U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump clashed right from the start of their debate Thursday night, arguing pointedly about the U.S. economy, foreign affairs and migration across the Mexican border into the United States.
"We’re like a Third World nation and it’s a shame," Trump told a nationwide television audience from a debate stage at CNN headquarters in Atlanta.
"We’re no longer respected," Trump said, blaming Biden. "They think we’re stupid."
Biden retorted at one point, looking at Trump. "This is the worst president in American history," citing a group of historians who earlier this year rated Trump last among the country’s 46 presidents. "This guy has no sense of American democracy."
Trump, often the aggressor in the debate against a halting and raspy-voiced Biden, returned the taunt, saying Biden was the worst. They frequently accused each other of lying. A snap post-debate CNN survey said Trump convincingly won the debate by a 67-33% margin and some Democrats expressed alarm at Biden’s performance.
Michael Kimmage, professor of history at The Catholic University of America in Washington, told VOA’s Ukrainian service that overall there were few sharply explained policy positions from either candidate, but that was overshadowed by Biden's communication struggles.
“The most salient detail of the evening was Biden's tone of voice, which was faltering and not strong. It was his inability to come up with easy to follow coherent answers to questions, and he did that half the time, but half the time he didn't, and in a number of cases he lost his train of thought.”
Trump repeatedly linked the country’s problems to the influx of migrants crossing the southwestern U.S. border with Mexico, saying they were hurting the U.S. economy, the world’s biggest, and taking the jobs of Americans.
"We had the safest border in the world," Trump contended about his 2017-2021 term in office. Now, he said, "It’s the most dangerous place in the world."
"We are now living in a rat’s nest," Trump claimed. "They’re killing our citizens at a level we’ve never seen before." While there have been a handful of high-profile cases in which migrants have been accused of murder, there is no evidence that migrants are committing more crimes than native-born Americans.
Biden said, "He is exaggerating, he’s lying," noting that 40% fewer migrants are now crossing the border since he recently imposed tighter entry restrictions.
Trump claimed that if he wins the November 5 election, he would see that Russia’s war with Ukraine is ended before he takes office next January but gave no indication of how he would accomplish that. He said he would get Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich freed from a Russian prison in the same time frame.
Biden responded that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "a war criminal," and rhetorically asked Trump, "You think he’ll stop with Ukraine?" if Putin takes over Ukraine. He described Trump as "a guy who wants to get us out of NATO," adding, "He has no idea what he’s talking about."
Biden accused Trump of fomenting the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol as Trump supporters tried to block Congress from certifying Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump. The former president blamed then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for not calling in enough security in advance to control the rioters.
Biden contended Trump had "the morals of an alley cat" as he assailed him for his conviction last month on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 hush money payment to a porn star just ahead of his successful 2016 election to silence her claim -- denied by Trump -- that he had a one-night tryst with her in 2006.
"That case is going to be appealed and won," Trump responded. He is set to be sentenced July 11 and could be placed on probation or imprisoned for up to four years. The U.S. Constitution does not prohibit a convicted felon from serving as president.
The Biden-Trump confrontation, four-plus months ahead of the election, was the earliest debate ever in the quadrennial cycle of U.S. presidential elections. It was also a replay of their two 2020 debates, which occurred in the two months just ahead of Biden defeating Trump’s reelection bid for a second term in the White House.
Thursday’s face-off was the first time two U.S. presidents have ever debated each other, and it was the first time, such is their animus toward each other, that Biden and Trump have appeared in the same room since they last debated in October 2020.
Trump skipped Biden’s January 2021 inauguration, and they have been sniping at each other ever since, including on the debate stage Thursday night.
There was no studio audience for the debate, and the two candidates were mostly accompanied only by a handful of aides. First lady Jill Biden was in the studio. Trump’s wife, Melania, was not there, but several Republicans who want to be Trump’s vice-presidential running mate showed up.
The two 2024 candidates are the oldest presidents in U.S. history, with the Democrat Biden now 81 and the Republican Trump 78.
National polls show Biden and Trump in a virtual dead heat.
Numerous U.S. political analysts say that millions of Americans have already locked in their choice in the contest. But many voters dislike them both, "double haters," in the current U.S. political parlance, and may only reluctantly choose one of the two, vote for a third party or independent candidate or not vote at all.
For political independents who have yet to decide, or maybe for those who have not closely followed the contest, the debate could help them decide or at least point them in the direction of Biden or Trump. A second debate is set for September 10.
