‘Made Matters Worse’: Big Biden Interview Only Made It More ‘Implausible’ President Stays In Race, Says Hall

The big interview of President Joe Biden by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos of Friday not only did not “stem the tide” of concern about the president’s cognitive state, said Mediaite founding editor Colby Hall to NewsNation anchor Hena Doba, it “made matters worse.”

“I suspect the next week is gonna – we’ll see, we’ll see this story move in a more significant way,” Hall said on Saturday’s Morning in America on NewsNation.

Biden’s sit-down with Stephanopoulos was intended as part of the president’s damage control after the disastrous debate and in the midst of fallout in his own party, with increasingly loud and specific calls for him to step aside in favor of a new nominee for the party to face Donald Trump in November.

On Saturday morning, Minnesota Congresswoman Rep. Angie Craig was one of the first to make such a statement after the Stephanopoulos interview, saying that Biden should “step aside” to make way for the “next generation” of Democratic leaders.

That trend is likely to continue, Hall indicated, saying that the interview shows “the debate was not an outlier” or just a “bad performance,” but that the president “is in some sort of cognitive decline, as a lot of aging people are.”

“He was dismissive. He was in denial,” said Hall. “I don’t think that this stemmed the tide. I think it made matters worse.”

DOBA: So let’s go back to the performance. Do you think Biden has said the debate was a bad night? He tried to quell that yesterday. Do you think he has assured voters that had concerns?

HALL: No.

DOBA: Not at all?

HALL: Joe Biden is still old. In fact, he’s older today than he was when the debate was. And it’s clear to me, you know, in the first five minutes of the interview – that the debate was not an outlier. That it wasn’t a bad performance, he is in some sort of cognitive decline. As a lot of aging people are. But he was dismissive. He was in denial. And yeah, I don’t think that this stemmed the tide. I think it made matters worse.

DOBA: Do you see any path for our president without taking a cognitive test to rally Democrats?

HALL: Yes. The only thing that he can do, I don’t personally think that he’s up for. But he needs to be out there. He needs to show energy. He needs to take tough questions from from, you know, partisan opponents. And he needs to go out there. And the fact that this was what the white House would put forth to say, like, look, he’s fine. George Stephanopoulos was a sympathetic figure, but he asked tough questions. And, yeah, I just it’s hard to imagine it getting better from this point forward.

DOBA: I’m glad you mentioned that. I do want to talk about the optics of this interview. George Stephanopoulos, a former aide to Bill Clinton. He was somewhat sympathetic, would you say, to Biden? I don’t think he was asking the tough questions.

HALL: Well, he was kind.

DOBA: He was very kind.

HALL: He was kind in tone. But he did. I mean – I don’t know, if someone’s asking you, like, what’s up with your brain?

DOBA: Repeatedly.

HALL: Are you going to take a cognitive test? They were pointed. And he did it respectfully, but those are not the questions you want to have to answer if you’re running for president. If your position is I still got it, then you’re you’d probably don’t got it.

DOBA: Colby, you analyze media for a living. Do you think this was the right strategy for the president to do this interview? Especially – I mean, there were obviously rules set. It had to be taped. It was George Stephanopoulos who was a friendly figure.

HALL: Well, I think the White House communications team has done an effective job of tightly producing a president that needs tight producing and keeping him out of public view. What we’re seeing now is that backfiring. Because we had – this is the first time we’re seeing him in full view. So, you know, I don’t think a 22-minute interview with George Stephanopoulos is nearly enough. And again, they’re going to take the position that, “Of course, he’s running. Only he can beat Trump.” They’re always going to take that strong position until they don’t. And I suspect the next week is gonna – we’ll see, we’ll see this story move in a more significant way.

DOBA: In what way?

HALL: I find it really implausible that he will stay on. I think there’s going to be so much internal pressure within Democrats to say, dude, we love you. You did a good job, but we need a plan B, and the plan B is a whole nother segment to discuss. And it will be a fact, we’ll be living through history. We’ll be watching in real time how the Democratic Party will be trying to figure out, I mean, this is my speculation, but it seems to be inevitable. That’s how it’s going to go.

DOBA: Our team was talking about this in the morning a few hours ago, about the president holding on to a pen the entire hour. I didn’t think anything of it. Some people did. Your thoughts?

HALL: Well, I’m not a doctor. I have friends who are neurologists. But I will say that holding a pen is a time-honored trick to keep your hand from shaking. If you are suffering, suffering from some sort of like, Parkinson’s tremors. Now, I’m not saying that he has Parkinson’s, or he’s suffering from tremors, but he wasn’t taking notes. He was holding the pen for a reason. And again, he’s an elderly man. I feel like he’s a grandfather that we need to take the keys away from the car. And the tone in this conversation should be one of empathy or, you know, letting him know that his time is done. Sad.

DOBA: It is sad. Do you think he can change the narrative at this point?

HALL: I don’t. I think that this was supposed to be the narrative changing, and here we are talking about — now he’s got some loyal defenders who think that because you want him to step down, you want to support Trump. I don’t think that’s the the logical argument. I think there’s a lot of anti-Trump people out there who are really afraid that Biden makes a Trump second term more likely. Now is Kamala Harris the best chance, or is it something new? I mean, the Democrats have only themselves to blame for getting this far. And, you know, I think there should be outrage that both parties are putting forth two failed candidates. This is the best we can do? There should be outrage.

DOBA: There, there is for many, many people.

Watch the clip above via NewsNation.

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