'Political h-bomb': Trump-Biden debate scored by Bob Woodward, legendary Pulitzer-Watergate reporter

He has written 10 books about American presidents. There may be no other journalist who talks to so many presidents in so many terms, not just when they want to be heard from her at her press conferences. She spent a lot of time discussing important topics of the day with many different people. presidents, including former President Trump, who was on that stage last night, his most recent book was about Donald Trump's handling of covid and includes a series of so-called Trump tapes, long discussions and interviews during that white house and the national crisis, the

legendary

journalist and two-time piter Award winner associate edition of the Washington Post Bob Woodward joins me now welcome Bob thank you when you watch last night's

debate

what you find I can hear you well yes when you watch the

debate

uh what What do you think?

And what do you say to people who think that this generates doubts or discussions of qualification about the president? Well, Biden's performance was so bad, so horrible, uh, the way I see it, uh, as a

reporter

, there must be some explanation for what really happened that he was preparing for. For a long time you knew it had consequences and then it was this bad, it's like a golfer playing golf at the Country Club in the 90's, suddenly he shoots 140 and you wonder something went wrong, he broke his foot or ankle, Uh, I think. The answer here is to inform, very aggressively seeking an explanation of what happened here, we don't want it to appear in some book or memoir in a couple of years or a decade, we need to know now and I'm telling you.

It was so bad, so horrible. I mean, I don't want to speculate on possible explanations, but I guess so. I want to speculate because I think the answer is in the area where they always talk about evidence and maybe he had a fall and a long fight. with their campaign managers there is an explanation and that's where the journalistic energy should go in my opinion, yeah and Bob, you've heard that you followed this closely, how Washington is taking this when you hear calls to reconsider the nomination or the idea. that maybe Biden should retire, do you think that's deserved now or too soon for that talk?

Well, it's inevitable because his performance was me. I sat there and looked at it and couldn't believe it. I said that not only is this a

political

hydrogen

bomb

for him. and the Democratic Party, uh, you know what happened, what happened and uh, I think something happened and uh, if you look back, he uh held on for days working on this, preparing for it, he knew its importance, uh, someone who is an experienced politician like Biden will internalize and rehearse lines. There must have been some of that, but somehow they took it out of his own game and I really think there is some kind of very broad explanation for this because it was like that, it was almost impossible.

I read him a comparison that I think overlaps with part of what he is raising. This is from Steven Collinson, a writer. There has been no public sign that Biden cannot fulfill the duties of the presidency, which include difficult decisions about national security. returns from two grueling trips abroad, but on Thursday's evidence, his ability to communicate with the country and even to sell his own vision for a second term is severely compromised, we read it because it makes the comparison that I think many Americans feel and then I have uh, a breaking article here from the New York Times editorial board, which as you know is different from the

reporter

s' side.

I just want to remind the audience that the New York Times reporters are simply gathering all the facts, but we have breaking news from the New York Times. The Times editorial board, speaking on behalf of one of the country's key newspapers, says he is summoned to serve his country. President Biden should drop out of the race and they describe the threats posed by Donald Trump and they say, uh, and I'm reading this to you, Bob. and I imagine it will be a breaking news story that you will hear for the first time citing that the president appeared Thursday night while the shadow of a great public servant was struggling to explain what he had accomplished struggling to respond to Trump struggling to hold Trump accountable lies for his lies, failures and chilling plans and then he says quote more than once he struggled to get to the end of a sentence um in print I'll show the viewers this is about three pages long it's a long piece and somewhat considered uh it's also in the era of our quick reaction a quick reaction to last night that within the 24 hour window uh your response to that news uh Mr.

Woodward and do you think it's too hasty? um um it's not necessarily rushed but the energy needs Go to what really happened look, take a step back, if a building explodes in the center of some city, the story will be what happened and then the story will be how this happened, for what happened and that's where I'm very, very curious. because this was a mega disaster uh I was so shocked I couldn't I mean I said if this really happened and I heard the replays now I explain uh candidate Biden uh Biden's personal candidate uh people close to him I want to hear that explanation because there it is where it will guide us in a direction, I guess to understand it I can't downplay it, although I can't say, oh well, it was just a bad night, uh, it was an incoherent night.

Hello MSNBC fans, I'm Luke Ruster. and be sure to join me Rachel mat Jen saki lawren o' Donal Steve coraki Joy Reed and many more on September 7th in Brooklyn MSNBC Live democracy 2024 click the link for ticket information see you there