Biden, what a disaster
While in recent months many Democratic voters had raised questions about the age and eligibility of Joe Biden to serve another four-year term in the White House, it would be an understatement to say that last night’s debate did not change his mind.
The first face-to-face live on TV between the incumbent president and the former president and next Republican challenger, Donald Trump – broadcast exclusively by CNN – transformed fears into certainties: although the tycoon’s attacks had paradoxically benefited him, putting him in front of a more than low bar to overcome, Joe Biden stumbled.
In the 90 minutes of discussion, in a studio without an audience and in the presence of only the two moderators Jake Tapper And Dana Bashhis voice was hoarse and monotonous. He often stammered and lost the thread of his speech. About halfway through the evening, the staff Democratic campaign They leaked the news that the president had a cold. It may have been true, but it sounded like an excuse.
If in the end the president seemed to recover, more often than not, he was put on the ropes by a Trump energetic but disciplined, helped by the rules imposed by the broadcaster and by turning off the microphones when the time allowed for each response expires. He avoided the interruptions and intemperance that had undermined his first debate in 2020 and brought the discussion back to attacks on Biden calling it “the worst president ever” whenever possible.
Even if he declared false and even nonsensical things (such as the fact that Democrats want to authorize abortion “until after birth”) Biden he failed to corner him. “I don’t really know what he said at the end of that sentence, and I don’t think he knows either,” he joked at one point. Trump after a response from the other.
A sentence, several editorials comment today, which could summarize the evening. Among the most debated topics were also immigration, foreign policy and inflation but the showdown immediately took a bitter and personal turn and the two did not shake hands either before or after the debate.
5 highlights of the evening
1) Immigration is always a decisive issue
Regardless of what the question was about, for nearly the entire 90 minutes of the debate Trump sought to shine a spotlight on immigration. The former president diverted many of the answers to one of the topics on which he feels strongest, placing emphasis on the crimes committed by migrants and accusing Biden of dismantling the border control measures introduced during his administration. Immigration has always been a key topic in all the electoral campaigns of the former president who promised mass deportations for all illegal immigrants present in the US territory and the end of the ius soli.
2) Capitol Hill: one of the few points well established by Biden
Biden has tried to corner Trump on Capitol Hill and defending democracy in the country, highlighting the charges against him and demanding that he denounce the extremist groups that attacked the Capitol on January 6. “Donald Trump encouraged the riot on Capitol Hill,” Biden said. “Those people belong in jail,” the president attacked. Trump, meanwhile, has said he will accept the results of the 2024 election but only if they are “fair and legal,” and reiterated that Biden’s victory in 2020 was a “fraud.”
3) No holds barred
Given the great importance of Trump’s judicial affairs, it was expected that Biden would use them to launch jabs at his opponent but this was not the case or, better, the president underlined that Trump was condemned for having “bought” the silence of the pornstar Stormy Daniels. Trump’s response was quicker and for the umpteenth time he tried to reverse the situation, reminding Biden of the recent conviction of his son Hunter: Trump hit but not sunk.
4) Golf is good…
The long-awaited question on the age and relative ability of the candidates to be suitable for the role of President of the United States saw Trump react promptly with a list of tests and examinations carried out to certify his excellent physical and above all mental health. Biden instead responded by taking the conversation to the golf course, and in one of the most surreal moments of the evening the two compared their athletic records: The tycoon mocked his rival by saying that Biden couldn’t hit a ball for 50 yard. “I told him I would be happy to play golf if he carried his bag,” Biden responded, underlining that his rival’s weight borders on obesity.
5) …foreign policy is bad
Foreign policy monopolized part of the evening. Trump pressed Biden on the war in Ukraine and while calling Putin’s conditions for ending the conflict “unacceptable,” he said that with him in the White House, the Kremlin leader “would never have invaded Ukraine,” but did so after seeing “our withdrawal from Afghanistan, the most embarrassing moment in our history.” “I’ve never heard so much nonsense in my life,” Biden responded. “Putin is a war criminal and he won’t stop at Ukraine. He wants to restore the Soviet empire.”
The former president did not miss the opportunity to take a few jabs at NATO, stating that only thanks to his pressure are the Allies paying the funds they owe, while Biden is only able to use “American taxpayers’ money to finance a war that has nothing to do with the United States.” Even on the Middle Eastern front, Biden had to defend himself from Trump’s derogatory accusation of being “a Palestinian.”
Where do we go now?
While Biden has not shown any signs of obvious incompetence so far, continuing to make difficult decisions and not sparing himself in meetings at the White House and on trips abroad, the alarm bells that went off on Thursday night cannot be ignored. Instead of vigor and presence of mind, the president has projected the image of a frail and at times confused old man, easily mistreated by a somewhat bullying rival. His performance has been called “disastrous” by commentators close to the party and if it had represented an opportunity to recover the disadvantage on Trump in some key states, it would have turned out to be a failure.
Biden’s campaign has nearly two months to calm things down before the party convention, scheduled for August 22. Although it would take an open revolt for the Democrats to abandon their candidate, who has already won enough delegates in the primaries to secure the nomination. Furthermore, the only way to replace Biden on the presidential ticket would be for him to step aside. Something that all of his closest collaborators define as “impossible”. But while publicly senior Democrats continue to largely rally around the president and argue that you don’t change a candidate for a lackluster performance, yesterday’s debate fueled doubts about his prospects for victory in November.
“No one expected a master class from Joe Biden, but not even this collapse,” observes a senior Democratic advisor. “He was bad at message, bad at substance, bad at responding, bad at nonverbal communication. There was no bright spot in this debate for him. Indeed, the only point in favor is that the debate was held in June and not in October”.
#Biden #disaster