The working assumption of the five men in this room and virtually every American right now is that the race is over. And yet.

Four months in Donald Trump's America is a long time. There are political machinations that we can't quite envision. Both men are beyond the average life expectancy of an American adult man. None of us knows the future. Democrats will...

in a day or two have marshaled up some talking points. It's very hard to get people to vote for Trump, even people who think that Biden is unfit to be president. Does Biden still have a path

To re-elections. Yes. What is the path? There's always a path because of what you just said. Nobody knows what's going to happen. Trump is old. Anything can really go down at this point. But at this moment, at this moment, if there's- If the election were today. If there were three, yeah, if the election were today, if there are 3%, 4%.

percentage points to win in this debate. Trump won them. That's right. You know, things can turn around. And by the way, I think it's more than that. And the reason I think it's more than that is because I don't think it's just that there are, you know, 3%, which is, you know, say like 30, 40% of the undecided independents who switched over to Trump.

The voter, if you are a Democrat and you just watch that, what are the chances that if it's snowing on November 5th that you're going to the polling place? Who is enthusiastic about voting for this? That was a very demoralizing. This is so demoralizing. Look at this. This is Jill Biden walking the president off of the stage. Okay, this is right after the debate. Somebody had to take this on their cell phone, obviously, because the media would not be allowed. This is one of the reasons CNN didn't want to allow the media in. Wow. Look at this.

Okay, for those who cannot see or are listening or something. Who filmed it is what I want to know. She is walking him down. He cannot walk down. So my grandmother, who passed away at 89, this is how I walked her down the stage, like, the last couple years of her life. Like, when she was walking down the stairs at our house or something. Like, there are two stairs, you know, when you have an older person, you got to hold them by the arm, you got to make sure they don't trip. That's how Joe Biden is walking, and he's freezing. He literally freezes on the stage, and he's looking around. I mean, like,

And that video should also make you very, I've said this many times, that should make you very angry at Jill Biden. Yes. Who's like the worst wife in America. Every time I say this to my wife, she says the same thing to me. When have I ever been able to get you to do anything? Yeah. So maybe she can't. I don't buy that for one single solitary second.

I mean, listen, I think that if you look at the history of Jill Biden's relationship with Joe Biden, I find it very suspicious when people get married to sitting senators. It makes me a little suspicious that maybe they like being close to power. I think every person in this room was married before they were rich or famous. That is certainly not true of Jill, who may or may not have been married at the time that she met Joe. This is also, though, why the entire...

The entire mechanism by which we got this debate, which is that essentially CNN owns this debate in a way that we've not historically seen in presidential debates. It's not that there hasn't been a main broadcaster of every debate. Of course, there has been. But this is different. This is a branded, the corporation owns this. This is a company debate. And the fact that they were able to keep any other journalists in

from being able to observe the comings and goings of the President of the United States and the man who would be President of the United States is to keep us from seeing the truth of what's happening on that stage. Yeah, yeah. At the behest of the Biden campaign, right? That's right. Okay, here's the thing. Joe Biden set every single rule of that debate. Yep. Every rule. The New York Times reported this. And here's to Trump for grabbing the opportunity, you know? That's right. Here's to Trump for his incredible self-confidence. Yes.

And just say, bring it on. I don't like Jake Tapper. I don't care. Calls me Hitler. Bring him. He's the moderator. I mean, that's that's Trumpian in the best possible sense. Strategically smart. Right. So apparently what he said is when they asked him, why did you just accept it? He said, because they didn't want me to. Right. Right. Because what they were hoping is that he would start negotiating.

And he knew, because he's a negotiator, I mean, he is really good at this, that if he countered, they would use that as an excuse to suggest that he's trying to get out of it. And then he would be the weakling. So instead, he just said yes. And they were like, okay, well, then I guess we'll set all the presets. And then they proceeded to set the...

the most beneficial set of presets for Donald Trump in any debate ever. Yeah. In any debate ever. The muting of the microphone was the best thing for him that could have possibly happened. Yep, yep. Again, like the less you see and less you hear of Donald Trump, Donald Trump is pepper, not salt, right?

