According to a body language expert, Joe Biden displayed a "confusing" change in demeanour following his unfortunate debate with Donald Trump, transitioning from "bumbling" on TV to displaying "relaxed confidence" as he delivered a post-debate speech to his supporters.
Biden had an intense face off with Trump, his Republican opponent, in Atlanta, marking the first of their two pre-election debates set for 5th of November. As Trump bulldozed ahead with his usual display of audacity and falsehoods, Biden seemed slow and often stumbled.
Despite this, Biden's campaign insists that the president "started slow but finished strong", in a bid to claim a win in the debate. Throughout the night, Biden appeared to struggle with a hoarse voice and repeated throat clearing.
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His closing statement, hard to comprehend, contradicted claims of any significant improvement. In stark contrast, Trump's supporters were thrilled, arguing that Biden appeared bewildered and confused, dubbing their candidate as the clear winner.
According to Judi James, a body language expert who analysed Biden's conduct during the debate and subsequent address to his supporters, it was as if two different versions of the President were present.
She spoke to the Mirror, saying: "There are currently two versions of Biden: The bumbling, faltering and often rambling man who needs to be led by the hand and the man who produced the very energized, fluent and passionate-sounding State of the Union address this year."""It was the first Biden who turned up for most of the debate last night but the second Biden who made the relaxed and confident-looking post-debate speech to his faithful fans. This transformation of verbal and non-verbal states is both shocking and confusing.
"Just as the press have him slumped on the ropes and needing to quit he pops up looking as though he still has a enough ink left in his cartridges to do the job of president." Attempting to understand why Biden seemed to stumble during the debate, the body language expert stated: "There were no signs during the actual debate that he was feeling anxious or stressed, which could, in some alternate universe, have accounted for the glow-up later when he was back among friends.
"People are blaming the presence of Trump as being influential in Biden's debate disintegration but it's neither man's first rodeo and Trump is an easy opponent to predict and cope with when it comes to his rhetoric and his behaviour. There were no surprises from Trump to throw any curved balls at the President, who did manage to look keen to rip into Trump in any way possible."
Following the debate, Vice President Kamala Harris commented: "Listen, first of all, what we saw tonight is the president making a very clear contrast with Donald Trump on all the issues that matter to the American people. Yes there was a slow start but it was a strong finish." When questioned about her concerns following Biden's debate performance, she reiterated: "It was a slow start. That's obvious to everyone. I'm not going to debate that point. I'm talking about the choice in November. I'm talking about one of the most important elections in our collective lifetime."