Ron Klain insists Biden will have a second debate with Trump

Top Biden aide Ron Klain insisted the president will have a second debate, despite his shaky performance in the first.

President Joe Biden’s performance in the first presidential debate on June 27 was widely seen as a debacle for the president, raising concerns about the viability of his candidacy altogether. Despite this, Klain insisted that it was only a fluke. And to prove it, he expressed confidence that Biden would have another debate against former President Donald Trump before the election.

“Sometimes presidents have bad debates. And I promise you he’ll have a better second debate,” Klain said in an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

“And, you know, I think that the president showed — showed what he’s capable of last night in this press conference,” he continued, referring to Biden’s NATO press conference. “And the voters see it every day as he governs, leads the county, and campaigns around the country.”

Biden’s performance at the press conference, during which he took questions from reporters, was widely seen as better than the debate performance but still beset by gaffes. At one point, he confused Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris and, hours before he introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But Biden’s allies held up the press conference as proof that the president is still mentally fit for office, waving off concerns of many prominent Democrats.

Klain played a major role in Biden’s preparation for the first debate with Trump and has been a member of the president’s prep teams in the past. On Friday, he tacked Biden’s poor performance on to a cold and previous travel.

“Look, I thought, as the president said, he had a bad night,” he said. “His practices were better. And he was tired from all the back-and-forth travel around the world and was suffering from a cold that really constrained his voice and his ability to be forceful in the debate. And he was trying not to lose his voice, which was — it was very scratchy and very impacted by his cold. But the president is absolutely sharp, fit, on top of his game. People can see that for themselves. You don’t have to take my word for it. You could — people could see that for themselves last night in the press conference.”

Though Biden and his team have cited exhaustion over constant global travel as the reason for his debate performance, the president returned from traveling nearly two weeks before the debate.

Klain’s confidence shows a reinvigorated Biden team after the NATO press conference, following the despair over the debate and ensuing calls for the president to step down. Other Democrats aren’t convinced, with one Democratic aide telling Politico that the result of the conference was “the worst of all worlds.”

It was “damaging for [Biden’s] prospects, but not so bad it [that] provides enough fodder to use this to dump him from the ticket,” the aide said.

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Another veteran Democratic operative told the outlet that his performance at the press conference has left the party in “purgatory.”

“After the first gaffe, President Biden spoke confidently on foreign policy issues with command. The problem is that he left us in purgatory,” the operative said. “Candidates and campaigns are supposed to make you feel something, hope, optimism, courage, but instead most of us felt nothing after that presser. And feeling nothing is how you lose elections.”