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Biden: Lost in Translation

Overseas political observers are asking how the world’s greatest democracy ended up with the choice of Biden versus Trump: “We see the same videos—and debates.”

joe biden foreign officials nato
The presidency has aged Biden, the oldest man to ever hold this office, and doing so at a time when the world keeps throwing crisis after flaming crisis his way. Photo: Henry Nicholls/Pool/Getty Image
Julia Ioffe
July 3, 2024

It’s been six days since Joe Biden stood like a deer in headlights on the debate stage in Atlanta, and the Democratic freak-out fever has yet to break. Sources inside the campaign tell me that people are still in the grips of panic, people on the Hill tell me the halls are quaking, and everyone is hoping a decision will come by the end of the week because time is rapidly running out. “I think doing nothing is untenable,” one senior Biden campaign source told me. Then again, said a source close to Democratic leadership, “I’m betting he stays. Everybody thinks Kamala sucks.”