Liz Mair

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Reuters/Public DomainThursday night’s debate was an abject disaster for President Joe Biden and should underline to everyone in the political system, the media, and the electorate that the overall trajectory of his competency is one of sharp decline.The day after the debate was marked by mass panic among Democratic Party elites who, frankly, should have been aware of this problem—and moved to fix it—many months, or even years ago. It was also marked by “Double Haters,” like myself, really leaning in on the “Double” portion of the phrase. Never Trump. Never Biden.While former President Barack Obama offered a show of support for Biden, it was made before any real, meaningful polling was done to gauge how bad the debate really was for the U.S. president. My guess is that by the time we get to next Wednesday, we’ll be in a position where Biden is found to be trailing Trump by a significant, potentially irreversible margin in all swing states—and potentially some states that have not to-date been on the swing state list.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Photo Illustration by Luis G Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesThere’s been a lot of chatter about how two very old men will be sufficiently jacked-up before Thursday’s presidential debate. But as an expert on debates—having successfully advised candidates including Scott Walker (in his recall election), Carly Fiorina (in her Senate race), and multiple British politicians on debate tricks and tactics—I’d like to suggest a different form of debate prep.Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden should get a legitimately funny professional comedian in the room with them, and do it now.While much debate prep focuses on ensuring a candidate can fluently discuss his or her policy—and a little bit on delivering zingers that take down the other guy—the moments that tend to stick in viewers’ memories for days, weeks, months, and years after a debate are the ones where someone made a great point by being, well, funny.Read more at The Daily Beast.