About 8 in 10 American voters say the Trump-Biden debate did not influence their choice.
The last time Donald Trump and Joe Biden met was in 2020, also during a televised debate. Then the balanced Democrat managed to win a minor, but still victory over the emotional Republican. Following this, Biden defeated Trump in the elections. However, this year the debate seems to have gone against the 46th President of the United States.
Is Biden's age making itself known?
A striking contrast was felt from the first minutes, when the opponents took to the podium on stage. The aggressive red color of the tie, the sharp movements and facial expressions of 78-year-old Donald Trump on the one hand, the calm blue color of the tie and the slow gestures of 81-year-old Joe Biden on the other. Their age difference is small, but noticeable.
The evening did not end well for Biden. “He says the right things, but damn, he’s old, and it’s getting harder for him to get his point across,” summed up one of the commentators under the broadcast.
According to some reports, Biden has not yet recovered from a cold he caught, and hence the hoarseness of his voice and forgetfulness, which viewers could not help but notice in the very first minutes of the televised meeting. This debate was supposed to allay concerns about the Democrat's age and inability to hold out for another term, and it appears to have done the opposite.
Trump, stubborn and with a cheeky smile, did not miss the opportunity to jab Biden when he expressed himself unclearly. About ten minutes into the debate, the president paused for a few seconds before mistakenly blurting out that he had “defeated the health insurance program.”
“Won to death,” Trump joked.
When Biden later made a verbal error when asked about problems at the border and immigration, Trump remarked: “I don't know what he said at the end of the sentence. But I think he himself doesn’t know,” continuing to talk about his own.
The incumbent's performance has left Democrats so worried that the question is whether to support his candidacy at the national convention in Chicago in August or look for a replacement. However, many of the head of the White House's associates came to his defense.
US Vice President Kamala Harris said that although President Biden had a “slow start”, he “finished strong”. And she noted: a 90-minute speech should not overshadow three and a half years of his work, when so much is at stake.
The 46th president himself believes that he did a good job. But what do Americans think? About 8 in 10 voters say the debate did not influence their choice, according to a CNN snap poll. At the same time, Biden's perception rating fell by 6% compared to a similar poll before the debate; and Trump's perception rating increased by 3%. 67% of surveyed viewers agreed that the Republican won the debate.
Although it is difficult to call the stream of often manipulative and false statements from Trump’s lips a victory.
Trump thinks he knows Putin
As the debate progressed, Biden became more strident in his statements, in particular regarding Russian aggression against Ukraine. Trump traditionally said: if he were president, Putin would not have attacked Ukraine. Only when moderator Dana Bash repeated the original question twice whether the ex-president considered Putin’s “peaceful terms” acceptable did he, shaking his head slightly, admit: “No.”
However, he said that nothing other than the situation with Afghanistan prompted the Russian dictator to realize his “dream” and invade Ukraine.
“This was his dream. I talked to him about it,” the Republican said.
Biden counter-accused his opponent that Trump's behavior prompted Putin to attack. And he reasonably reminded that the head of the Kremlin is a war criminal, and he will not stop at Ukraine, but can go further - to Poland and other NATO countries. Inappropriately, among the list of countries, Biden also mentioned Belarus, which has long become dependent on the Russian Federation.
Trump once again promised to quickly end the war - this time not in 24 hours, but “before he takes office on January 20.” And although he did not say it openly, among the lines it was read that part of his plan was to reduce financial support for Kyiv.
“[Biden] gave $200 billion to Ukraine. That's a lot of money. I don't think there's ever been anything like it. Every time Zelensky comes to this country, he comes with 60 billion dollars. “He’s the best salesman of all time,” Trump said. “I will resolve this war between Putin and Zelensky as the elected president before I take office on January 20.” I will settle this war, and I will settle it quickly."
Agree, it’s quite strange when the president of a country that was attacked is called a salesman, and the aggressor and dictator is called almost a dreamer.
Finally, Trump generally expressed the belief that “Ukraine will not win the war because it is running out of people.” In fact, the Republican did not say anything new, but the fact that his rhetoric does not change is already bad news for us.
The ex-president continues to hurl accusations at European partners in the context of Ukrainian support. Trump erroneously claimed that the United States provided more aid to Ukraine than European countries combined.
In fact, through April 2024, the European Union and individual European countries have provided Ukraine with a total of about $190 billion in military, financial and humanitarian aid, compared to about $106 billion allocated by the United States.
Many lies
Of course, in addition to foreign policy, a lot of attention was paid to the internal issues of the States. “The number of lies that were told was astounding,” The Hill summarizes. Joe Biden, for example, claimed to cap the cost of insulin for seniors at $15 per injection, when the actual cap is $35 per month.
Donald Trump said that Democrats want to raise taxes fourfold. In reality, Biden wants to prevent tax increases on those earning less than $400,000, which is the vast majority of taxpayers.
Biden tried to start a conversation about the events of January 6, 2021, when a group of Trump supporters stormed the Congress building in an attempt to disrupt the certification of the Democrat's victory in the presidential election. After the assault, it became known that five people had died, in particular a police officer. In the summer of 2023, Trump was charged with four criminal counts as part of a case involving attempts to overturn the election results.
Trump tried to “get off the topic” and insisted that there were no calls for rebellion in his speech to fans. And that he said that people would go to Capitol Hill “peacefully and patriotically.”
But he didn't mention that he also told his supporters that they "wouldn't have a country anymore" unless they marched on the Capitol and "fight like hell" against the "rigged" election.
Perhaps the most emotional moment of the debate came when Trump accused Biden of not caring about veterans. This struck a nerve with the president.
“My son served in Iraq,” Biden responded, referring to his eldest son, Beau. “He lived next to burn pits. He came back with glioblastoma... He [Trump] called veterans suckers and losers. My son was not a loser. He wasn't a sucker. You're a loser. You're a sucker."
Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015, likely from exposure to toxic burn pits while serving in Iraq.
Trump denied ever calling fallen veterans “suckers and losers,” saying the quote was made up. However, former Trump campaign chief John Kelly previously confirmed that the ex-president actually called the dead veterans that way.
But emotions aside, the debate actually raises even greater concerns about the future of the United States, and therefore the world order. The election results in November will trigger a “butterfly effect” that will perhaps be felt most by Ukraine.
And if traditionally debates do not have much influence on the course of election campaigns, these may for the first time trigger a chain of unforeseen events. The next live meeting of political opponents is scheduled for September 10.
