A huge sign to wish Donald Trump the “welcome to Atlanta for the first time as a convict”, Joe Biden who falls on a bicycle in a television ad: Democrats and Republicans do not let up on Thursday in an acrimonious campaign.
The first debate between the two rivals in the race for the White House takes place Thursday evening with the aim of trying to make a difference in an election that promises to be very close.
Democrats have paid for huge billboards in Atlanta, the capital of Georgia where the debate will take place, with a close-up of Donald Trump’s head, welcoming him as a convicted felon. Other ads warn of the former Republican president’s “extreme agenda” and portray him as a danger to democracy, including images of his supporters storming the Capitol three and a half years ago.
This “underlines the two opposing visions that Americans will see on stage during the debate tonight: President Biden who is fighting for the American people, and Donald Trump who only thinks about the benefit of one person: himself,” Kevin Munoz, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, said in a statement.
Donald Trump turned the argument on its head, declaring Thursday on his Truth Social network: “Joe Biden is a threat to democracy, and a threat to the very survival of our country’s existence!!!” His campaign team revealed two commercials to be broadcast on television during the debate in key states.
One shows the 81-year-old Democrat missing a step on the stairs, falling off his bike, struggling to put on his jacket, wondering if he “will go to the White House after four years.” Age is one of the Republican’s favorite angles of attack, even though he is only three years his junior.
The other asks: “No matter what Joe Biden promises in the debate, ask yourself this: Are you better off financially since he became president?”
Biden’s plane lands in Atlanta ahead of debate with Trump
Joe Biden’s plane landed in Atlanta (Georgia, southeast) on Thursday at 3:03 p.m. local time (9:03 p.m. in Switzerland), approximately six hours before his debate with Donald Trump. This will be the first direct confrontation between the 81-year-old Democratic president and his 78-year-old Republican predecessor since the start of the campaign, as tense as it is uncertain, for the November presidential election.
