President Biden’s weak debate performance is a blow that will leave a mark.

Follow this authorKaren Tumulty's opinions

The president’s performance on Thursday will have done nothing to allay their worries. He lost the debate from the first moments. His voice was weak and hoarse, shockingly so. At times, he struggled for words and appeared to lose his train of thought. It was a drastic contrast from the vigorous Biden who delivered a robust State of the Union speech in March.

Though Trump, at 78, is only three years younger than Biden, he dominated throughout.

The lowest moment for Biden — the one likely to be remembered the most, and replayed many times in coming days — came early in the debate, at the end of a rambling answer in which Biden concluded: “We finally beat Medicare.”

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Trump, predictably, pounced: “Well, he’s right. He did beat Medicare. He beat it to death.”

Then, in typical fashion, Trump went on to falsely claim that “millions and millions” of undocumented immigrants would “destroy Social Security” and are weakening Medicare, as well. (In fact, the opposite is true. Undocumented immigrants actually strengthen both systems. They are barred by federal law from receiving Medicare and Social Security benefits, despite the fact that many pay into both programs.)

The fact-checkers no doubt will be sent into overdrive by the litany of lies that Trump delivered. And he was slippery when confronted with uncomfortable subjects — for instance, attempting to deflect a question about his supporters’ Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by talking about the state of the border and the economy on that day.

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But overall, Trump appeared better prepared and more disciplined than most anyone might have expected. There was some of the bluster and self-aggrandizement we are accustomed to seeing at his rallies, but this wasn’t the unhinged bully who showed up for his first debate with Biden four years ago. No doubt it worked to Trump’s benefit that he was constrained by a rule, insisted upon by Biden’s team, that required each candidate’s microphone to be shut off when it was not his turn to speak.

The showdown marked the first time in history that Americans have seen a former and current president side by side on a debate stage. By this point, they are well........

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