Van Jones: If Biden messes up debate, it's 'game over'

Political commentator Van Jones said the stakes are high for President Biden in next week’s presidential debate against former President Trump, predicting that a poor performance could doom Biden's campaign.

“This is the entire election as far as I'm concerned. The entire world will be watching,” Jones said Thursday in an interview with CNN’s Jim Acosta. “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,” he continued. “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.”

Biden and Trump will be the only two candidates on the debate stage next Thursday night in Atlanta, CNN announced, with Dana Bash and Jake Tapper selected as the moderators. 

It’s the first of two debates agreed to by the candidates, and features a slate of new rules. Their microphones will be muted throughout the debate except when it’s that candidate’s turn to speak. The moderators will also be able to “use all tools at their disposal to enforce timing and ensure a civilized discussion,” per the rules.

Additionally, there will be no studio audience, unlike debates in the past.

Jones said going up against Trump is a difficult task, and predicted that winning a debate against him would be a big boost to Biden’s campaign.

“You couldn't do it, I couldn't do it,” Jones said. “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,” he added.

The 2020 election’s debates were marred by interruptions and arguing, with moderators appearing to have difficulty reigning in Biden or Trump. The New York Times’s Maggie Haberman said Wednesday that Trump has acknowledged multiple times that he interrupted Biden “too much” during their first 2020 debate.

Third-party candidates including independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Green Party's Jill Stein did not qualify for the debate stage. Stein filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission on Thursday over her exclusion.

The second debate will be hosted by ABC on Sept. 10. 

Trump and Biden are locked in a dead heat for the White House, polling shows. Trump leads Biden by about 0.6 percent nationally in a head-to-head matchup, according to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ average of polls. With third-party candidates included, that lead jumps to 0.9 percent on average.