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Today is Saturday, June 29th. The

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first presidential debate of the 2024 election

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season is now in the books. President

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Biden and former President Trump came face to

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face for the first time in four years,

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this time on CNN's debate stage Thursday night.

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Now it's all about the reactions to

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their performances and answering the question, what

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comes next leading up to election day

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in November? So let's dive

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in because that's exactly what we're talking about

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with two political strategists today. We'll

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hear a Democrats take soon, but first

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up, the Republican reaction from Scott Jennings.

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He's a senior CNN political commentator, host

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of the podcast Flyover Country, and he

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previously served as a special assistant for

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political affairs under President George W. Bush.

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Welcome welcome to the newsworthy special edition Saturday,

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when we sit down with a different expert

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or celebrity every Saturday to talk about something

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in the news. Don't forget to

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tune in every Monday through Friday for our

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regular episodes when we provide all the day's

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news in just 10 minutes. It's fast, fair,

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fun, and on the go. I'm Erica Mandy.

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It's time for today's special edition Saturday. You

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ready? Let's do this.

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Scott Jennings, thank you so much for joining us here on the

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newsworthy. Great to hear your voice. Thanks for having me.

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So I just want to start with your

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reaction to Thursday night's debate. I'm shocked by

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what I saw. I'm shocked by

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how Joe Biden performed. I don't really

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think anybody's going to remember much about

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the policy exchanges in this debate as

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much as they remember just how shocking

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it was to see Joe Biden on that stage and the

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condition that he was in. It came

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across to me that Joe Biden is not

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up to the job of being president, not

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just for another four years, but maybe not

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up for the next seven months. Okay,

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so aside from Biden's performance, I am

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curious to hear what you thought

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former President Trump needed to accomplish in this

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debate and if he was successful. I

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mean, I think the debate will be remembered mostly about

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the images of the two candidates, the

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split screens. So from that metric, all

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Donald Trump really needed to do was look

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like the more with-it candidate, the person who

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looked like he was up to the job.

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He no doubt did that. I think on

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policy, he did score some

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serious points by talking about immigration

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and the crisis at the border.

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I think he did a good

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job dragging economic and inflation ideas

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at several points in the debate into

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the conversation. I

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think also hit some notes on foreign

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policy, specifically Afghanistan, that reminded

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people why they lost confidence in Joe Biden

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in August of 2021. I

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don't think he was as optimistic as he should have been. At

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some point in the debate, he should have realized he had

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it won and he should have turned the page on

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everything and been far more optimistic and

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uplifting. He was pretty negative throughout and

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he pummeled Joe Biden throughout. So if

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I had a debate critique, that's where

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he left meat on the bone. He

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was here to pivot to the future

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as opposed to pummeling his opponent. Yeah.

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And do you think that the policies

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were discussed enough that they mattered enough

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in this debate? Yeah, I think they

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were discussed a lot. And

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I think it's largely because the CNN

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moderators, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, did

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an expert job of moderating this debate.

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They asked all the right questions. They

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hit all the big issues that you

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see in all the polling that people

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care about. And so, yes,

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I do think both candidates were given plenty

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of time to lay out their positions, to

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critique the other positions. And I

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think Trump did okay on some, not

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as well on others. And in the substance of what

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Biden said on a few,

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maybe wasn't terrible. But

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again, I just keep going back to the image of

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this. So much of this election is a vibes election.

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It's visceral. It's how you're reacting to these two guys.

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It's less about picking apart their

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individual policy differences. And so I

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think when we remember this debate

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between now and November, and then when we

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think about it in the years ahead, we

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will think that this was one of the

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most consequential debates in modern American political history,

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and will really only remember it for one

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thing. And that was the way Joe Biden

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appeared on the television camera. And you work

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for CNN, but what did you think of

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the lack of fact checking during the debate?

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Because even a fact checker on CNN after

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the debate said that Trump had at least

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30 false claims compared

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to Biden's at least nine

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false claims. Do you think

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that should have been allowed and what impact did

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that have? I thought the way they set up

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the rules on that front was just fine. I

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mean, look, if you want to fact check somebody,

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have them on, interview them and do that in

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the course of an interview, that's not what this

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was. This was a debate between two candidates. It's

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up to the two candidates to make their case

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and to critique each other. And I think

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the rules gave them enough space to do

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that. Both candidates had plenty of time. In

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fact, there were a number of times when

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Joe Biden was asked a question and

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the moderator had to come back and say, well,

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Mr. President, you still have 80 seconds. Is there

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anything else you want to add to this? I

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don't think it's really Jake and Dana's job to

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sit there and fuss at one candidate or the

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other for 90 straight minutes. That's not the point

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of a debate. Do you expect

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that Democrats are going to try to

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change candidates as some have now called

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for? And if so, what could that

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impact be on Trump and Republicans? Well,

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it's certainly being discussed. I mean, on

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set when we came off the debate

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and immediate reaction from our panelists, I

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mean, you could hear it already from

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people like David Axelrod and Van Jones.

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These are people I respect tremendously. These are

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luminaries on the left and in their party.

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And they were already talking about that a

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conversation needs to happen with Joe Biden. Now,

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the reality is he's the nominee. He has

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the delegates. He's the president of the United

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States. It's not like you can waltz in

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there and take it away from him. He

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would have to self-select. I don't know. I

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do know this. Democrats have argued for years

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that Donald Trump is an existential threat to

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democracy, that the country will end as we

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know it, if he gets elected again. If

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you actually believe that and it's something beyond

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a talking point for you, my view is

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you probably have a moral responsibility. to begin

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working towards the outcome of a new nominee

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at this moment. Biden was already losing. His

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approval rating was already 38% before the debate started. He

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was in the quicksand up to his neck. Now he's up to his

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forehead. I don't know how he's going to get out of it. But

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if you believe, if you're a Democrat and you believe

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what you've been saying, I don't know how

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you can let this continue because you are slow

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motion running into a

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train wreck in November where Donald Trump

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gets reelected and Republicans sweep this election.

