Lawrence Jones and Democratic Strategist Throw Down Over Debate on Fox & Friends

Fox & Friends host Lawrence Jones went head-to-head with Democratic strategist and former New York senator David Carlucci over Thursday’s CNN presidential debate, joking that it “takes guts” to “defend that performance last night” when the guest touted President Joe Biden’s “substance” over “style.”

Carlucci appeared alongside Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce on panel and held Democratic party line, standing over Biden.

Meanwhile, Bruce, who raised eyebrows after Jones introduced her as a “former Democrat”, laid into the “shock” communicated by some Democrats calling for Biden to step back from the race. The blame, she said, lies squarely with “the party.”

“This is what they delivered to the country,” she said. “The party. The Democratic party, not Joe Biden. The party lifted this catastrophe onto the country and it cannot continue.”

As the exchange grew heated Carlucci and Jones clashed on who won the debate, with the host arguing any analysis must come down to the simple question of “competence.”

JONES: David, I will start with you, did you receive some phone calls, text messages last night saying it’s time for a new nominee?

CARLUCCI: Well, of course people were concerned about the style of the debate, but the substance was there. If you listened, Joe Biden was talking about actual policies where you juxtapose that to Donald Trump and about half of everything he said was a lie. Fact-checkers have gone through it this morning and we see almost every other word [is a lie]. So it’s easy to get up there and say whatever you want, but if you are actually going to talk about reality and facts, that’s what Joe Biden did. So, look, we know Trump’s strategy, he is trying to beat Joe Biden. He’s running against Joe Biden and his whole campaign is ‘Don’t vote for Joe Biden.’ Look, Donald Trump didn’t pick up a single vote last night. He did nothing to get to the people who have not tuned in yet, have not decided. Did Joe Biden come with the style that we wanted? No.

JONES: I got to give it to you, you are a happy warrior. That takes guts, Tammy, to defend that performance.

BRUCE: He has a hard job. I don’t know if it’s about happiness but when I think about lies I was struck by [Biden] denying that any of our troops had died during his tenure. That’s an affront and shameful embarrassment to the 13 families [of those] who were brutally slaughtered in Afghanistan at the airport. And those who were injured. Or that the Border Patrol had endorsed him. They immediately posted on social media: ‘We have never done that. We never will.’

This is the problem with last night, it was an embarrassment for the country. It’s horrible what happened. That the people now clutching their pearls, wringing their hands, knew in 2020 that this is who they had. [Biden was] not suddenly brought by leprechauns. This is the Joe Biden that ran, they hid him in a basement and had excuses and are all now shocked that this is what happened. Some are making excuses, the most are not because it is so obvious. And the problem is, again, it’s beyond the partisan nature of this. The world was watching until January 20th, 2025. No matter what they do with their convention. And Joe Biden with that clip we need Joe, she says to him like he is a toddler, ‘Joe, you answered all the questions. And what did Trump do? You got the memo, he just lied.’ There is more at stake than agreement on partisan issues. I was thrilled for Trump and for the country because in 25 this will change. In the meantime. This is what they delivered to the country. The party. The democratic party not Joe Biden. The party lifted this catastrophe onto the country and it cannot continue.

JONES: I want to pick up there. I get it, everybody is going to defend their side. But the special counsel warned us about this. He said [Biden] was unfit essentially to stand trial.

CARLUCCI: They said he’s a well meaning older man with a poor memory. Juxtapose that to a man now being taken up on charges because he is not well meaning. That’s the difference.

JONES: I’m not talking about Trump. I’m talking about the performance.

CARLUCCI: Weak in performance I agree.

JONES: Not being able to complete a sentence, looking up in the sky. He had a layup with abortion, your number one issue, and started talking about the border!

CARLUCCI: Yes, talked about issues whereas Donald Trump just spewed one lie after another. He never delivered on what he was going to do. He has been talking about what he is going to do in Israel: A two state solution. ‘Do you agree on that?’ You can’t pin him down. ‘Are you going to abide by the results of this election?’ He was asked three times. And he could not give a solid answer. I mean, that is alarming. So we could talk about delivery but I think it matters more about substance.

I get it, we’re in a sound clip society but when we look at the transcript and look at what these gentlemen said it is hard to say that Donald Trump won.

JONES: I don’t think the conversation is about substance. I think it’s about pure competence.

CARLUCCI: If you got a guy lying through his teeth and you call him to the mat. How are you going to say that’s competence?

BRUCE [addressing CARLUCCI]: The American people know what you are doing and I suppose Democrats appreciate it but every other Democrat…

CARLUCCI: I think the American people… I don’t think Donald Trump won a single vote last night.

BRUCE: It’s why the only solution they had was to try to throw [Trump] in jail – we will see how that goes on July 11th.

Watch above on Fox & Friends.