‘This Is the Entire Election’: CNN’s Van Jones Says ‘Game over’ if Biden Messes Up at Debate

ACOSTA: “Right.”

Jones: “Obama, he didn’t have the moves. He didn’t have that Muhammad Ali shuffle. He wasn’t really Obama. He was this guy who had been in the Oval Office for four years. And Romney cleaned his clock. Now, Obama came back the next time and set the record straight, but Biden’s got two things working against him. One is, the momentum is not there with him, but also he’s got a full-time job. All Trump’s got to do is sit up in court, not fall asleep, and then go out there and say mean stuff about Biden. When you have a full-time job as demanding as the presidency, and then have to turn on a dime and spend an hour-and-a-half arguing with somebody who has no responsibilities, that is a tough mental turn for anybody, even a young guy like Obama. So we’re going to see. But if Biden pulls that off, I think it will be impressive for that narrow slice of people who haven’t already made up their mind.”

ACOSTA: “And, Van, how big of a moment is this for the president? I mean, I talk to folks in the Biden world, Democratic Party, and they say this is a hugely important moment for the president.”

Jones: “This is the entire election, as far as I’m concerned. The entire world will be watching. There — if you are a carbon-based life form, you’re going to be watching. If you’ve got a functioning brain stem, you’re going to be watching, because, if Biden goes out there and messes up, it’s game over. If he walks out there and a week later he’s lower in the polls, it’s panic in the party. But if he goes in there and he can handle himself against Donald Trump, a runaway train, a locomotive, a raging bull, then this guy deserves another shot to be president, because that is tough. You couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do it. If you can stand toe to toe with a runaway train like Donald Trump for an hour-and-a-half, you are fit to be president, period, point blank. This is the whole presidency in a bottle in a week.”

ACOSTA: “And, Jim, I mean, same question. Big moment for Donald Trump too. I mean, he’s been raising expectations about his debate performance. And then what if he has a bad night, an off-night, a senior moment?”

SCHULTZ: “He needs to have a good — he needs to have a good night. He has to have a good night on the policy issues. He needs, to the extent he can, stay out of the gutter as much as he can, because, look, the issues are on his side. He has the momentum now. It’s his race to lose at this point in many ways. And Van has just about admitted that here, that the momentum is in his favor. And he’s going to have to do — Joe Biden’s going to have — President Biden is going to have to do something dramatic to convince people that he has the mental acuity to last four more years in that office and lead this country.”

ACOSTA: “All right, Van and Jim, we will be watching. As Van said, anybody with a functioning brain stem, I think is how Van — we will put — we will cut that and put it in the —“