Jill Biden reveals Joe whispered ‘I really f—ed up’ after disastrous debate with Trump
Former first lady Jill Biden revealed Thursday that both she and then-President Joe Biden were well aware of how disastrous his 2024 presidential debate was, to the point Jill thought he had been drugged.
One of the most decisive moments of the 2024 election was Biden's debate with then-candidate Donald Trump. Biden stammered, had long periods of silence and intense, confused facial expressions, to the point some of his most vocal supporters broke ranks and demanded he relinquish the nomination.
The Atlantic obtained a copy of the former first lady’s new memoir, "View From the East Wing," which will be released in early June. In it, she revealed that both she and her husband knew full well that it had not gone according to plan.
She noted that when Biden walked off the debate stage that evening, he whispered to her, "I really f---ed up, didn’t I?" she wrote. "‘Yes, you did,’ I whispered back."
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"Nothing explained what I was seeing," Jill wrote of Biden’s "strangely monochromatic" visage and poor performance that night. "To this day, I still don’t know what happened. Why wasn’t he making any sense? It was inexplicable to me."
"Later, after positing that he may have unwittingly taken codeine cough syrup or Ambien to fight off a cold or to help him sleep, Jill Biden seems to rhetorically throw her hands in the air," The Atlantic summarized. The outlet also reported that Jill wished she had her husband take a blood test after the debate and even pushed for him to take a cognitive test to calm concerns about his mental acuity, but was overruled by his advisors.
Jill noted that she would leave inspirational or blunt notes for her husband during his presidency, including "You are my hero" and "Get up, champ. Get up." She even recalled writing him notes on foreign policy, like "Net has to stop" or "Be strong, Don’t let BN use your goodness," referring to Biden’s efforts to negotiate with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over military actions in Gaza.
She shared similar comments in an interview with CBS News Sunday Morning that previewed Wednesday.
"I don't know what happened," Jill said in the interview. "I mean, when I watched it, I thought, ‘Oh my God, he's having a stroke,’ and it scared me to death."
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But the night of the debate, the former first lady appeared to be putting on a very different face for the camera. She cheerfully greeted her husband at a post-debate event and praised his performance.
"Joe, you did such a great job! You answered every question, you knew all the facts!" Jill Biden said.
