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According to an excerpt from Chris Whipple’s new book published by The Guardian, Ron Klain, a top aide to former President Joe Biden, admitted that the then 81-year-old struggled to comprehend the dynamics of debate preparation and would drift off by the poolside while they rehearsed for his clash with Trump. Klain, who assisted Biden with debate prep, was “half-seriously” contemplating whether the former president believed he was the leader of NATO rather than the United States, the excerpt reveals. During their sessions, Klain reportedly told Whipple that Biden “didn’t know what Trump had been saying and couldn’t grasp what the back and forth was,” necessitating the premature termination of training due to fatigue.
“The president was fatigued, befuddled, and disengaged,” the excerpt states. “Klain feared the debate with Trump would be a nationally televised disaster.”
The first training session for the debate was cut short halfway through the allotted 90 minutes because Biden struggled to comprehend domestic policy, according to the excerpt.
Biden quit his second preparatory session after twenty-five minutes. One of the clearest signs that you are not physically and mentally prepared to stand on a debate stage and defend your record for 90 minutes is that you are physically and mentally incapable of doing it for an…
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) April 2, 2025
As the former president grew irritable, Klain urged Biden to campaign on “unfinished business” and his attempt to “subsidize state and local efforts to do childcare and bring down the cost to $20 a day. And you ought to try to fight for it again,” the excerpt reveals.
“Biden seemed befuddled,” Whipple continues. “‘Well, that just seems like a big spending program,’ he said.”
“No, sir. It brings down costs for people. It’s responsive to inflation. It will bring more people into the workforce. It’s good economics. And you know this is something you’re for,” Klain responded, according to the book.
“‘I’m just too tired to continue and I’m afraid of losing my voice here and I feel bad,’ [Biden] said. ‘I just need some sleep. I’ll be fine tomorrow.’ He went off to bed,” the book writes of their second training session.
WHAT!!!!
Top aide Ron Klain was "half-seriously" wondering if President Biden thought he was the president of Nato rather than the president of the United States, according to Chris Whipple's new book. pic.twitter.com/rlmN5DJUlu
— Reagan Reese (@reaganreese_) April 2, 2025
Whipple also notes that Klain was struck by how “out of touch” Biden seemed with the American people. The president’s first training session was not much different from the second, according to the excerpt.
“At his first meeting with Biden in Aspen Lodge, the president’s cabin,” Whipple recounts, Klain “was startled. He’d never seen him so exhausted and out of it. Biden was unaware of what was happening in his own campaign. Halfway through the session, the president excused himself and went off to sit by the pool.” Biden fell asleep by the pool after leaving the prep, according to The Guardian.
“If he looked perplexed when Trump talked, voters would understand that Trump was an idiot. Klain replied: ‘Sir, when you look perplexed, people just think you’re perplexed. And this is our problem in this race,'” the excerpt reads.
