The first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump was a contentious affair, with both leaders exchanging fiery barbs in an attempt to gain an advantage in the White House race. The face-off between the two, who accused each other of being history’s worst presidents, occurred earlier in the election cycle than usual, but it was no less intense. Both the current American president and his predecessor exchanged personal insults and attacks during the nearly two-hour-long debate, even engaging in arguments about their policies. We take a closer look at some of the key moments and takeaways from the debate.
The tone was set right from the beginning when the candidates declined the traditional handshake. Biden and Trump entered from opposite ends of the CNN Studio in Atlanta, where no studio audience was present, but neither extended their hand for a civil greeting, indicating their unwillingness to be courteous. Biden’s aides told CNN, “He didn’t have to in 2020, why change that now?”, referencing the previous presidential debate they attended amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beyond the handshake – or the lack thereof – both leaders launched personal attacks at each other. Biden criticized Trump’s character, at one point even saying, “You’re the sucker. You’re the loser.” He also addressed Trump’s legal woes, stating that he would be the first convicted felon in the White House. “Think of all the civil penalties you have. How many billions of dollars do you owe in civil penalties for, for molesting a woman in public,” Biden said, and “for having sex with a porn star on the night, while your wife was pregnant?” “You have the morals of an alley cat,” Biden added.
Trump, however, did not hold back either. He launched a scathing attack on Biden, calling him the worst president the country has ever seen. At the end of the debate, Trump also labeled Biden “a complainer” who had made the US unsafe and worsened the country’s reputation on the international stage. “For three-and-a-half years, we’ve been living in hell,” Trump said, referring to Biden’s time as president.
Before the debate, one of the main talking points was how the two men, both of whom have faced questions about their fitness for the job, would handle themselves on stage. Biden at 81 and Trump at 78 have both been questioned over their ability to rule at their age, with Biden facing more scrutiny than Trump. However, on this issue, Trump emerged as the clear winner. During the debate, he appeared forceful, while the president struggled to deliver his lines effectively. At one point, Trump even used Biden’s lack of coherence to attack him, stating, “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either.”
The former US president also challenged Biden to undergo a cognitive test, expressing doubt that his Democratic rival for the White House in 2024 could pass one. “I took two tests, cognitive tests. I aced them, both of them, as you know, we made it public. He took none. I’d like to see him take one, just one, a real easy one, like go through the first five questions. He couldn’t do it,” Trump said. Biden’s stumbling performance has become a source of worry for the Democrats. Around the halfway mark of the debate, a Democratic strategist who worked on Biden’s 2020 campaign described it as a “disaster.” Ray La Raja, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, told Reuters: “Biden’s not talking in a measured way, and looks like he’s searching for words.”
Biden and Trump sparred on various topics throughout the CNN debate, but the three main issues were the economy, abortion laws in the US, and taxes. On the issue of inflation, a top concern for many US voters, Biden blamed Trump, claiming he inherited a failing economy from his predecessor. “What we had to do was try to put things back together again,” Biden said. Meanwhile, Trump accused Biden of doing a poor job on the issue. “He has not done a good job. He’s done a poor job,” Trump said. “And inflation is killing our country. It is absolutely killing us. I gave him a country with essentially no inflation. It was perfect. It was so good, all he had to do is leave it alone,” he added. “He destroyed it.”
On the subject of taxes, Trump also falsely claimed that Biden “wants to raise your taxes by four times”. When the discussion turned to abortion, Trump said he wouldn’t block abortion pills but stated that abortion regulations should be decided by the states. The US president came down heavily on Trump for his role in restricting abortion access, calling it “a terrible thing” after his Republican rival boasted of nominating Supreme Court justices that helped overturn Roe v Wade.
So, who emerged as the winner of the nearly two-hour debate? Experts and many members of the public seem to give this debate to Trump. They note that he appeared more energetic than Biden, who took a prolonged pause and froze while answering a question about the economy. Even Biden’s former communications director Kate Bedingfield told CNN after the debate: “There’s no two ways about it, that was not a good debate for Joe Biden.” She said his biggest challenge was to prove he had the energy and stamina, and he failed to do so.
However, there’s another winner in this debate: CNN. The debate was a significant financial event for the media outlet, as advertisers were eager to capitalize on the high viewership. A report by Fortune stated that CNN would rake in millions for the debate. The US public will now have to wait until September 10 for the next presidential debate between the two. Will that debate offer Biden a chance to improve his performance? Only time will tell. With inputs from agencies.
