the outgoing president plays double-deal in this TV show

UNITED STATES – We take the same ones and start again. Almost four years after their last confrontation, the two American presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump will meet again this Thursday, June 27 on the CNN set for the first debate of the 2024 presidential election, five months before the election. A 90-minute meeting of double or nothing, in particular for the president whose state of health is at the center of concerns.

At 81 years old, Joe Biden is the oldest serving American president. His absences are regularly singled out by his detractors, but are also sometimes the subject of a disinformation campaign, through manipulated videos widely shared on social networks. In the absence of an heir sufficiently established on the national scene – Vice-President Kamala Harris has not succeeded in establishing herself in public opinion – the Democrat whose candidacy does not excite the crowds is nevertheless seen as the only one capable of beating Donald Trump on November 5.

Although he is only three years younger, the billionaire is the first to make fun of the Democrat’s age. In this Thursday’s debate, between two attacks on his economic record and his migration policy, he will certainly call into question the capacity of the man he calls « Sleepy Joe » (“Sleeping Joe”) to govern, and portray him as a senile man who has no place in the Oval Office.

Trump, Biden, and drugs

This is where everything is at stake for the Democratic president. While America has never been so divided and the polls put the two candidates neck and neck – with even a slight advantage for Donald Trump in key states, which will be decisive on November 5 (« swing states ») –, Joe Biden will have to prove that he is in full possession of his means. A poor performance could have a lasting impact on his campaign and put him in a very delicate position for the coming months. To the point of calling into question his candidacy within his party itself, and therefore his potential second term.

But the Democrat could also surprise, as was the case during the State of the Union speech delivered last March to elected representatives of Congress. During this annual and essential meeting of American politics, Joe Biden showed all his vigor with his fiery speech opposing Donald Trump and democracy.

To deliver such a good intellectual and physical performance on CNN, Joe Biden prepared for several days at the Camp David residence and debated in rehearsal with a fake Trump. The team of the (real) Republican candidate boasted of not needing to prepare their champion.

“Right now, Corrupt Joe is in a cubicle “studying””Donald Trump also mocked during a meeting last weekend. “But he is sleeping, because they want him good and strong. And a little before the debate, he will be poked in the buttocks,” he tackled, in reference to his new favorite attack which consists of making Joe Biden a user of cocaine to stimulate himself.

A second debate on September 10

This speech shows that the billionaire is not calm. As analyzed by New York Times recently, the introduction of drugs into his rhetoric proves that his ultra-caricatured view of the president could backfire if Joe Biden wins the debate. THE Washington Post for its part underlined the change in Donald Trump’s speech. Quick to denigrate the Democrat’s performances during previous debates or speeches for months, he changed gear in recent weeks, believing that Joe Biden was ultimately a “good debater” and that he didn’t want “don’t underestimate him”.

It must be said that for Donald Trump too, this meeting is important. This is the first debate in which he participates in this campaign after refusing to face his competitors in the Republican primaries. Joe Biden should insist on Donald Trump’s mixed record, on his involvement in the ban on abortion in certain states, and will remind voters of the dangerousness of the character, four years after his defeat which he still has not accepted. But the current president also wants “let him say what he thinks” and the “ push in such a direction that he will speak, for example, of suspending the Constitution.” This is also what those close to the ex-president fear, Donald Trump being used to less than coherent lyrical outbursts in the face of adversity.

This is the first time that an American presidential debate has been organized this early in the campaign, and on purpose. Joe Biden, who has the most to lose but also to gain, wants to show that he is present despite the criticism emanating from Republicans and his own camp. He is keen to show that he is capable of destabilizing Donald Trump and that he is the legitimate candidate of the Democratic Party. If he fails, he will have a second chance to convince during the next debate scheduled for September 10. Unless it’s too late.

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