As soon as the lights of the CNN studio in Atlanta were turned off, Donald Trump’s electoral team declared victory on Thursday evening, emphasizing that Joe Biden had ultimately “not been able to defend his disastrous record in matters of “economics and border management”, and this, “despite a week of vacation at Camp David to prepare for the debate”, she indicated in a written statement.
For 90 minutes, from Georgia, the two candidates for the presidency of the United States crossed swords in a first face-to-face of the electoral campaign during which the Democratic president appeared tired alongside the former president who, for his part, took advantage of this platform to multiply his attacks on immigration, promote his alternative realities on the attack on the Capitol and boast about the achievements of his presidency. An orderly, but sometimes laborious meeting for Joe Biden, which was played without an audience, a first since 1960 and the televised meeting between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
“No one has lied as much as Donald Trump,” commented Democratic political strategist Mark Mellman, contacted by The duty in Washington. “It’s a shame that President Biden came into this meeting with a cold.” The diagnosis was confirmed by the White House in the evening and reported by CBS News. “But what I take away from this is that Donald Trump has proven once again that he represents a threat to the future of America.”
Faced with questions from CNN moderators, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, the former American president distinguished himself by his dodges and his ability to regularly bring back the debate on immigration and inflation, regardless of the subject discussed. These themes sit at the top of voters’ concerns.
He thus avoided specifying how he intended to combat racial inequalities in the economy, particularly those that affect African-Americans and Hispanics, instead insisting on the fact that Joe Biden, according to him, “caused inflation” . He also accused the Democrat of having been at the origin of “a great massacre against the black people”, which would have been caused by “millions of people authorized to enter through the border” to steal the jobs of these two communities. The assertion has difficulty verifying the facts, as several studies have demonstrated the positive impact of immigration on economic growth in the United States and, sometimes, on the increase in American wages.
Donald Trump also initially refused to say whether he would accept the results of the November election, regardless of the verdict at the polls, before committing to do so on one condition: “if the election is fair and free, and I want that more than anyone.” The politician has still not acknowledged his defeat in 2020 and has since claimed, without proof, that the election was stolen from him through electoral fraud that is a fabrication.
Biden, for his part, has been focused on his record, talking about how more jobs there are now than he inherited when he took office and pledging to restore federal protections for access to abortion. That right was compromised in several states by the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade two years ago. Biden blamed Trump for that because of the conservative supermajority he managed to plant on the nation’s highest court during his presidency.
“The idea that states are capable [d’encadrer l’avortement] “It’s a bit like saying we’re going to give civil rights back to the states,” the Democrat said, stressing that the decision to end a pregnancy should be left in the hands of women and doctors, not politicians.
“Joe Biden seemed a little fragile at first, but he got stronger after that,” said Gary Sasse, director of a public governance research group at Bryant University and a Republican political activist, contacted in Rhode Island. But he did not appear to be presidential. Conversely, Donald Trump seemed to be more so, even if he was evasive and did not understand the facts.”
Viewer expectations were much lower for Donald Trump than for Joe Biden, a national survey conducted by Sienna College revealed in recent days. 60% of registered voters thought that the former president would perform “well” or “very well” during this early meeting in the American electoral calendar. 49% expected a poor performance from Joe Biden, who entered this debate in a climate of suspicion about his abilities to exercise his duties as president.
The two men, however, do not excite the crowds. Opposite each other, they are united by one thing: the unfavorable opinion of Americans towards them, 56% for Joe Biden and 57% for Donald Trump, according to a Fox News poll released last week.
On the airwaves of this network Thursday evening, Senator Linsdey Graham, close to the ex-president, described Joe Biden’s performance as a threat to national security. “I think the only decision [à prendre chez les démocrates] After this debate is whether he stays or not, he said. I don’t want the world to see this again. »
Another face-off between Joe Biden and Donald Trump is scheduled for next September, after the two political party conventions confirmed their candidacies this summer for the November presidential election.
“He’s just a liar,” the Democratic president said of his opponent after the debate. “There’s not one thing he said that was true. But listen, we’re going to beat this guy. We need to beat this guy, and I need you to beat him,” he said before concluding: “See you in the next one.” [débat] ».
