Before Thursday night's presidential debate had even begun, President Joe Biden was already looking worse for wear.
The CNN-hosted debate marks the first time President Biden has faced off with his presumptive 2024 Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, since the two debated during the 2020 election cycle.
With Biden's mental state and health in constant question, viewers were no doubt looking for signs of deterioration as they tuned into the debate.
Within seconds of walking on stage, Biden's first words likely failed to gin up any confidence on that front.
After awkwardly walking across the stage, the president opened the debate by mumbling.
Crooked Joe Biden — freshly juiced up performance-enhancing drugs — shuffles on stage (confused before the debate even begins) pic.twitter.com/vF0LJiUJo7
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 28, 2024
Though it's difficult to make out, Biden appears to have been saying "It's great to be here, thank you."
That was far from the only concerning sign from Biden during the debate.
The sitting president also, at certain points, slurred his speech.
Throughout the early portion of the debate, his voice sounded very hoarse.
Many prominent voices took to social media to comment on these optics.
Biden suffers multiple brain freezes. The drugs are already wearing off… We just barely got started. pic.twitter.com/aS7hWBVaeZ
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 28, 2024
"Biden suffers multiple brain freezes. The drugs are already wearing off… We just barely got started," the popular conservative account Libs of TikTok posted.
The split screen of Biden is horrifying. His goggle-eyed stare is nightmarishly bad.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 28, 2024
"The split screen of Biden is horrifying. His goggle-eyed stare is nightmarishly bad," the Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro wrote.
Trump should just cede all his time to Biden. That's his strongest selling point. When Biden starts a sentence that he can't finish cause he loses his train of thought.
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) June 28, 2024
"Trump should just cede all his time to Biden. That's his strongest selling point. When Biden starts a sentence that he can't finish cause he loses his train of thought," Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy wrote.
