US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump clashed during a debate Thursday night, which included discussions about Israel’s war against Hamas and neo-Nazi violence.
Biden has appeared weak and hesitant in the face of accusations – often false – from his Republican rival, and the two oldest presidential candidates have resorted to personal insults just months before the November election.
The current president’s poor performance worries his fellow Democrats and is likely to rekindle voter concern about an 81-year-old candidate some say is too old for another four-year term.
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Organized in Atlanta, this debate, presented by Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, from CNN, is the first of two meetings planned for this presidential election. The two men had already faced each other in two debates in 2020 and Biden won over Trump – the outgoing president at the time – during this election.
With a hoarse voice, frequently picking himself up or getting lost in muddled sentences, the American president often lacked confidence, contrasting with the resolute and energetic tone of his Republican opponent. Trump spoke firmly but in very long sentences and uttered numerous lies about the 2020 election and the lawsuits and legal proceedings he has been subjected to.
This has led to several strange moments, such as the one involving the discussion of Israel’s war against Hamas. Trump accused Biden of not helping Israel “finish the job” against Hamas.
“He doesn’t want to do it. He’s kind of become Palestinian,” Trump said of Biden in the foreign policy section. “But they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian. He is weak. »
Biden said he had general agreement on his three-step plan to end the war, including from Israel.
“Everyone from the United Nations Security Council to the G7 to the Israelis and [le Premier ministre israélien Benjamin] “Netanyahu, approve the plan that I proposed,” Biden said. “The only one who wants the war to continue is Hamas.”
Trump said Biden was wrong and that Israel wanted hostilities to continue – something he agreed with.
“It is Israel that wants to continue. He says the only one that wants to continue is Hamas,” Trump said. “Actually, it’s Israel, and you should let them finish the job. He does not want. »
When asked whether he would support the creation of a Palestinian state to ensure peace in the region, Trump demurred. ” I will see. »
When he was president, he proposed a peace plan to create a Palestinian state, semi-sovereign and non-contiguous to Israel.
Biden acknowledged blocking a shipment of one-ton bombs destined for Israel, saying “they were not suitable for use in populated areas. They kill a lot of innocent people.”
He went on to say that, with the exception of those bombs, his administration had provided Israel with all the weapons it needed and led the international initiative to thwart Iran’s missile and drone attack on the Jewish state last April.
“We saved Israel. There is no one in the world who supports Israel more,” Biden said.
He also reaffirmed that Hamas was “very weakened” by Israel, and that the terrorist group “must be eliminated”.
“We are sending our best specialists and members of our intelligence services to help them catch Hamas, as we did with bin Laden,” the president said.
Biden then indicated that Israel must be careful in using certain weapons in the most populated areas of Gaza.
As in the past, Trump said he left office with a weakened Iran that he said grew stronger under Biden, allowing its proxies — Hamas and Hezbollah — to attack Israel.
US President Joe Biden, right, and Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, left, during a presidential debate hosted by CNN, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP/Gerald Herbert)
Trump and Biden also clashed over the deadly neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, which Trump did not readily condemn.
“He told us, ‘I think there are good people on both sides,’” Biden recalled. “Which American president can say that Nazis who came out of the fields with torches, spewing their anti-Semitic bile and wearing swastikas are good people? »
Trump has repeatedly claimed that Biden’s account of the events in Charlottesville is false and that this has been proven. “He made up the Charlottesville story out of thin air, you can see everybody is saying it,” he said.
At the time, Trump had repeatedly said that there were good and bad people on both sides of the Charlottesville protest. The Charlottesville protesters were overwhelmingly neo-Nazis and white supremacists, and the counter-protesters were overwhelmingly peaceful.
Trump added that the anti-Israel protests that have rocked American campuses in recent months were far more dangerous than the Charlottesville rally.
“You have the Palestinians, and everybody else, rioting everywhere. You talk about Charlottesville. But it’s Charlottesville times 100 – times 1,000,” Trump said.
Biden then brought up Trump’s late wife, Ivana, and his former White House chief of staff, John Kelly, who said Trump thought Adolf Hitler did some admirable things.
Biden attempted to replay one of the pivotal moments of the 2020 debate, when Trump refused to denounce his extremist and white supremacist supporters and, instead, asked far-right groups to “step back but stand by.” .
Biden called on Trump to denounce the rioters responsible for the deadly insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, spurred by Trump’s call to overturn the election.
“I asked him: ‘Are you going to denounce the Proud Boys ?’ To which he responded, ‘No, I’m going to tell them to stand by,'” Biden recalled. “Are you prepared to denounce these people? Are you prepared to denounce these people that we’re talking about? Are you prepared to denounce the people who attacked the Capitol?”
Unlike in 2020, Trump did not enter the debate.
On the other hand, he reiterated that his election would be enough to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to release Evan Gershkovich, a Jewish journalist from Wall Street Journal held prisoner for over a year.
To further spice up the debate, the two men engaged in a heated exchange about abortion, immigration, the economy and even golf.
Biden, 81, and Trump, 78, were both very eager to demonstrate their ability to hold office. Biden faced questions about his age and liveliness and Trump, the violence of his remarks, without forgetting his numerous legal setbacks, a source of vulnerability.
“What I really remember is that Biden came across as older – with his raspy voice – and less coherent than he did when he was a candidate,” said Matt Grossmann, a political science professor at Michigan State University.
“I don’t think Trump impressed anyone beyond his own supporters, but that took a back seat to the sense of vulnerability that Biden gave off.”
One of the main financial supporters of the Biden candidacy, who did not wish to give his name while criticizing the president, described his performance as “crippling” and considered it likely that new calls for his resignation would be heard before the party’s national convention next August.
U.S. President Joe Biden takes photos with supporters during a Biden-Harris campaign event in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 27, 2024, after his debate with former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP)
Vice President Kamala Harris, interviewed on CNN just after the debate, acknowledged Biden’s “slow start” but said voters should judge him and Trump based on their years in office.
“I’m not going to spend the night commenting on the last 90 minutes when what matters is the last three and a half years,” she told CNN host Anderson Cooper.
US polls show a neck-and-neck campaign, with Biden trailing Trump in most states normally decisive in presidential elections. This month, he also lost his financial advantage over Trump, whose fundraising has picked up significantly following his criminal conviction for trying to conceal payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels.
Neither Biden nor Trump are very popular, and many Americans have yet to make up their minds. According to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, an estimated one-fifth of voters say they have not decided who to vote for, are leaning toward a third party or are considering not voting.
The second and final debate of this campaign will be held next September.