And like some pepper in the soup is great. The whole soup made of pepper? It ain't that great. To Jeremy's point, though, this is dangerous. It is dangerous that CNN controls it. And it's kind of ironic for us conservatives because we've spent decades, we collectively the conservatives, arguing for privatizing stuff because the government screws a lot of stuff up. And there's plenty of truth to that. And there's plenty of argument to deregulate and to privatize certain things.

But it has come back to bite us when it comes to big tech. The fact that we privatized the public square. Well, now three big liberal oligarchs control the public square and they censor us a lot of the time. The fact that we, well, now that we're privatizing presidential debates. But this one didn't bite us. I've been saying this for years, though. New rules, new technology, new rules. I mean, I think that this thing with information flowing at the rate it's flowing, you need to set some rules.

And it was one thing when it was building up and they said, okay, we're gonna let you be editors, but also not editors and all that stuff. Okay, fine, that's the way you build up industries.

But now it's time to start to set some rules where they cannot do this. And, you know, I thought it was a shame the Supreme Court let that case go by where they didn't slap the government. But it was a technical decision, and that standing decision is always kind of questionable. They didn't really settle the matter of it. I think that there's got to be a way to stop the government from, you know,

Bullying social media, but there's also got to be a way of the social media Just not shutting people down because they disagree with you. You know YouTube is the town square. I'm sorry Yeah, they are not just a private company anymore. You know it ends something. There's something we're not taking into account It's like not setting new work rules once you invent the factory you have to say no kids can't work in a factory for 10 hours You know if you're 8 years old you shouldn't be in a factory

You know, government does have a role in life. And one of them is making sure that the playing field is fair. And right now it's not because the social media is out of control. It is truly the least fair today that it's ever been. Say again? It's the least fair today that it's ever been. I mean, what's happened at the social media companies over the last six months is truly remarkable. They have cut off

the majority of our access to our audience. It's ridiculous. Which is why, I know it's a shameless plug, but it is absolutely serious. You must subscribe if you want The Daily Wire to continue to exist. Right. Because Facebook, particularly, and YouTube have taken away 90, 90% of our reach over the last six months going into this election. Wow. They cannot have another Trump victory be blamed on them. I mean, Elizabeth Warren and others

drug Mark Zuckerberg before Congress, before the Senate, and said, we're going to break you up as a monopoly because Donald Trump won in 2016. And social media, the lesson is, fine, we're not going to let that happen. And for that reason, above all others, although there are others, we're so grateful to our Daily Wire Plus members who empower us to have these conversations. In fact, we should take some questions from some of them. Here's one now.

Trump is 6'3". Biden is 6'. Is Biden wearing special shoes? How's he appearing slightly taller on screen? They don't have the sky in black. Is that where he's going? He is wearing those like elderly people. He is, isn't he? So those are probably a little thicker than usual, right? That gives you half an inch at least. Yeah. Also, I mean, camera angles. They don't have the sky in like heels. There's no way they could...

No, but I think Ben's right. I think they have him actually in the moon shoes. Wow. Make it a little harder for him to fall. Which topic subject do you think each candidate did best in? Trump golf. Grammar for Biden, I think. We're talking about the liberal arts. That's an interesting question for Biden. Did Biden have one

good moment in 90 minutes? He had a couple of answers that were kind of in the middle when he had the most pep. He had a couple of answers that were probably as good as Trump's worst answers, right? Things that were saying, Trump did fine. Trump had some answers that were really good, especially early. In the middle, Trump was kind of not doing as well. And in that same section, Biden was doing his best.

Yeah, I mean, I think that the one area where Biden did his best is where Trump got defensive about his his January 6th activity. Right. And that really had less to do with Biden doing amazingly well and more to do with Trump shooting himself in the foot on that sort of stuff. But I thought Biden did OK there and not not like outstanding. But again, even when he thought he had an answer, he couldn't even get it out of his mouth. It's really hard to watch, really hard to watch. Van Jones.

And I will say, I know Van Persling, that's a super nice guy. He and I disagree about a huge number of things. Van was beside himself after this debate. Here he was on CNN.

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, and it's personally painful for a lot of people. It's not just panic, it's pain of what we saw tonight.

