Biden’s woe­ful week: President’s post-debate week plagued by Demo­c­ra­t­ic dis­sen­sion, doubts, and Trump vic­to­ries

Pres­i­dent Joe Biden’s week fol­low­ing his shaky debate per­for­mance against for­mer Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump could hard­ly have been worse.
After the gaffe-filled debate, Biden’s team spent the week scram­bling to per­form dam­age con­trol to calm a pan­ick­ing Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty. The first sit­ting Democ­rats broke ranks to ask Biden to step down, Trump shot ahead in polls and won legal vic­to­ries, and Biden con­tin­ued to strug­gle to prove his men­tal fit­ness for four more years in office.
Here is a run­down of per­haps the tough­est week of Biden’s pres­i­den­cy yet:

Pres­i­dent Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., as he leaves for a cam­paign trip to Madi­son, Wis., Fri­day, July 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Cene­ta)

Mon­day
After an ini­tial storm of crit­i­cism imme­di­ate­ly fol­low­ing the debate, includ­ing calls to step down by promi­nent groups such as the New York Times edi­to­r­i­al board, an uneasy calm emerged with the onset of the week­end, a calm which large­ly car­ried through Mon­da …