Tyler Pager

They said it was Biden being Biden. Hmm. It's Biden telling stories, Biden zigging and zagging. And they thought it wasn't his best performance. There were some concerns they had about his inability to recall certain dates and specific events. But they really said that is just Joe Biden being Joe Biden, the sort of politician storyteller he's always been.

They said it was Biden being Biden. Hmm. It's Biden telling stories, Biden zigging and zagging. And they thought it wasn't his best performance. There were some concerns they had about his inability to recall certain dates and specific events. But they really said that is just Joe Biden being Joe Biden, the sort of politician storyteller he's always been.

I think it is absolutely that the vast majority of people closest to Biden genuinely believe the portrait that Robert Herr painted of him was deeply unfair. And I think it's in part because they saw Joe Biden in different settings and all the time. And there were times where he was really strong and dialed in and capable.

I think it is absolutely that the vast majority of people closest to Biden genuinely believe the portrait that Robert Herr painted of him was deeply unfair. And I think it's in part because they saw Joe Biden in different settings and all the time. And there were times where he was really strong and dialed in and capable.

They would say, if you could just hear Joe Biden on a foreign leader call, or if you could just see Joe Biden in this negotiation, or if you could just see Joe Biden in X, Y, or Z setting. But the problem was the public rarely saw that version of Joe Biden. In fact, the public rarely saw... Joe Biden much at all.

They would say, if you could just hear Joe Biden on a foreign leader call, or if you could just see Joe Biden in this negotiation, or if you could just see Joe Biden in X, Y, or Z setting. But the problem was the public rarely saw that version of Joe Biden. In fact, the public rarely saw... Joe Biden much at all.

And so I think the challenge for Biden's closest aides was confronting the reality of the Joe Biden that outsiders saw, the Joe Biden that Robert Hearst saw, the Joe Biden that many voters saw, and ultimately the Joe Biden that America saw when he stepped on that debate stage in Atlanta, Georgia with Donald Trump.

And so I think the challenge for Biden's closest aides was confronting the reality of the Joe Biden that outsiders saw, the Joe Biden that Robert Hearst saw, the Joe Biden that many voters saw, and ultimately the Joe Biden that America saw when he stepped on that debate stage in Atlanta, Georgia with Donald Trump.

We haven't seen any polling yet. So let's put a pin in like what normal voters think about this. But people are saying today, after living through the last 72 hours, is that it's really a microcosm of how they feel about Biden. They're angry at him for how he ran the race while he was still in it, that he stayed in it for as long as he did, that he insisted on running in the first place.

We haven't seen any polling yet. So let's put a pin in like what normal voters think about this. But people are saying today, after living through the last 72 hours, is that it's really a microcosm of how they feel about Biden. They're angry at him for how he ran the race while he was still in it, that he stayed in it for as long as he did, that he insisted on running in the first place.

They have deep sympathy for his physical condition now that he appears to be pretty sick with cancer. And they are conflicted about his legacy and whether it's going to be somebody who did a bunch of things in office that they're proud of or a guy who ran and stayed in a race for much longer than he should have delivering the country again to Donald Trump.

They have deep sympathy for his physical condition now that he appears to be pretty sick with cancer. And they are conflicted about his legacy and whether it's going to be somebody who did a bunch of things in office that they're proud of or a guy who ran and stayed in a race for much longer than he should have delivering the country again to Donald Trump.

In a normal world, if somebody reveals that they have a terrible health diagnosis, it's really just a lot of sympathy and people feel bad for them and then that's it. Of course. But this is all complicated by the fact that we were discussing Biden's health and how forthcoming or not the Biden camp had been on it all along. And so...

In a normal world, if somebody reveals that they have a terrible health diagnosis, it's really just a lot of sympathy and people feel bad for them and then that's it. Of course. But this is all complicated by the fact that we were discussing Biden's health and how forthcoming or not the Biden camp had been on it all along. And so...

In that environment, there's really a disinclination to take what they're saying and the timeline of what they say happened at face value.

In that environment, there's really a disinclination to take what they're saying and the timeline of what they say happened at face value.

Well, it's important to know that Axelrod has been a Biden skeptic for a couple of years. I think when Axelrod said that on Sunday night, that statement was wound up being operable for about 12 hours or so. And then when people woke up Monday morning, they were skeptical of the story being told by the Biden people. And so I think in the media era we're in now,

Well, it's important to know that Axelrod has been a Biden skeptic for a couple of years. I think when Axelrod said that on Sunday night, that statement was wound up being operable for about 12 hours or so. And then when people woke up Monday morning, they were skeptical of the story being told by the Biden people. And so I think in the media era we're in now,

and the trust level that Biden started with, he's just not afforded that kind of luxury to have people stop questioning the things that they were questioning Sunday before this diagnosis emerged.

and the trust level that Biden started with, he's just not afforded that kind of luxury to have people stop questioning the things that they were questioning Sunday before this diagnosis emerged.