Oh, man. Yeah. Brutal. Yeah, I've always thought that Van Jones is one of the guys on the left who...

is the most honest. Like he actually says what he thinks. I always feel like they keep him in a cloud of Kool-Aid gas and every now and again he breaks free. You know, because sometimes he says the stuff that comes out of his mouth, especially about race, is such nonsense. And then the other day when that synagogue was attacked in LA, he was right on point. Again, I know Van. I'm friends with Van. Van is like an actual, like he and I disagree about everything. I think he's misguided on some things. I'm sure he thinks the same about me. He's an actual like good person. And so, you know,

When he said, I mean, you can see it. He's having the same reaction on an emotional level that I am. I mean, obviously, listen, I want Trump to win. But the longer we talk about this, the more I actually just feel really sad for the country. Like, actually sad. And a little sad for Joe Biden as a human. As Matt was saying, like, I don't like him. I think he's a corrupt, bad guy who believes bad things and does bad things.

He just got humiliated in front of 80 million people. Which also means America got humiliated in front of a billion people. Yeah, that's right. That's right. He's a nasty fellow. I won't lose sleep over it. But I do agree it's sad for the country. I mean, no, no. I agree with you. Listen, don't get me started on Jimmy Carter, who everybody says, you know, crying crocodile tears over. But yeah, you're...

He might be the nominee. Did you actually tweet that out? No, it's too mean to tweet. No, you totally should have. It was so good. It was so good. Okay, I'm just going to say what he texted me. So anyway, I'm humiliating him. So he texts me a picture of Jimmy Carter at age 100. He said, put me in the game, coach.

That was sent to me. In fairness, I don't want to take credit. It was sent to me by a friend, but I won't name them in case they ever want to show their face in public again. Were the polls similar going into the 2020 election? If not, how were they different? It seems like I remember Trump leading. No, Trump never led in the polls in 2020. Right. No, wire to wire. Biden was ahead in 2020. That was why. Yeah. And he certainly never. I mean, right now he has a pretty even shot of winning the popular vote, like going into the election.

If he's within two points of winning the popular vote, he wins the election because it means he's going to outperform in the swing states. How do you think the moderators have done? Have they been pretty strict with the microphone? I thought they were great. I thought it was amazing. You know, I've never seen moderators like that. I believe that moderators should be eliminated from debates. I don't understand why the press should set the...

terms of the conversation. I don't understand why their questions should govern the conversation. These are the guys who want to run the country. Let's say this is the international portion of the debate. What do you want to say? They should tell you what their priorities are. They should tell you what their plans are. Then they should shut up and let the guy respond like they do in Oxford at the debate. I do not see why they should be there. But if you have to have moderators, these guys ask good questions, on point. They were tough for everybody. They were well done. It was the first presidential debate. I'm trying to remember.

the earliest ones that I saw in my life. I think this was the most well-moderated presidential debate that I've seen in my life. They did very well. And again, if their question wasn't being answered, they didn't feel the necessity to like Hector the candidate. They would just come back in and they would say, the original question was X. You have 47 seconds. And they knew the answer or they don't. Yeah. They weren't trying to make themselves the star of the show. But I think that they did well given the parameters of the debate. But I agree with you that, I mean,

And these rules work really well for Trump, so that's great. But, you know, objectively speaking, a presidential debate, giving someone two minutes to

To answer a question about some really dense, important world issue is ridiculous. One minute to give a response is absurd. But this is the way presidential debates are done. And doing it that way, this was the best version of that. And in fairness, I mean, I go back to Herman Cain when he was running in 2012. And it was joking about it was Becky, Becky, Becky, Stan, Stan, Stan. Who cares who's the president? It's not going to make one job. And it

There is a point at which the president represents the people. He's the representative of one of the three branches, the spirited part of government. And so, you know, the fact that Trump speaks publicly at a fifth grade level, and he's spoken on TV at higher levels in the past, but he speaks at a fifth grade level for the public because he wants to reach as many people as he can. I actually don't mind the two minutes. I think...

I think, you know, if I won a university lecture on the politics of Uzbeki, Beki, Beki, Stan, Stan, Stan, I could go find it somewhere on YouTube or at a lecture hall. And no shade being cast on either of the candidates tonight.