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What do you think the impact of this

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debate will ultimately be, especially

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on those all important undecided

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voters? Well, I think a

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lot of undecided voters are undecided today

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because they don't like either choice. So

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I think for those people, they're

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probably still not going to love their

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choices, but they're probably looking at a

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situation where one person doesn't seem like

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they are capable of doing this job

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for four more years and

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one person does. So I do think that it's

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probably going to help Trump with that crowd. I'm

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not saying they're ever going to love Trump, but

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if they're trying to judge, like, you're asking me

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to vote for you to give you a job

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for the next four years, it's just

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hard for me to imagine anybody watching that and

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concluding that Biden could do it for four years.

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And therefore, you have to believe some people

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are going to say, well, Trump looks like he's at least up

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to the tasks, even if I don't love what he does or

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what he says all the time. What

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would be your advice for the Trump campaign going forward?

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What should they do next? They just

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need to remain calm. They could be

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on the brink of winning a landslide

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election if Donald Trump will try to

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unify the country, try to be positive,

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and you don't have to pummel Biden

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really for the next several months to

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accomplish the goal here. And that's 270

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electoral votes. We are still more

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than four months away from the election. So ultimately,

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do you think the influence of this debate is

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going to last all the way to Election Day?

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Oh, I do, actually. I think it's going to be a

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seminal moment, maybe the most pivotal moment

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in the campaign campaign. There's not

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that many events left on the schedule. You have both. hand

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wringing was like echoing

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in my ears from Twitter into

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my brain. Do you think ultimately

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that performance is going

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to hurt Biden moving forward? And, you

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know, a lot of the talk, even

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from some Democrats, is maybe he

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should step aside. Maybe we should have

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a new candidate. What's your take on

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all that? I think it's important for

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people to say what they think. I

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am never of the mind that it's

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helpful for people to try to quash

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other people's political statements. First debates notoriously

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don't impact political outcomes. And

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there's lots of examples for that.

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Barack Obama, more recently, John Federman.

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I think the question is about

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the inspiration and the motivation behind

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the core Democratic base who Joe

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Biden needs to be out there

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working for his reelection. At the

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end of the day, all of

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the hoopla over this is

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going to need to be worked out

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at levels far above my pay grade.

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But what I do

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know is the issues, right. And and

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what the Biden administration would do versus

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what the Trump administration would do on

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the issues that are incredibly meaningful to

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me and that I care about. So

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in your mind, it's not about whether

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Biden is the candidate or not. It's

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it's about the issues behind whatever that

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office would do. I'm a pragmatic voter

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and I am just always thinking about what is

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the advantage on the issues that I care about?

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How can we turn this country into the country

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that I believe is best for my community, my

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friends, my family, all of these things? And

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I'm an issues voter. And that's

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how I've always been. I'm not looking

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for inspiration. And one one thing I

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hear on the right all the time

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about Donald Trump is we're electing a

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president, not a pastor. It's it's very,

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very much in the infrastructural

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ethos of of a movement where,

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you know, he he obviously as

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a personal life does not comport

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himself in any way, shape or

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form that reflects what they claim

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to be the moral

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righteousness path. But for me,

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Joe Biden has done a

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lot of things as president that

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I find extremely impactful and important.

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He's done things on gun violence.

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He's done things on reproductive rights.

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And he would sign a codification

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of Roe. These are just

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things that exist. And for me personally, as

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a voter, that's how I'm thinking about my

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decision. What about those all-important

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undecided voters? Do you think this

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will matter to them? I

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think it's not about the debate

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that happened this week, but it's

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about the clips and how those

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clips spark narratives. And

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the reality is those undecided voters are not paying

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attention right now. They are focused

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on their own lives. They're focused on putting food on

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the table. And so the

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question is really what happens

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over the coming months that

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draws their attention to these political issues

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and how does, on the one hand,

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President Biden continue to lead this country

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and how are their lives improved and

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impacted? And on the other hand, what

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crazy things does Donald Trump do

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or say that reveal how he

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will actually comport himself as president of the

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United States? What would be your

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advice for the Biden campaign going forward? What

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should he do next? I think

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that the Biden campaign has

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a secret weapon and

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her name is Kamala Harris. And

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I think that people need to remember that they

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are electing an administration and VP

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Harris is a key part of that. And

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I was with her last week.

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She is an incredible orator. She

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is powerful. She is funny. She

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is charismatic. And what I want to see

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is more and more and more of VP

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Harris. Well,

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thank you so much to both of our

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guests today for joining us here on the

19:48

newsworthy. To hear more of Scott Jennings analysis,

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check out the latest episode of his podcast

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called Flyover Country and catch him as a

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conservative commentator on CNN. And for

19:57

more from Emily Amick, follow Emily in

19:59

your phone on Instagram. and order her

20:01

new book, Democracy in Retrograde. We have

20:03

links to everything in our episode notes

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on thenewsworthy.com. Of course, we'll

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continue to keep you updated on the major

20:09

developments in this presidential race and the other

20:12

news to know every weekday with our fast,

20:14

fair, fun, 10-minute daily news roundups. So we'll

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be back on Monday with everything you need

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to know. Until then, have a great weekend.