I oversee the WSJ’s Washington bureau. Ask me anything about last night’s debate, where things stand with the 2024 election and what could happen next.

[u/wsj]

President Biden’s halting performance during last night’s debate with Donald Trump left the Democratic Party in turmoil. You can watch my video report on the debate and read our coverage on how party officials are now trying to sort through the president’s prospects. 

We want to hear from you. What questions do you have coming out of the debate? 

What questions do you have about the election in general? 

I’m Damian Paletta, The Wall Street Journal’s Washington Coverage Chief, overseeing our political reporting. Ask me anything.

All stories linked here are free to read.

proof: https://imgur.com/a/hBBD6vt

Edit, 3:00pm ET: I'm wrapping up now, but wanted to say a big thanks to everyone for jumping in and asking so many great questions. Sorry I couldn't answer them all! We'll continue to write about the fallout from the debate as well as all other aspects of this unprecedented election, and I hope you'll keep up with our reporting. Thanks, again.

[u/Lordvalcon]

If the debate was ar noon and not 9pm he may of had a shot

[u/glueFORgravy → u/Lordvalcon]

This Exactly! I have a feeling that Biden goes to bed fairly early every night. The brain gets conditioned to the repetition. For the first 1/3 of the debate, it seemed like his mind was truly tired. Being nervous caused the stutter and stammer to naturally happen more, which wasn’t a big deal. But the slow thinking and confusion was a direct effect of it being late in the evening on the East Coast. He looked and sounded like a completely different person a couple of hours ago at his rally. The late timing of a 9:00pm start directly had an effect on Biden, in my opinion. That’s not an excuse for what we saw, but it could be the reason for such a massive change in temperament between last night and today.

[u/dynamobb → u/glueFORgravy]

I get it but youd think with democracy on the line and a team of highly tuned political animals around him…someone would have thought of that?

[u/glueFORgravy → u/dynamobb]

I agree………. That is why I said “That’s not an excuse for what we saw”. I’m just trying to do brain gymnastics on why especially for the first 30 minutes or so he was so incoherent. We can’t have a president that has a bedtime of 9:00pm.

[u/whatDoesQezDo → u/Lordvalcon]

yea thats called sundowning and is part of dementia. the job of the president is kinda a 24/7 deal so having a dementia patient who cant stay up and sharp til 9 is kinda a deal breaker.

https://www.alz.org/help-support/caregiving/stages-behaviors/sleep-issues-sundowning#:~:text=Also%20called%20%22sundowner%27s%20syndrome%2C%22,and%20changes%20in%20the%20brain.

[u/nzernozer → u/whatDoesQezDo]

Biden was at a waffle house giving a speech to supporters right after the debate and was perfectly fine though.

[u/MLockeTM → u/whatDoesQezDo]

Not commenting on dementia as a whole, but drawing just from tired at 9pm = dementia, is utter horseshit. There's a metric ton of symptoms, which also depend on which kind of dementia ya got.

I'm tuckered out by 9pm pretty much every day. Just my natural schedule, I wake up at 5am with or without an alarm clock. But try to get an answer outta me after late dinner, or even assume that I'll remember talking to you next morning? Yeah not happening. By that logic, I must have dementia.

My dad had early onset dementia, and it simply threw his internal clock totally out of whack - he'd be up and about at 3am, then nod off at noon. Hell, if I wanted to draw stupid conclusions, I'd claim that that alone proves that Trump had dementia, cuz he's up at odd hours!

[u/JSA17 → u/Lordvalcon]

May have*