The first face-to-face between the two candidates for the presidency of the United States, the incumbent president Joe Biden and the former president Donald Trump, took place last night in the studios of the American television network CNN. American media and analysts are almost in agreement: in the first televised presidential duel, Joe Biden did badly. Weak and hoarse voice (due to a cold, his campaign explained belatedly in the middle of the debate), more frequent stuttering than usual, confused or mechanically repeated sentences, a blank stare. So much so that among the Dems there is already “strong panic” about the performance that risks sinking him in the polls. Donald Trump, in comparison, seemed like a lion full of energy, capable of controlling his usual aggressiveness, even if he dodged many questions and repeated various lies. But what mattered most in the challenge between the two oldest candidates ever was the age test, that is, on lucidity and physical appearance. In the CNN studio there was immediate cold. The two did not shake hands and did not even look at each other during the two commercial breaks: a confirmation of the hostile sidereal distance that separates them and of the polarization of a country that no longer recognizes its adversary. If we also consider the low level of the discussion, the whole of America comes out badly (AMERICA 2024, BIDEN AND TRUMP ON THE STORMY DANIELS CASE: VIDEO).
Dems Worried About Biden’s Performance
Democrats are concerned about Biden’s performance: Within minutes of the debate starting, Democrats began wringing their hands over Biden’s performance. CNN cites Dem sources according to whom the New York Times monitored social media and the reactions: the president’s supporters went crazy over the president’s trembling voice, his disjointed answers and his apparent confusion during some of his answers. Concerns about Biden’s age, which had been brewing for months, exploded into public attention before the debate was over” writes the US newspaper. In one of the most comical moments, the TV debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden turned in a golf competition. The two compared their athletic records. The tycoon mocked his rival by saying that Biden could not hit a ball 50 yards. “I reduced my handicap… to six,” replied the president. “I told him I would be happy to play golf if he carried his bag,” he added, after underlining the weight of his rival, which borders on obesity. After the debate Joe Biden and First Lady Jill are passed at a campaign event in Atlanta. “We have to beat him,” the president said of Donald Trump. “We will beat him and I need you to do it,” he added to the cheers of his supporters.
A tough fight
Biden got off to a bad start straight away, only recovering some energy in the second half, when it was too late. The two clashed harshly on everything, accusing each other of lying, from the economy to immigration, from the climate to abortion, without the two anchors being able to press them when necessary, for a format of fixed times which showed all its limits. The tycoon hit out at inflation “which is killing our country” and at the open doors on the border with Mexico where “criminals and terrorists” enter. Biden boasted of his successes after the “chaos” left by his predecessor, accusing him of favoring the rich with his tax cuts by increasing the deficit. Opposites also in foreign policy. The tycoon repeated that the war in Ukraine would not have broken out if the US had had a true leader but did not illustrate his recipe for peace. And he sidestepped the question of whether he is for the Palestinian state, limiting himself to saying that Israel “must finish its work with Hamas” and that Biden “has become a Palestinian not even loved by the Palestinians because he is weak”. There was no shortage of personal insults. “You are a loser and an idiot,” attacked Biden, who then called his rival a “convicted criminal,” accusing him of cheating on his pregnant wife with a porn star and of having the womanizing morals of an alley cat. To which the tycoon reminded him that his son Hunter is also a convicted felon and threatened that he too could be convicted as soon as he leaves office “for all the horrible things he has done”. The Donald boasted of his splendid form and challenged his rival to take a cognitive test, saying he was certain that he would not finish the first questions, while the president deflected the question about the 86 years he would be at the end of his second term with a joke. The two also compared their athletic records and competed in golf, “as long as Trump carries his bag”, Biden pointed out to underline his opponent’s obesity. In the end, the tycoon, accused by Biden of having instigated the assault on the Capitol, defined “any form of violence in the next elections as totally unacceptable”. But he pledged to recognize the outcome only under conditions that are “free, fair and legal”.