Did they have more than two minutes of material on any of these questions? But this is, the press creates the situation where the zingers matter more than they should, where you're only supposed to pay attention to the attitudes and the, you know, the faces that they make and the things that they say instead of like listening to substantive debate. So it's a little boring. At least you find out. Well, I don't think, I've said for a while, no one should be president who can't go through an entire episode of the Joe Rogan show as the guest. You should have to go sit there for three hours and be asked about the weirdest crap

Aliens and DMT. Yeah, so that I actually know anything about you or what you actually think. I think you should have to talk about what you would do. You know, like Trump skates on these things. You know, the Ukraine war would be over in 10 minutes. But what would he do? To be fair.

I think that matters so much less in this election than any election in my lifetime. And I'm, and you know, I am captain. Like I want substance. Give me more substance. Read a book, right? Like this is my entire brand. Right. Because we already have seen them be president. There's almost nothing to say. We've seen what Trump did. We've seen what Biden does. Biden sucks at it. And he's senile. That's the election, gang. I just saved you 90 minutes. Well, fellas, raise your leftist tears, hot or cold tumblers, as we play this clip from CNN.

I, too, was on the phone throughout much of the debate with Obama, world people, with Democrats, with people who are political operatives, with campaign operatives. My phone really never stopped buzzing throughout. And the universal reaction was somewhere approaching panic. The people who were texting with me were very concerned about

about President Biden seeming extremely feeble, seeming extremely weak. Wow. Wow. You know what she was doing right there? She was dropping.

A truth bomb. A solid gold. A solid gold truth bomb. Now, we here at The Daily Wire, we've been dropping truth bombs for years. Tonight, I'm very excited to reveal for the very first time our gold-plated truth bomb. To be fair, Jeremy revealed it earlier, but I'm doing it. Look at this thing. It is absolutely magnificent. It's extremely heavy. So this is a testament to both the quality of Birch Gold

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You really should pass it around. It's an amazing thing. We had a solid gold truth bomb made. Can you handle this? By the way, Drew's still like 30 years younger than both guys on the stage. No, no, no. The odometer just resets. So the reason it's so heavy, people at home don't know. It's gold-plated. The solid gold truth bomb is heavy for two reasons. One,

You have to make the base of the bomb out of bronze so that the gold will actually adhere. So our normal truth bomb, you couldn't just gold plate that. So you had to make a heavier bomb fundamentally, and then gold is very heavy. Yeah. So you started with a heavier substance. And also it's full of truth. At first I thought you meant it was solid, like the whole thing was just a solid block of gold, which would be worth like $900,000. Yeah.

Oh, wow, this is heavy, man. Whoa, can I have this? Well, yeah, it's gold-plated. Can I have this? Mathis is in my ear saying, no, guys, it's just gold-plated. Yeah, that's okay. I'll take it. Yeah, no, we know it's gold-plated. Yeah, why? If it was actual gold, I wouldn't let this guy touch it. I mean, it's actual gold. But, I mean, if it was solid gold. There'd be a Michael-shaped hole in the wall. I'd be off to Tijuana. It is amazing, and it's quite valuable because...

Gold's expensive, which is why it makes for a good investment. Yeah. So go check it out over at Birch Gold again. It's expended 98, 98, 98. And then listen to Kamala Harris talk and you'll know why you need to at least diversify into gold a little bit. Because something bad's coming. This was a debate that your campaign wanted. You pushed for this debate at this moment. I mean, you can't honestly say, I mean, can you say that you are not concerned at all having watched the president's performance tonight? No.

It was a slow start. That's obvious to everyone. I'm not going to debate that point. A slow start and a slow finish. A slow middle part. It was a slow start. She was containing... She's just Kevin Bacon now in Animal House. Everything's on fire behind her. Pay no attention. Everything is totally fine. All she's thinking is,

I'm going to be the first woman, the first female president of the United States. She's now doing the Monty Python parrot sketch. Yeah. Right? That parrot is not dead. The parrot is very much alive. You know, we're laughing about it because that's funny. So you don't cry? So you don't cry. That,

The fact that she would even go that far, we're laughing because she's so downplaying it. The fact that the vice president of the United States would admit on television to the biggest lib sycophant Vanderbilt anchor of CNN to say,

Yeah. You know, you got Anderson Cooper saying, that was horrible. And she goes, you know, yeah. Anderson Cooper in that clip is one of the funniest things I've seen. That's so funny. He's like, you can't honestly, but can you? But you can't really. Maybe you can. Because if he could, he would, you know. Can you honestly say he's alive? Yeah, wasn't so good, was it? Huh? Yeah. Well, slow start. Here's another question from one of our Daily Wire plus fans.

