President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump faced off in person Thursday night, in a very controlled setting with no live audience, no fact-checking from the moderators, and each candidate’s microphone turned off when the other was speaking.

That format let viewers focus on the candidates themselves, and for President Biden, it was a performance that left many in the Democratic party on Friday concerned with his inability to complete an answer or to spar with Trump.

“Look, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. That was an absolutely horrific performance last night,” said Julie Roginsky, Democratic strategist.

“But I will also say this, if he does not get out, Democrats need to stop the bedwetting. Democrats need to stop the hand-wringing. They need to rally around Joe Biden regardless of what happened last night. And make it clear that the choice is between an old, impossibly feeble Joe Biden and somebody who is going to absolutely disrupt the American experiment, become an autocrat, as he said, a dictator in day one, and who’s a convicted felon and has been adjudicated to be a sexual offender, a charged rapist,” Roginsky said.

Trump again Thursday demonstrated his questionable relationship with the truth, stating falsehoods throughout the night, most of which went unchecked.

“Donald Trump, I thought did a solid job last night. He could do better, of course. People know what they’re getting with Donald Trump at this point. They know where he stands in these issues. And right now, the race is about Joe Biden, whether he is fit to serve,” said Chris Russell, Republican strategist.

Democrats are now wrestling with the question of whether President Biden should still be their candidate, with only four months left in the race and about seven weeks until the Democratic National Convention.