Gov. Josh Shapiro on Friday defended President Joe Biden’s presidential debate performance, acknowledging that he had a “bad debate night” but insisting that Donald Trump had a “terrible night.”
"[Biden] couldn't finish a thought, he couldn't land an answer, and his closing thoughts were even botched. I mean, come on. There are people who are going, ‘What the hell is going on?’ It's a fair question, given that it's not just a bad night. It's one of the most important nights of this election cycle. And he was terrible. So, how do people move forward and get a sense that he's going to be okay, that it was just a bad night? What needs to happen?” MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski asked the Democratic Pennsylvania governor.
“It's hard for me to know if you're talking about Joe Biden or Donald Trump. I mean, Donald Trump had a terrible night —”
“I mean, I agree with that, too,” Brzezinski interjected.
“The guy's a pathological — he's a pathological liar. I mean, he was talking about how proud he is that he overturned Roe v. Wade, and then making up some nonsense about killing babies after they were born,” Shapiro continued. “I think anybody who looked at that, anybody who looked at Donald Trump and saw that he couldn't commit himself again to accepting the results of the election, anybody who looked at that realized that what he was spouting through the lies was really, really dangerous for our nation.”
Shapiro suggested that Biden’s “bad debate night” leaves the president with a “burden” to show people he can beat Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
“I believe [Biden] can do that. I also believe that we all have a responsibility to help him do that. That's why I'm here talking to you this morning and why I'm going to continue to talk to the good people of Pennsylvania and this nation about the things that we've been able to accomplish with Joe Biden together, the historic investments in infrastructure, the historic ways we've been able to address the challenges that people are facing all across this nation,” Shapiro said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, and that's what I intend to do.”
