A catastrophic presidential debate for Joe Biden

(New York) The bet was risky. By offering his rival an early debate, Joe Biden wanted to change the trajectory of the race for the White House and convince voters that he was not too old to seek a second term.

But in a 90-minute debate that descended into personal attacks, the Democratic president lost that bet Thursday in Atlanta. Speaking in a hoarse, husky and sometimes hesitant voice, he blundered on a key campaign theme in the opening minutes of the showdown and largely failed to put voters at the heart of his interventions the rest of the way.

Even before the end of the debate, several Democrats and supporters of Joe Biden were wondering if the president could continue his campaign. Some even called for him to quit the race.

“I would like Biden to reflect on his performance in the debate and announce his decision to withdraw, leaving the choice of the Democratic nominee to the convention [démocrate] », wrote the columnist of New York Times Nicholas Kristof: “Someone like Gretchen Whitmer, Sherrod Brown or Gina Raimondo could still come out and beat Trump,” he added, referring to the Michigan governor, Ohio senator and commerce secretary.

In the middle of the debate hosted by CNN and broadcast by all the major American networks, the Biden camp let it be known that the president was suffering from a cold. At the end of the confrontation, CNN reported an “aggressive panic” within the Democratic camp.

“It’s hard to say Biden should be our nominee,” said one Democratic source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The president’s first blunder came in the 13th minute.^e minute as he outlined his plans to continue protecting and strengthening the social safety net. After listing a number of measures, he froze, unable to regain his train of thought.

Then he added, referring to the health insurance program for the elderly, admired by Democrats and threatened by Republicans: “We finally defeated Medicare. »

Donald Trump’s response rang out: “He beat Medicare. He beat him to death and is destroying him. »

Joe Biden also blundered in defending his economic record. He congratulated himself on having contributed to the creation of “15,000 jobs” rather than “15 million jobs.”

The screen division didn’t help Joe Biden either. When Donald Trump spoke, the president’s mouth was half open and his eyes were sometimes haggard.

By answering or dodging questions from moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, the former president multiplied lies and exaggerations throughout the debate. Nevertheless, he offered a more energetic performance and relentlessly attacked his rival on his greatest vulnerabilities, namely the economy and immigration.

After falsely boasting of having created “the best economy in the history of the country”, he notably accused Joe Biden of having contributed to the deaths of Americans because of his management of the southern border.

At another point, he said, addressing his rival: “Did you fire someone who was at the border? Did you fire someone who allowed 18 million people to get out of prison, many of them mental institutions? Did you fire someone who allowed our country to be destroyed? Joe, our country is being destroyed.”

“What I did, since I changed the law, what happened?” the president replied in a confused manner. “I changed it so that today there are 40% fewer people crossing the border illegally. The situation is better than when he left office.”

The moderators made no effort to set the record straight during the debate, a situation that ultimately favored Donald Trump. In particular, he falsely stated that all legal experts in the United States and around the world were in favor of repealing the annulment of the ruling. Roe c. Wade on abortion.

Joe Biden tried to recall that the nomination of three conservative justices to the Supreme Court by Donald Trump had led to the repeal of the constitutional right to abortion.

“What you did was terrible,” he said.

Nor did the moderators insist that Donald Trump answer their questions about his responsibility for the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

“I offered 10,000 National Guard troops and they refused,” the former president said, attributing this refusal to former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and the mayor of Washington.

In a show of frustration, Joe Biden attacked Donald Trump over statements that his former chief of staff John Kelly attributed to him regarding soldiers who died in combat. “Losers” and “zeroes,” according to what the former president is said to have confided to his entourage.

“My son was not a loser or a loser. You are the loser. You are the loser,” the president said in an angry tone.

Donald Trump has denied denigrating fallen soldiers.

Continuing his personal attacks, Joe Biden also called Donald Trump a “convicted criminal”, an allusion to his conviction by a New York jury, and recalled that he had been found responsible for sexual assault and that he had slept with a “porn star”.

“I did not sleep with a porn star,” replied Donald Trump, uttering words never heard during a presidential debate.

The environment, the war in Ukraine and that in the Gaza Strip were also discussed during the debate.

Never before has a debate between the presidential candidates of the two major American parties been held so early in the electoral calendar. Donald Tump, who had challenged his successor to face him “anywhere, anytime”, quickly accepted this early meeting proposed by Joe Biden – as well as the rules by which his camp has more late complained.

It was the first presidential debate without an audience since the first round between Richard Nixon and John Kennedy in 1960. Another rule that affected the tone of the confrontation: the candidates’ microphones were muted when their rival was speaking.

This rule may have ended up favoring Donald Trump, who appeared more disciplined and calm than during the first presidential debate of 2020.