US Elections 2024: An undecided and confused Biden was unable to respond to Trump’s lies in the first presidential debate

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, and former President Donald Trump faced off this Thursday in a tense face-to-face during the first televised debate of the 2024 elections. Candidate for his own succession, Democrat Joe Biden failed to refute the half-truths and lies launched by his Republican opponent.

The mutual animosity between the two politicians was clearly evident from the start of the debate, when they did not shake hands upon entering the stage of the CNN studio in Atlanta where the debate was taking place.

Mr Biden at times appeared to lose his train of thought and stumbled repeatedly, sparking what some analysts called “panic” within the Democratic Party.

Mr. Trump has repeated claims that have proven false or avoided directly answering questions posed to him, while repeatedly attacking Joe Biden over his handling of the economy and his foreign policy record, as well as record immigrant arrivals.

Biden, for his part, highlighted Trump’s recent criminal conviction and reiterated that his rival was “a threat to democracy.”

This is the second time Biden and Trump will vie for the White House following the Republican’s defeat in the 2020 election, although both have yet to be officially nominated by their respective parties.

After Biden’s poor performance, voices were heard on the Democratic side suggesting that the party should consider fielding another candidate in the November election, which at this point seems highly unlikely.

Unlike previous debates, this face-off took place without an audience and the candidates had muted microphones while their opponent was speaking, which helped avoid the chaos that characterized the first duel four years ago.

According to BBC North America editor Anthony Zurcher, Biden struggled in many exchanges, including on topics such as the economy, immigration or the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Zurcher explains that this was due to his mistakes and indecisions.

The senior BBC journalist said some of the president’s answers were confusing and unclear, which “will undoubtedly increase concern among many Americans that he may be too old to be president.”

Biden was also not helped by his hoarseness, which made some of his answers difficult to understand.

“But like a boxer on the ropes, Biden began throwing big punches at his opponent in an attempt to turn the tide of the debate,” Zurcher noted.

Biden, after recalling Trump’s conviction for an alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels, said the former president had “the morals of an alley cat.”

“I didn’t have sex with a porn star,” Trump responded.

Donald Trump also appeared defensive when discussing his response to the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol in Washington and avoided answering certain questions. He also chose to make false statements on issues such as the economy and immigration, two of citizens’ top concerns, according to polls.

“He wants the borders open” is one of Donald Trump’s unfounded claims.

To be sure, Biden has reversed some of his predecessor’s immigration policies, such as forcing immigrants to remain in Mexico while their asylum claims were being processed. Yet he himself has recently adopted tough measures, such as requiring asylum seekers to file their claims in their home countries.

Another lie is the claim that under the current administration the United States has recorded the largest budget deficit in history.

Treasury Department figures show that record was reached under the Trump administration, when the books closed with a $3.13 trillion deficit. By 2023, the deficit had been reduced to $1.7 trillion, according to official data.

On the contentious issue of abortion, the former president has repeatedly deflected attention to what he called Democratic “extremism” and gone so far as to claim that Democrats support abortions after babies are born.

“It can take the life of a baby in the ninth month and even after birth. In some states governed by Democrats, they end a child’s life after birth,” he said.

Infanticide is illegal nationwide, and in most states, terminating a pregnancy after 21 weeks is difficult to practice.

Despite the seriousness of the statement, Biden did not immediately respond, barely muttering anything as he shook his head and closed his eyes.

It was only after Trump said he favored a baby being “ripped from its mother’s uterus in the ninth month” that the Democrat responded.

“You’re lying. It’s not true! (…) We are not in favor of late-term abortion, period,” he declared.

In recent months, many Americans have expressed concern in polls about the age and fitness of 81-year-old Joe Biden to run for office, and Zurcher said this debate has not allayed those concerns.

“The president came into the debate with a low bar to clear and stumbled. He was flat. He was rambling. He wasn’t clear,” Zurcher noted.

Biden’s campaign team assured reporters that the president had a cold, trying to explain his hoarse voice.

When Biden was asked about the age issue during the debate, he briefly mentioned that for the first half of his career, he had been one of the youngest politicians elected to the Senate. He then focused on his financial statement.

As BBC journalist Courtney Subramanian points out from Atlanta, it’s common for a politician to answer the question he wants rather than the one asked, “but Biden is obsessed with worrying about knowing if he can stay in power for another four years.” He would be 86 years old at the end of a second term, if he gets it.

“The debate was an opportunity to provide a clear and forceful answer on why his age is an advantage and not a vulnerability and, unfortunately, it was a missed opportunity,” Subramanian noted.