It was to be the cage match of the century. It was President Joe Biden’s chance to prove his critics wrong by showing himself sharp, alert and fit for another four years. He failed in dramatic fashion, mumbling, bumbling, forgetting thoughts, confusing topics and confirming concerns among Democrats and Republicans.

“…Look, if we finally beat Medicare,” Biden said in one of several bizarre moments of confusion while addressing a non-related subject. This performance came after he took a week at Camp David preparing.

In one outrageous claim, Biden said — as if he believed it — that border crossings are down 40% since he took office. It simply is not true.

The debate is more than a bump for Republican nominee Donald Trump. It will have leading Democrats across the country rightly clamoring for a new nominee if they have any hope of avoiding their nightmare of another Trump term.

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Because of this debate, Democrats would be wise to choose another nominee at their convention in August. The likely prospect of a new Democratic candidate may become the new concern for Trump, his supporters and the Republican Party.

Politics aside, Americans and our country’s enemies saw this and know our executive branch is dangerously weak. Biden’s performance was so sad that millions of Americans, politics aside, likely feel compassion for their president and believe he needs help.

Despite the embarrassment for Democrats, this was arguably the best managed debate in decades and should be a model going forward. The CNN moderators came across as objective journalists, after weeks of conservatives predicting a setup that would favor Biden and handicap Trump.

Trump clearly came out ahead — he avoided outrageous behaviors displayed in the past — but fell short of a grand-slam performance. Instead of inspiring the audience with his platform, he spent more of his time blasting Biden’s record on the border, inflation and other economic matters including Black unemployment and housing.

Biden did almost nothing to convincingly counter Trump’s routine reminders that he has allowed millions of illegal immigrants to cross the border — which Trump tied to everything from first-degree murder, inflation, unemployment, and the housing crisis. Biden had no substantive response.

Biden tried to blast Trump for cutting taxes for 1,000 “trillionaires,” of which there are none, before correcting himself. He promised to soak the rich, which positioned Trump to explain how his tax cuts increased employment and tax revenues — a fact Biden could not dispute.

No one with a heart for this country — left, right, center — should take joy in Thursday night’s show. We clearly have a problem in the White House and few who watched the debate could feel confident in Biden’s ability to protect this country — from foreign enemies, criminal and terrorist immigrants or inflation — for the next seven months, let alone another four years.

Biden’s post-debate odds of another four years approach zero. This is not time for his opponents to gloat. Nor is it time for Democrats to double down on a nominee, through no fault of his own, who is not up to this job.

Beginning today, the Democratic Party has a problem to solve for the sake of their country’s best interests. Americans deserve a robust campaign among two prospects who can make this country prosperous and safe. As shown Thursday, Biden should not among them.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board