Wednesday Briefing

In the weeks before the debate, President Biden kept up a grueling travel schedule.Credit…Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times

Biden’s lapses have grown increasingly common

President Biden appeared confused or listless in the weeks and months before his devastating debate performance last week, according to current and former officials who said that the lapses seemed to be growing more frequent, more pronounced and more worrisome.

Biden, 81, is apparently not always that way: Many of those who were with him in the days since the debate described him as alert, coherent and capable. But by many accounts, he is not the same today as he was even when he took office three and a half years ago.

Speaking in Virginia yesterday, Biden acknowledged that he “fell asleep on the stage” during his disastrous debate last week, blaming his performance on the fact that he had traveled “around the world a couple times” in the two weeks before. “It’s not an excuse but an explanation,” he said.

Opponent: Donald Trump, 78, has shown his own signs of slipping over the years and often makes statements that are incoherent. While voters have expressed worries about his age as well, their concerns about him have not been to the same degree as those about Biden.

Growing anxiety: A slew of Democratic officials who had previously backed Biden went public about their concerns for the first time.