Members, in the event that Trump wins, how violent do you think the left's reaction will be? Is there any hope of unity in an America that has been so brainwashed by the Democrat media complex? It'll be violent. Yeah, there will be violence. I don't think they'll... I'd like to think it's not going to be as bad as all that because it only makes the Democrats look bad. And unless they're planning a full-scale revolution, I don't think that they... I don't think... I think you're wrong. I think it'll be bad. Well, it's going to be bad because of violence. I think the Democrats... Yeah, all violence is bad, of course. But I mean, I think that...

The Democrats don't know how to contain this thing that they have unleashed, this revolutionary fervor that they've unleashed, particularly beginning in 2020 with BLM, right now with the pro-Hamas protests that are happening all over the world, but particularly all over this country. The Dems have unleashed this very cynically starting in 2012 to get Barack Obama reelected after his very bad first term. And once you unleash these cynical forces, you

You can't put the genie back in the bottle. Which is why there's so much projection. You're the end of democracy. If we vote for you, it's... In a way, they're just...

out the fact that they are actually doing all of these things. Trump tried to say it. He didn't say it very eloquently, but they burned down city after city after city in 2020. So this is Charlottesville every day, right? With the Palestinians. That was a good one. But you know, I have had this, since we're making literary references today, I have had this feeling that I'm in one of those neighborhoods

like the Magic Mountain or a play like Heartbreak Hotel where you're sitting around, Heartbreak House, where you're sitting around having tea, you know, and drinking a pair of teas. Well, the World War I is closing the end of civilization. Yeah, it's Grand Hotel. Yeah, it's, you know, as far as the violence, here's my prediction. My prediction is things are going to be so bad at the DNC. Holy crap. Because here's the reality. Right now, if Joe Biden were to lose, I don't see how you get out of bed in the morning and riot over that. Yeah, yeah. Like, it's like,

I mean, we all saw it. Like, how do you get up in like, I think that people start to get violent when they feel they've been unjustly deprived of a thing. And so if you are a far leftist, you feel you're unjustly deprived of the thing at the DNC.

Like, how did you give us this corpse who's too moderate as opposed to, you know, an AOC type, some some, you know, fervent left wing intersectional radical? And so I think that you'll see it. I think it'll actually be worse at the DNC than it will be after the election, because if Biden makes it all the way to Election Day and he's still the nominee and then he loses, it's kind of.

Like, is anyone going to be super shocked? Usually the violence comes out of shock, right? I think that on January 6th, for example, people were so shocked in the Republican Party that Trump had lost that they were like, this can't really be true. And in 2020, it came out of opportunism. But where's the opportunism? It's either shock or opportunism. So I think it's going to be mostly. I mean, we've seen over the last several months, left-wing activists backlash against left-wing institutions. And I agree with you. That's what I would expect to see

in this scenario where you're going to find the activists are going to be going after their own, going after the Democrats for putting them in this situation. There will be some violence, of course, but I think that's where it's going to mostly be targeted. Well, I also think, we haven't talked much about this, but the push to actually put Trump in jail between now and the election, your point earlier was, well, now they can't.

But that assumes a kind of rational thinking that they have not demonstrated up until this point. I think now they'll think they must demonstrate

They are prosecuting him. It's not that rational. The experts keep saying they're not going to put him in jail for this New York case. I don't see why they wouldn't. I don't think they've actually gauged the level of their corruption. I could see if I had to put money on it. I mean, I agree they could. If I had to put money, I'd say they'd do some form of house arrest where he has to call his parole officer every time there's a rally or something. But even that, again, that's all baked in. If that's what they come up with, with house arrest, that changes zero things about the trajectory of this election. Here's a question.

