ABC exec Rick Klein slams Biden over 'disaster' debate performance and calls it 'sad moment' for people
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Co-hosts Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin were joined by ABC News political director Rick Klein as they discussed the aftermath of the first presidential election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump on the Friday, June 28 episode of 'The View.'
The presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees faced off each other at the CNN studio in Atlanta the previous night, where the incumbent's performance left his party and supporters shaken, with many calling upon him to step down from the race.
Rick Klein's calls Joe Biden's debate performance a 'political disaster'
"It was a political disaster," Klein announced at the Hot Topics table on Friday. "I mean, exactly what Joe Biden needed to happen, the opposite happened."
"He needed to go out there and prove that he was with it, that he could take on Donald Trump and that he could hold his own on a debate stage, and exactly the opposite thing happened."
Behar then interjected, saying that Biden appeared "lively" after the end of the debate, to which Klein replied, "Not to say that he is not capable of it, but he did not bring it last night."
"I just think it was a sad moment for a lot of people watching generally. I got a lot of people texting me, 'Is this the best we have as a country? This is who we offer up, 300 million Americans plus and this is who we have?' And it was not a soaring rhetoric. It wasn't a big vision for the country. Neither man, I think, was able to make a real positive, pro-active case for 'this is how I want to lead you into the future,'" he continued.
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"It was a lot of attacks. The golf scores ... it just seemed disconnected from how people lived their lives. And I think for Biden, the biggest missed opportunity was right there, because the questions were on his candidacy, that he did the opposite of answering."
Rick Klein on the possibility of Biden being replaced as Democratic nominee
Haines asked Klein if there was "talk about replacing Biden in the more political circles and is it realistic," to which he responded that they were two very different questions.
.@ABC News political director @rickklein breaks down the key moments from last night’s presidential debate, the media’s reaction and who could potentially replace Pres. Biden as the Democratic nominee. https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/Sz2tXT0smR
— The View (@TheView) June 28, 2024
"There is definitely talk about how best to approach the inner sanctum of Biden world because they (Democrats) would have to convince him to get out of the way... The primaries are long gone, the delegates are selected, (and) the convention will just be a rubber stamp unless he gets out," Klein said.
"Now the question of who goes and has that conversation - I think people think sometimes there is a smoke-filled room and maybe the Obamas and Clintons can just... That's not how it works. This is a personal decision. It will come down to the President, First Lady Jill Biden, maybe his sister, and a couple of key advisers... maybe three or four people, tops, that would have any say on this. And I think Joe Biden is inclined to say no. I did my own thing (and) I'm here as my own man," he explained.
"Because the convention has not happened yet, (replacing Joe Biden) will be a straightforward process, if he gets out. If he doesn't get out, you would have to have a rebellion unlike any we have ever seen, where all these convention delegates would get together - that's not going to happen. The only thing realistically would be the President saying I don't want to do it. And I don't think that's realistic, but that's the conversation that's going on right now," Klein later added.
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