From the New York Times, I'm Natalie Kitroef.

This is The Daily.

President Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance last week set off a

furious discussion among Democratic officials, donors, and

strategists about whether and how to replace him as their party's

nominee.

Today, Chief White House correspondent Peter Baker takes us inside those discussions and Biden's effort to shut that conversation down. It's Monday, July 1st.

Monday, July 1st. Peter, you've been reporting on what I think can be best described as the great

Democratic freak out that started basically from the moment the debate began at 9 PM on

Thursday night. Tell us about the aftermath.

Yeah, I've been covering politics for 38 years and I've never seen a political panic like we saw after that debate.

It was like a run on the bank.

Everybody in the Democratic Party was suddenly confronted with what they didn't want to

admit up until then,

which is that they have an 81-year-old candidate

who would be 86 at the end of a second term,

and it's very possible that he was not capable

of completing this campaign in a vigorous and competitive way against Donald Trump.

That's what really it comes down to for many Democrats.

Can Joe Biden take the campaign to Donald Trump and stop what they think is an existential threat to the country.

I want to know more about who you were hearing from.

Who are the people that are calling you?

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