“Inflation is killing our country”
“Inflation is killing our country,” said the 78-year-old former Republican president from the outset, extremely comfortable, repeating an argument that he knows resonates with Americans. However, many economists believe that the former president’s program risks, if he returns to the White House, causing prices to skyrocket again.
Joe Biden “did a bad job,” the Republican billionaire also said. “He caused inflation. I left him a country with almost no inflation, it was perfect,” Donald Trump further lamented.
Joe Biden accused his predecessor of having “really decimated the economy. That’s why there was no inflation.” “We’re working to lower the prices of products on the kitchen table, and we’re going to get there,” the Democrat assured.
A “terrible” action against the right to abortion
The 81-year-old Democrat, whose voice often sounded hoarse in front of the cameras of CNN, the channel hosting the debate, attacked a subject that he knows is delicate for the billionaire, criticizing him for his “terrible” action against the right to abortion. The American Supreme Court, profoundly reworked by the former president, overturned in June 2022 the famous Roe v. Wade jurisprudence which guaranteed the federal right of American women to abort, giving each state back its freedom to legislate on the issue. Around twenty American states have since adopted bans or restrictions on abortion.
Joe Biden has argued that Donald Trump would be willing to enact a law, if passed by a future Republican Congress, to ban abortion nationwide or restrict it to “six, seven, eight or ten weeks” of pregnancy, “something very conservative.” Donald Trump has defended that this issue should now return to the states: “It’s the vote of the people,” he said.
“I believe in exceptions in cases of rape, incest,” and danger to “the life of the mother,” he added. “I think it’s very important. For some, no, follow your heart.”
“Lies” about immigration
Joe Biden also accused Donald Trump of “lying” by asserting that illegal immigration was causing crime to soar. “There is no data to support what he says,” said Joe Biden, while immigration is one of the main subjects of this presidential campaign. “Once again he exaggerates, he lies. »
Trump, a “repeat criminal”
The Democrat recalled that his opponent was a “reconvict”, after being found guilty in a case of hidden payments to a former porn actress, and judged that he had the “moral sense of a depraved person”. , repeatedly calling him a “whiny.”
“I did nothing wrong,” replied the former president, charged in several other cases, claiming that the judicial system was “rigged”.
Trump refuses to unconditionally recognize the result of the presidential election
The Republican, who never conceded defeat in 2020, did not commit to unconditionally recognizing the verdict of the polls in November, assuring that he would accept it if the election was “fair and equitable”.
Donald Trump, without going as far as the insults with which he peppers his campaign speeches, affirmed that his rival was “not cut out” to be president, and presented him as a weak leader. The war in Ukraine would never have happened if the United States had a “leader,” he said. The Republican candidate was very critical of the billions of dollars spent by the United States to support kyiv in its war against Moscow.
All-out attacks
“He has become like a Palestinian, but they don’t like him because he is a very bad Palestinian. A weak (Palestinian), launched Donald Trump, in reference to Joe Biden’s policy in the face of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The ex-president challenged Joe Biden to submit to a “cognitive test”, boasting that he himself had taken two and that he “shine”, before praising his golf performances during that his rival wore a mocking smile.
For his part, Joe Biden accused his rival of being a “poor guy”, a “loser” and of having no morals. “You have the moral sense of a depraved person,” the outgoing president said.
What effect on votes?
The debate, barring surprises, should not move the lines much, in a country where political polarization is extreme. But the stakes are no less enormous: if one of the two candidates manages to attract a few independent voters, this could be enough to give him the advantage in November, as the election promises to be close.
For this, Joe Biden must in particular reassure about his vitality and his health, and in this regard, his performance on Thursday is likely to be seen as a missed opportunity, even if he gained in ease over the course of the debate. A few hours after the end of the debate, he said he had done “well”.
But according to a CNN poll of viewers, the verdict is clear: two-thirds of them judged that Donald Trump had won the match. Distressed reactions and calls to withdraw from anonymous Democrats spread to the press barely after the debate ended.
“Joe Biden’s debate performance was disappointing, there’s no other way to put it,” acknowledged Kate Bedingfield, a former White House communications director during his early years in office. “It was a disaster, without a doubt,” said political scientist Larry Sabato.
