'Mop up operation': Biden campaign has a simple explanation for flawed debate performance

Before the debate even ended on Thursday night, President Joe Biden's team seemed to be in damage control.

Kelly O'Donnell, senior White House correspondent for NBCNews, tweeted that two sources familiar with the "situation" offered a possible explanation: “President Biden has a cold.”

O'Donnell reported, citing multiple sources, that the president tested negative for COVID-19.

The explanation predictably didn't appear to land with social media users watching the debate, which could send Democrats into full-blown panic mode.

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"Mop up operation," wrote @Cernovich.

"Biden has dementia, not a cold," tweeted @pepesgrandma.

"Are you sure he doesn’t have a coma?" chortled @BurtMaclin_FBI.

"Longest cold I’ve ever seen," wrote @GoPackGo541.

Within the first hour, Intelligencer political columnist Jonathan Chait asked what many Democrats across the country were thinking: "Time to panic?"

"Joe Biden has started this debate looking wan," he wrote. "His voice is soft, he has looked down, and he lost his train of thought during one answer, ending on the garbled note 'we beat Medicare.' He meant they beat Pharma by winning a provision to allow Medicare to negotiation prescription drugs, but it did not track in real time."

If Biden does not turn around his performance over the course of this, I think Democrats will reach full-blown panic."