“Of course he is not dropping out,” Biden campaign spokesperson Seth Schuster texted Friday morning, as a wide swath of Democratic pundits and strategists say that is precisely what needs to happen after Thursday’s disastrous debate.

Biden himself at a rally in North Carolina copped to having a bad night, admitted “I am not a young man,” while making clear he’s not going anywhere. CNN reports that Biden advisors from “The West Wing to Wilmington scrambled Friday to ease the panic that has gripped the Democratic Party.

Joe Biden can barely read off cue cards, but you’d think whoever is actually running things could read the room.

Biden stopped by a Waffle House after Thursday night’s debate. Fitting, because a Politico headline declared “He’s toast.” Indeed you need only look at the articles on the left-leaning site Friday morning to get a grasp of just how badly Biden was cooked. “The Worst Debate Performance in American History,” “’Shipwreck’ and ‘carnage’: European media gawks at Biden’s debate flop against Trump,” “Here’s how Democrats could replace Biden,” “The movement to convince Biden not to run is real.” And on and on.

So how’s it going to happen? Is it going to happen?

You Want Biden Out, You Need to Put the Pressure on Jill

Biden made a second stop after the debate. He should have stayed at Waffle House, because we got a very clear picture of where the problem lies. Or, we should say, with whom. Jill Biden.

This clip is more humiliating than anything said Thursday night by Donald Trump … OR Democratic critics.

“Joe, you did such a good job! You answered every question!”

Lady MacBeth talks to Joe Biden the way a parent talks to her infant after he finishes all his num nums. https://t.co/9WBmVfEZ7i

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) June 28, 2024

Ghastly. America didn’t even get to see another incident: Jill coming to fetch Joe from the podium and gently guide him down the few steps to the moderators.

Jill Biden Has to Guide the President to Go Down Steps After CNN Debate pic.twitter.com/TlwAPJhC6d

— Sean Hannity 🇺🇸 (@seanhannity) June 28, 2024

The conventional wisdom is Biden has to be replaced, but he’s the one who has to make that decision. Wrong. Democrats have to convince Jill Biden. Not even Hillary Clinton would have let her husband be so humiliated. Oh, Hillary would let him twist in the wind over his affair with Monica Lewinsky, or toss lamps at his noggin’, or run him over with the Beast. But let him disgrace himself in public to such a degree? Be that cruel? Indifferent?

Jill Biden is a whole other level of madness. The New York Post’s Miranda Devine understands.

Jill pays zero attention to Joe these days. Never even glances at him. Walks ahead. Hogs the microphone. Tries to make herself look good at his expense. Mean and clueless. https://t.co/gXs2OTmffB

— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) June 28, 2024

I’ve said it before, if Democrats want Joe out, they must partner with their media pals to paint Jill Biden as an elder abuser, a Lady Macbeth, the one responsible for all this. It’s only when she feels the heat will she given in and guide Joe into retirement.

The painful scenes continued after CNN stopped filming the debate last night pic.twitter.com/8zsOtmX8F5

— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) June 28, 2024

Indeed Friday morning, Jill Biden was the top trending topic on X.

And at his rally, she again took over the show while her husband looked for all the world as if he had no idea who this blonde even was.

Nurse Jill desperately runs cover for Crooked Joe's humiliating debate performance pic.twitter.com/lyTbM9yvSh

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 28, 2024

Politics is about images… pic.twitter.com/8y4kB7D5dp

— EducatëdHillbilly™ (@RobProvince) June 28, 2024

Imelda Marcos without the fashion sense? Evita without the musical?

Then Again … Obama Jumps In To Rescue Biden

However, Biden’s chances of staying strengthened Friday when Barack Obama decided he wasn’t quite ready to give up his own fourth term without a fight. A few weeks back, a report suggested it would take a squad of Democratic leaders, led by Barack Obama, to sit with Biden and convince him to give up the nomination.

Looks like Obama won’t be having that talk. On Friday, he post on X the party marching orders, labeling the debate merely a “bad debate night.”

Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself. Between someone who tells the truth; who knows right from wrong and will give it to the…

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 28, 2024

Meaning, by the time of the Sunday shows, the same Democrats that were rending garments Thursday night and desperately searching for a replacement on Friday morning will be declaring with straight face there’s no real problem with Biden. He just had an off night. Sure, he’s slowed a step, but at least he’s no Donald Trump.

But Americans cannot unsee what it witnessed. The world certainly won’t.

It Was Over in Seconds

While a Biden collapse always seemed a possibility, if not an inevitability, the hours leading up to the debate were tense. I was as nervous as Hunter Biden in a room of drug-sniffing dogs.

But then Biden walked out. Stiffly, slowly. Worse, he started to talk. Weak, raspy, mumbly, racing at a pace that would make an auctioneer collapse, hopping from subject to subject like a man with ADHD, who had Red Bull instead of blood in his veins.

If you had a dime for every Democrat who went “Oh Bleep!” at the moment you could buy Elon Musk ten times over.

It was over. Joe Biden had one job Thursday night. One. Prove he was fit for the job. The microwave hadn’t even sounded for the popcorn yet and the verdict was in.

The debate would go for another 90 excruciating minutes.

The truth is, no matter how the media and Democratic powers try to spin it, that debate was not just a “bad night.” At this point, it will be his best night going forward. Thursday night was on his terms, with his moderators, on his topics. He had eight days to rest and prepare, and a bar so low a centipede could clear it with a foot to spare.

And he failed. And his condition can only get worse.

Joe Biden has no intention of going gentle into that good night.  At the moment, Jill won’t even let him.

Barack Obama is apparently going to pretend it’s not even night.

With Obama’s nod, the media may go back to insisting the darkness everyone’s seeing was caused by Trump’s black shadow.

But the We the People, including millions who don’t generally follow politics, saw what happened with their own eyeballs. Saw how awful the president really is. For many, it was their first exposure thanks to the media cover-ups and dismissals. Nobody likes feeling they’ve been hustled.

Joe Biden’s debate performance cannot be unseen.

What is unseen is just how this campaign will play out from this point forward.

Questions Linger

Will Biden be forced to withdraw from race?
Will he even make it as president to November?
Will Democrats throttle back, seeing this election as a lost cause?
Will Democrats and their radical allies and intelligence community compadres panic and attempt to rub Trump out? Throw in Friday’s ruling on J6 cases and Monday’s likely granting of at least limited presidential immunity and the stage is set for a harrowing, unpredictable outburst.  

These leaves one final question: The people who tried rigging 2016 and did rig 2020 are a dangerous bunch. They overthrow nations and leaders for lunch. Biden’s performance Thursday night will make them both dangerous and desperate. Can those of you who love this country promise to keep your eyes focused and have each other’s six?

Our way through is together. As someone would say, “That’s no malarkey.”

Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.