7 Things To Tell Your Friends After The Debate

Rob Flaherty is the Deputy Campaign Manager for Biden for President.

If you’re like me, you’re getting lots of texts or calls from folks about the state of the race after Thursday. Maybe it was your panicked aunt, your MAGA uncle, or some self-important Podcasters. It’s a tough position to be in, so I thought it might be helpful to send you a few responses.

1. Yes, the debate started rough, but voters saw what a threat Donald Trump is to the country. It was more than just lying — though he did plenty of that. Trump:

• Defended the end of Roe v. Wade, saying, “It’s been a great thing.”
• Said that the pro-Trump Nazi march in Charlottesville was “made up.” 
• Said on January 6th that “we were respected all over the world.”
• Defended his 34 felony convictions, saying the system was “rigged” and he did nothing wrong.

2. Actual voters perceived this debate very differently than those who pay attention to politics a lot (like everyone who goes on cable news).

Breaking news: People think Joe Biden’s old. They did coming into the debate, they do coming out of the debate. At the same time, though, a lot of people have rose-colored glasses about the Trump years. The most important thing about the debate was always going to be that people were reminded of what they hate about Donald Trump: that he’s unhinged, out for revenge, and in it for himself. And they were reminded powerfully.

Flash polls from CNN, 538, SurveyUSA, Morning Consult, and Data for Progress show what we expected: the debate did not change the horse race. In fact, following the debate, our internal dials showed President Biden led Trump on key measures of being presidential, speaking to the issues that matter, and being likable by more than 20 points.

3. That’s because the long-term impact of debates is overstated anyway.

Let us all remember that Barack Obama lost the first debate in 2012 (and the media panicked, too!). Bush lost in 2004. Ronald Reagan lost the first debate in 1984. As you’ll recall, they won their elections. And those debates were in October, not June!

4. 90 minutes does not negate 3 ½ years of results.

Joe Biden is extremely good at being president. Let’s not forget that the guy up on stage:

• Expanded health care to millions of families
• Lowered the price of insulin to $35 for seniors
• Created more jobs than any president in history
• Vaccinated the country and reopened our schools
• Took the largest climate action in the history of the world
• Canceled student loans for nearly 5 million people
• Rallied the world in support of Ukraine and expanded NATO while doing it
• Passed the largest national funding for passenger rail since the founding of Amtrak
• Banned chokeholds and no-knock entries by federal law enforcement and restricted the transfer of military equipment to police departments
• Passed the largest investment in bridges and roads in our history
• Pardoned thousands of Americans federally convicted of marijuana possession
• Expanded benefits to veterans who have been exposed to toxic chemicals
• Officially protected same-sex marriage federally
• Passed the first gun violence prevention bill in 30 years
• Saved the pensions of more than 1 million union workers
• Averted a banking crisis (remember that?)
• Expanded paid overtime to working families
• Made birth control pills available over the counter
• Made renewable energy the #2 source of electricity in America
• Moved to reschedule marijuana
• Shifted the microchip supply chain back to the United States
• Put the first Black woman on the Supreme Court

5. The day after the debate, Joe Biden gave a fiery, defiant speech in which he tackled concerns about his age head-on.

I don’t know if you were watching, but Joe Biden left the debate stage, spoke at a rally, went to Waffle House, got on a plane, flew to Raleigh, hung out with 200 supporters on the tarmac, went to bed, woke up, gave an amazing speech, got back on a plane, went to New York, visited Stonewall with Elton John, and then spoke at a pride gala for LGBTQ+ supporters.

The speech in Raleigh, by the way, has millions of views online, and you should watch and share it yourself:

6. The bedwetting brigade is calling for Joe Biden to “drop out.” That is the best possible way for Donald Trump to win and us to lose.

First of all, Joe Biden is going to be the Democratic nominee, period. End of story. Voters voted. He won overwhelmingly. And if he were to drop out, it would lead to weeks of chaos, internal food fighting, and a bunch of candidates who limp into a brutal floor fight at the convention, all while Donald Trump has time to speak to American voters uncontested. All of that would be in service of a nominee who would go into a general election in the weakest possible position with zero dollars in their bank account. You want a highway to losing? It’s that.

At the end of the day, we’d switch to candidates who would, according to polls, be less likely to win than Biden, who was the only person ever to defeat Donald Trump.

7. Joe Biden is the Democratic nominee, period. Rather than worrying about polls, our supporters are getting on board.

Did you see the awesome clips of our supporters on the tarmac doing the Cupid Shuffle at 2am on the night of the debate? The biggest rally of our campaign yet on Friday? Well, no, probably not, because the media is busy hyperventilating and trying to manifest drama to boost ratings. But this isn’t Aaron Sorkin’s fever dream. It’s Joe Biden’s reelection campaign.

While they were spinning out, our grassroots supporters got to work and:

• Raised us $27 million in two days
• Signed up for three times as many volunteer shifts as on an average day
• Attended more than 1,500 events nationwide

We even had three times as many people as usual apply to campaign jobs yesterday. Mercifully, while the beltway pundits are spending their time attacking Joe Biden, our people are more focused than ever.

Smart folks—who care about defeating Donald Trump and winning this election—have identified that the best way to help right now is by helping, not by kicking their feet up and telling everyone around them to panic.

This brings me to what you can do right now.

1. Donate to our campaign. Seriously, it makes a difference. Of that $27 million, the vast majority comes from $5, $10, or $25 donations. We are a campaign of grassroots supporters, and we need you now more than ever.

DONATE NOW >>

2. Share why you support the President on social media. The internet is not real life, but your friends really are. Every social media post supporting the President reaches real voters and helps us counteract the negative narrative around the President. You don’t need to do anything fancy to post, but if you want to let us know how it went, sign up here:

SHARE NOW >>

3. Sign up for a volunteer shift. Talking to voters is more important than fretting about polls. There’s an organizer in your neighborhood who would love to talk to you. Sign up here:

VOLUNTEER NOW >>

4. Forward this email to someone who needs to see it and tell them to sign up for our email list.

And lastly, but most importantly, you’ve got to keep the faith. I’ve worked for Joe Biden for five years, which is a pretty short tenure comparatively. I’ve watched as people counted him out after Iowa in 2020, and then he won. I’ve watched as they said there was no way he could win the general election (do not think I have forgotten the week of New York Times opinion pieces about how Joe Biden needed to change his campaign strategy), and then he won. I’ve watched as people said his legislative agenda was dead, and then he passed the Inflation Reduction Act. I’ve watched as people said he’d get cooked in the midterms, and then Democrats had historic wins.

No candidate is better when he’s backed into a corner, and no team is better when we come together to do big things. That’s because we, like him, keep our heads down and do the work.

As the President says, when you get knocked down, you get back up again. And as some poets once said, you’re never going to keep him down.

Thanks for being in this with us.