Anyone who watched the debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump last night must have found it very difficult to feel optimistic about the future ahead. It was expected that the confrontation would focus on which of the two candidates showed the worst conditions to lead the world’s leading power. The answer seems clear. It is time to choose between a Biden with an evident physical and argumentative weakness and an undaunted Trump who shamelessly displays lies, insults and demagoguery.
Lying as a norm. The work of the fact-checking companies detected more than 30 lies, manipulations or distortions by Donald Trump. And that was after only speaking for 41 minutes. It has been clear for some time now that open lying often does not lead to any punishment from many citizens. Even journalists and analysts tend to prioritize formal aspects and tone over the real content of what is said. Trump imposed his gestural force and the forcefulness of his speech in the debate. However, he chained together a complete exercise of imposture, shamelessness and lack of dignity.
An unequal battle. Trump spoke without pauses, without answering the questions posed to him, he moved his hands firmly, intensely emphasized his statements and gesticulated noticeably when he had the microphone turned off. Biden was much less expressive, with a very reduced communication capacity supported by just a thread of voice. His usual listening gesture was limited to showing surprise or displeasure. Little more. At no time can it be said that Trump was in special trouble, not even when he had to deal with such delicate issues as his role in the Capitol incidents, his problems with justice or his very weak position on abortion.
Immigration, first and foremost. Trump focused, throughout the night, on proclaiming that the United States has become “a third world nation” whose main problem derives from the uncontrolled invasion of more than 18 million dangerous immigrants from prisons and asylums who are dedicated to stealing. their work to blacks and Hispanics, to murder innocent people, to rape women, to cause the increase in drug addiction and to live in luxury hotels. He always referred to Biden as the culprit of having caused the country’s decline: “What this man has done is criminal.” Immigration, economic deterioration and Biden’s inability to stop the war conflicts that are leading the world to World War III were the axes of his speech.
Biden on the defensiveThe Democratic leader tried to defend himself, without any forcefulness, from his opponent’s constant offensive. He tried to alternate the enumeration of his government’s achievements with an absolute disqualification of his rival, of whom he went so far as to say that he had “the morals of a stray cat.” On more than a dozen occasions he accused Trump of lying and of lacking the slightest rigor: “I have never heard so much nonsense in my life,” he repeated on several occasions. The current president tried to insistently, although without excessive passion, claim the contrast between his time in government and what he suffered under the previous administration.
The rules helped Trump. Regarding the peculiar format introduced in the debate, it can be concluded that it helped Trump to soften a good part of his usual aggressive verbal and gestural excesses. The fact that interruptions were not allowed and the moments for reply were very limited allowed him not to put on his traditional show of bravado and bullying. As some members of his team of advisers had established days before, the key was that Trump did not appear as a “raging asshole.”
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Age question. Throughout the debate, it was impossible not to focus on the physical condition of the two candidates. The difference is obvious, even though they are only three years apart. Joe Biden never had a powerful voice or a vigorous tone in his way of communicating in his career. At 81 years old, his lack of strength has become more pronounced with the passage of time. At various points in the debate, the moderators even had to encourage him to fill the time he had available when he ran out of speeches in the middle of some interventions. In one somewhat surreal moment, he even challenged Trump to beat him at golf.
a convicted criminal. The most sensitive crucial issue Trump had to deal with was his recent conviction in the case that linked him to a porn actress. When the issue came up, Biden referred to the Republican leader as a “convicted felon.” The former president brushed it off with a simple response: “I didn’t do anything wrong.” And he went on the attack by recalling Biden’s son’s status as a “convicted criminal” and even threatened that, when he wins the elections, it will be Biden himself who will be tried and convicted for his management as president.
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