Chuck Todd: Democrats in ‘full-on panic’ over President Biden’s debate performance

[0:00] I want to get right over to our chief political analyst, NBC's Chuck Todd. [0:04] Chuck, this was quite the debate for a variety of reasons. [0:07] It was a debate unlike any other we've seen. [0:09] I want to get your analysis immediately right after this debate and what it means. [0:14] Look, we began this conversation before this debate. [0:18] You know, one of the things was, would either candidate look like the caricature [0:21] that the other campaign has been trying to paint of him? [0:25] And at the end of the day, Joe Biden looks like the caricature [0:27] that conservative media has been painting. [0:31] And there were no clips tonight, right? [0:33] This was, you saw it before your eyes. [0:35] Look, I don't want to just tell you what I think here, Tom. [0:41] I've been talking to a lot of leaders in the Democratic Party, electeds, coalition leaders. [0:48] There's a full-on panic about this performance. [0:52] Not like, oh, this is recoverable. [0:54] It is more of a, okay, he's got to step aside. [0:59] There's a lot of that chatter. [1:01] This is about as bad of a performance in order to, that Biden could have delivered [1:08] if his goal was to try to sort of calm the waters among Democrats. [1:15] I mean, look, there was a poll just out earlier this week that showed, you know, [1:18] a lot of Democrats, it's not just elected Democrats, rank-and-file Democrats, [1:22] are both supportive of Biden but think he should not be seeking a second term. [1:26] I have a feeling we're going to see more polling on this, and we're going to see that number [1:29] even higher. [1:31] But the panic level, particularly among elected Democrats who have to share the ballot with him, [1:37] there's a full-on panic tonight. [1:40] Maybe they'll get calmed down in the morning. [1:41] But there's going to be, there's a lot of chatter among donors tonight, [1:46] a lot of chatter among major elected leaders tonight. [1:51] Again, if the Biden campaign needs, they have a lot of calming calls that they're going to have [1:57] to start making. [1:58] Or they may see this get momentum publicly, and I don't know if they can stop that. [2:05] Well, Chuck, I want to ask you about that, because if you open up any news website right now [2:08] and you see the headlines, the headlines are exactly what you're talking about tonight. [2:12] So if you're a Democratic voter, if you're somebody who's going to vote for this party, [2:16] and now you're confused because you hear your party leaders are concerned as well, [2:19] walk our viewers through what potentially could or could not happen. [2:23] I mean, is he going to run no matter what? [2:25] Is this conversation too early to have? [2:27] And is there a process in place where Democrats can get together? [2:30] And if he's not their guy, is there enough time to find somebody else? [2:33] Well, look, I mean, this was always one of the interesting timing of this debate was always [2:38] that, oh, this is intriguing. [2:39] The Biden campaign wants a debate before you pass the last exit for gas, meaning before the [2:47] Democratic convention. [2:48] If Joe Biden decides he does not want to seek this nomination, he can release all his delegates. [2:54] And then it basically becomes an open convention. [2:56] And we haven't had a real open convention really since 1952. [3:00] So and that that becomes that becomes a whole, you know, there, you know, you'd probably have [3:06] the vice president, you might have a couple of governors, you might have the home state [3:09] governor in Illinois, who's the host of the convention, wanting to follow in the footsteps [3:14] of of an Illinois governor in 1952, who was able to gather that nomination in Adlai Stevenson [3:21] when when the when the convention decided to hand it to him. [3:24] But it all begins with Joe Biden would have to would have to agree to do this. [3:30] And, you know, you don't walk away from these things. [3:33] They're going to fight. [3:34] I mean, you know, you feel a little bit of the fight tonight. [3:37] They're trying to say, look, he was thrown off a little bit at the beginning. [3:40] I don't know how you're thrown off that you're surprised that inflation is the first question, [3:45] but that's their excuse. [3:47] I mean, maybe that'll be enough to calm the waters. [3:50] I don't buy it. [3:51] And I'll tell you this, Tom, I think there are two people, two public Democrats to be [3:56] watching for and to see if they say anything, because I think there are two Democrats who, [4:01] if they went public with this, I don't know if Joe Biden could stop the freight train. [4:06] One would be Nancy Pelosi and the other would be Barack Obama. [4:09] And I think those are the two most influential Democrats right now in this process, in this [4:13] party and where this could end up going. [4:16] Well, Chuck, it's interesting you say that because the two of them have been some of his biggest [4:20] supporters to date, right? [4:22] And you're right, his strongest voices to date. [4:24] I do want to ask you something. [4:26] Do you think it was a bit of political malpractice by his staff to announce midway into the debate [4:31] that he had a cold and not let people know that early on so they could have lowered the bar [4:35] so people could have been ready for what we saw of Joe Biden in the beginning? [4:39] You know, and again, it could be spin. [4:41] It could not be true. [4:42] But listen, this is what we're hearing from the Biden campaign. [4:44] Well, I mean, put yourself in their shoes. [4:46] Do you say it in advance? [4:48] He's got a cold and then it looks like you're really trying to lower the bar, right? [4:51] I don't think there's any good, good answer there. [4:54] But look, that was, you know, among the feedback I got from one elected official who said that's [5:00] his performance after five days at Camp David. [5:04] That's after rest. [5:05] So I do think, frankly, the campaign had to come out with some explanation because I guess [5:13] the cold is what they got to hang their hat on on this.