The answer is obvious. Which DW host would have made the best moderator? Brett Cooper. I actually would have to disagree. I think of all of us gents, it would be Matt. Because the rest of us... I disagree. That's why. And that's why you should have been the moderator. Because I feel I would be too...

I'd be too excited. I'd be too in the tank. I'd vote for Shapiro on this one. But the thing you don't understand is Matt really wouldn't care. He would be so straight-faced and blasé the whole time. He would have a damn near impartiality, I think. I wouldn't want to do it. I wouldn't take the judgment. You'd have to pay me a lot of money. To be fair, the only person who could have moderated that debate is somebody who regularly plays golf. So show of hands. There you go. All right. You have my son. Yeah.

He's good. He's eight. Yeah. Hit the ball? Yeah. Anyway. To the hosts, what, in your opinion, is a fentanyl detection machine? There's a lot of stuff that happened in that debate that we're not going to talk about ever again. The fentanyl detection machine was one of the discoveries of H2O in the United States. In our very United States, H2O was discovered. Congratulations, gentlemen. One thing that we haven't talked about is just the...

just the ease with which Joe Biden lies. Oh, it's amazing. Like Trump is a exaggerator of the highest order. Yeah, yeah. Right. And that is a form of dishonesty, of course. It's not the same thing as this. But it's not the same thing

Biden knows, for example, that the fine people on both sides is a lie. He knows it and he says it as though it were true. He knows when he says, this guy said that Hitler has good ideas. He knows that he's

Painting with the broadest brush possible to arrive at that kind of... How about no American soldiers died on my watch? No American soldiers died on my watch. Or the border is secure. The border is secure. He just with ease lies. No, I mean, this is... The word gaslight is now overused, but this is actual gaslight from the plague, gaslight, where you're looking at something and the guy says, I don't see it. It's not happening. Yeah.

And Biden does it all the time and he's done it his whole life. This whole idea that he used to be a better person, that he was somehow, you know, he may make mistakes, but he's a decent guy. He never was. He never has been. He's been a liar his whole career. He's been corrupt his whole career. They keep saying on

On PBS, they keep saying there's no proof that he took money in the Hunter Biden scams. There's all kinds of evidence. It's not proof because he hasn't been put on trial, but he should be put on trial. He's doing corruption for the sake of your son. He's still doing corruption. That's right.

Even if it was just Hunter getting drug money based on going over. 10% for the big guy and 20 shell companies? I'm not sure it was just for his son. But he strikes me as a liar. I agree the mendacity is breathtaking. And the fact that they accused Trump of that because he talks about his crowd sizes. When you have someone like Biden who's lying about really crazy.

aspects of his biography and his political career. He strikes me as more than a liar, but a cynic, a cynic on the order. Pontius Pilate has the famous line in the Gospels, what is truth? That's what makes him a cynic. It's not that he lies. It's that he doesn't even care about the difference between truth and falsehood. He doesn't believe it's a thing. In that sense, you might say Biden doesn't lie. I think he just doesn't care. He just says whatever is convenient. Well, it's going to be an

incredibly interesting, I think, next few days as we see how the Dems spin and spiral and try to find their way back to some sort of stability. And listen, it could turn into the most interesting presidential election of our, well, not all of our lifetimes, but most of our lifetimes. Not all of our, can you think of one that's more interesting than this? Lincoln Douglas would be. I mean, obviously, historically,

the conventions were much more meaningful because they actually selected candidates. They used to be cool. They used to be cool. And we could be in for an actual cool DNC. Yeah. Yeah. And if so... Battles inside, an old man, you know, being propped up on some sort of thurney. Yeah. And I don't know if you guys watched the first season of House of Cards. Yeah. Not House of Cards. I'm sorry. House of the Dragon. But... I mean, Biden does kind of look like the king. Yeah.

We're in for it. Thank you guys for tuning in with us for, I mean, I didn't think it was going to actually be interesting. It was. Thank you especially to our Daily Wire Plus members for helping make this possible. You can still get in on that promo tonight if you use promo code DEBATE over at dailywireplus.com and become a subscriber today. We would appreciate it and we look forward to seeing you guys in the days and weeks to come as we see where this crazy train goes.