President Biden was mocked by critics Wednesday over the number of jump cuts in his 14-second debate challenge to Donald Trump — with one wag on Twitter likening the brief video to “a Claymation film.”
The video of Biden, 81, was released at 8 a.m. and featured the incumbent taunting the former president to “make my day” by agreeing to a on-one-on debate.
“In a super short 14 second video, the Biden campaign needed to do 5 jump cuts because Crooked Joe couldn’t deliver a clean reading. Total disaster,” Trump campaign official Steven Cheung posted on X.
“Biden’s video has 5 cuts in 13 seconds. What will Biden do in a debate when his many handlers can’t edit and splice his sentences together,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) wrote with laughing emojis.
“Biden made five cuts in 14 seconds to say 51 words. I think the world knows who will win this debate,” conservative podcast host Graham Allen said.
“Biden needed 5 cuts to make it through this 13 second video,” echoed pundit Matt Walsh.
“lol. Biden’s comms director says he ‘did not mince words’ in this video. They literally cut them up,” talk radio host Vince Coglianese posted on X alongside a clip of Biden-Harris campaign director Michael Tyler’s interview on MSNBC.
“This 14 second video had so many cuts its almost like a claymation film,” mocked conservative writer and editor Jay Caruso.
The Biden-Harris campaign quickly shrugged off the critiques.
The “Trump campaign [is] desperate because they’ve been begging to debate and he got called out,” a Biden campaign adviser told The Post.
“So they are grasping at straws trying to make a common online [video-editing] tactic be an attack,” the adviser added, noting the video was filmed at the White House.
Biden and Trump say they have agreed to a June 27 debate hosted by CNN in Atlanta at 9 p.m., followed by a Sept. 10 face-off hosted by ABC News.
Trump, who skipped all 2024 GOP primary debates, has long needled Biden over the issue, accusing the incumbent of being too scared to face him.
The 45th president insisted that the two square off in a verbal bout before the fall events that the Commission on Presidential Debates planned.
What to know about the planned debates between President Biden and former President Trump:
- President Biden and former President Donald Trump have tentatively agreed to two presidential debates ahead of the Nov. 5. election.
- Biden released a video telling Trump to “make my day, pal” and debate him. The president noted that Trump has previously asked to debate “anytime, anyplace and anywhere.”
- Trump accepted Biden’s challenge and wrote on Truth Social that he would be open to having even more debates with large, live crowds.
- The first debate will be hosted by CNN at the company’s Atlanta headquarters at 9 p.m. ET Thursday, June 27. There will not be a live audience, and moderators will be announced later.
- The second debate will be hosted by ABC News on Tuesday, Sept. 10.
- The Commission on Presidential Debates — which has organized debates since the 1988 election — will not be involved in either debate.
- Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was not invited to join the debates. Kennedy accused the other candidates of “colluding” to keep him out of the events.
On Wednesday, Biden responded.
“Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020. Since then, he hasn’t shown up for a debate. Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again. Well, make my day, pal,” Biden chided in the video posted on X, despite also refusing to debate his rivals in the Democratic primary this year.
In a separate letter to the commission, the Biden-Harris campaign outlined a pitch for one-on-one debates in June and September as well as a vice presidential debate in July.
Notably, the Democrat’s team wanted to avoid “squandering debate time on candidates with no prospect of becoming president” — a jab at independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
In a reference to Trump’s ongoing hush money trial in Manhattan, Biden needled his predecessor, saying, “I hear you’re free on Wednesday,” in a nod to the one day each week when the trial is not in session.
His campaign also promoted “Free on Wednesdays” T-shirts.
Trump was quick to agree to two debates, with his campaign requesting two more.
“Crooked Joe Biden is the WORST debater I have ever faced — He can’t put two sentences together! Crooked is also the WORST President in the history of the United States, by far,” Trump said via Truth Social.
“Just tell me when, I’ll be there.”
Trump and Biden only squared off in two debates during the 2020 election cycle rather than the usual three following a flap over the 45th president testing positive for COVID-19 following the first encounter and having his request for a virtual showdown rejected by the commission.
Additional reporting by Steven Nelson
