US President Joe Biden has taken a centre stage amidst worries over his rerun, with critics questioning his mental and physical abilities. The 81-year-old Commander-in-chief’s stumbles and fumbles seem to have found its place on TIME Magazine’s cover for August 5, 2024, which shows the Democratic presidential contender walking all alone against a vivid red background. The cover was published on social networking site X.
A magazine’s cover image frequently serves as a key component, reflecting the point of view that the publication wishes to make. This comes amidst backlash Biden has been facing in the wake of his “disastrous” performance at the CNN debate. The POTUS appeared confused, lost and slow to respond to a question during the discussion on key topics ahead of November 5 elections.
The single word headline on the cover, “Panic”, looms huge over him, serving as a potent visual metaphor for the difficulties his presidency will face.
“Things are dark.’ Democrats are panicking about Joe Biden’s debate performance—and what will happen next,” TIME wrote while sharing the photo of the cover on X.
TIME’s cover features an unexpected photo and headline that captures the state of the Democratic Party.
According to TIME, “panic” is not a strong enough term to describe the emotion that dominates the Democratic Party in wake of his debate performance as many speculated the possibility of removing him from the nomination ticket.
TIME further noted that Biden’s performance was evident to all Americans who watched the debate between him and Trump. The Democrats perceived Biden’s road to victory as having reached a dead end because of his fierce rivalry with Trump.
Despite Biden’s six days preparation for the debate at Camp David, Maryland, his campaign tried to calm down the Democrats following criticism around his performance.
According to TIME, nearly two-third of Americans believe that Biden is too old to be president, while a quarter of Americans believe that Trump is also too old as per an Ipsos survey.
Also Read: Bill Maher compares Biden’s ‘disastrous’ debate performance with beauty pageant
Netizens reacts to TIME’s cover as Biden admits blunders
Meanwhile, Biden has accepted his blunders in an attempt to allay the criticism.
“I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious. I don’t walk as easy as I used to, I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to, I don’t debate as well as I used to. I would not be running again if I didn’t believe with all my heart and soul that I could do this job. The stakes are too high,” Biden following Thursday debate with Trump.
He further clarified he isn’t thinking of withdrawing from the race as he wants to defeat his rival.
Reacting to TIME Magazine’s cover, one X user wrote: “Most of us have been panicking for 4 years.”
“I thought this was a meme account,” another reacted.
A third user commented, “You are in stage 4 of dementia and your interns write your tweets.”
“If you can’t walk talk and debate, then you can’t be a president,” a fourth critic reacted.
One of the netizens even “updated” TIME’s cover, showing Trump dancing behind Biden’s back as he takes exit.