Jake Tapper: There’s a ‘Discernible Pattern’ of Democratic Officials Trying to Convince the Public to Not Believe What They Saw and Heard at the Debate

TAPPER: “There is a pattern, a discernible pattern, of Democratic officials seemingly trying to convince you, the public, to not believe what you saw and what you heard with your eyes and with your ears on Thursday night.”

[Clip starts]

Biden: “What I’ve been able to do with the Covid – excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with. Look, if — we finally beat Medicare. The — the total initiative relative to what we’re going to do with more Border Patrol and more asylum officers.”

TAPPER: “President Trump?”

Trump: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either.”

[Clip ends]

TAPPER: “Democratic officials have tried to spin this in many ways. They said President Biden just had a cold. They said it was just one off night, akin to when President Obama in 2012 was rusty and seemed a little huffy. But behind the scenes, make no mistake, most Democratic officials witnessed the same shocking spectacle that you did. The difficulty that the presumptive Democratic nominee, the current president of the United States, had just articulating his basic thoughts during the 90 minutes of the debate — the spinning is all very reminiscent of the George Orwell quote from the book 1984 that I invoked five years ago for a different situation and a different president. It’s relevant again today. Quote, ‘The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.’ We’re not going to do that today on The Lead. We’re going to talk honestly and frankly about all of this with a number of individuals who see it for what it is. We’re going to talk to some journalists and some Democrats, None of whom wish President Biden ill, all of whom apparently are more willing to speak freely, honestly, and candidly about the candidate than the people running the Biden campaign, the people close to President Biden. And frankly, most Democratic officials across the country.”