(From Atlanta, United States) Joe Biden and Donald Trump they starred in a tense debate who exhibited his deep differences on the domestic agenda and in foreign policy. Biden and Trump They were faithful to his electoral base and his personal ideas, in a public confrontation that did not yield decisive advantages for neither of the two candidates seeking presidential re-election.
Biden and Trump are perpetual antagonistsand in the first second of the debate what one thinks of the other was reflected: they didn’t shake hands when they met in the studio cnn. The president of the USAand then its predecessor. They looked at each other askance, and nothing more. They have been in a personal battle from a distance for more than four years.
From the beginning it was revealed how they had prepared for the debate. Biden listed the issues and stuck to his script trained – over and over – at Camp David. Trump, on the other hand, knew the arguments to deploy but I trusted in his ability to improvise.
When Biden spoke, Trump smiled and gestured. And if it was the Republican candidate’s turn, his opponent looked at him from the side and smiled to disapprove of each of his words. Both respected the rules of the game, they did not offend the journalists Dana Bash and Jake Tapperand they did not drink a drop of water when they were in the air.
The debate began with a question from Tapper to Biden about the economy and the president defended his government program, while Trump assured that Inflation is out of control. They were opposite views, on a key issue that will be repeated until the elections on November 5.
The second meeting between Biden and Trump was about abortion. Each one spoke to his constituents, but the Republican candidate He was more lenient on this right, which was limited by certain members of the Supreme Court appointed during the Trump administration.
Undocumented migration appears first in all the public surveys carried out since January 2024. Those displaced from Latin America that are concentrated on the southern border of the United States worry to Biden and he is a argument Trump campaign.
It’s paradoxicalbut Biden used legal arguments already applied by Trump in his mandate to placate the number of migrants who intend to cross the Rio Grande without documentation. “The situation at the border has resulted in numerous deaths and crimes committed by illegal immigrants“Trump said during the debate.
Biden denied that claim and said that migration had dropped by 40 percent since the implementation of his latest measures.
“There is no data to support what he said. Once again, he is exaggerating.” said the president of the United States.
As happened with the discussion of abortion and the economy, Biden and Trump deployed their arguments on migration and No one stumbled. They addressed their electoral audience with a broad tone to try to add to the independent vote.
The account is clear: the Republican candidate beats his Democratic opponent in the polls by a percentage that is in the technical error, and both need to cross that threshold to triumph in the November elections. Have five months to fulfill that mission.
For a moment, the debate put the domestic agenda on hold and moved on to foreign policy issues. Trump He was very critical the leading role of the United States in the war between Ukraine and Russia and in the conflict in the Middle East following the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
The Republican candidate’s perspective is that Washington lost weight on the global stage and that geopolitical failure led to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the terrorist acts carried out by Iran through Hamas.
“I get along well with (Vladimir) Putin“But he didn’t take my land away like he did with Obama and Biden,” Trump said.
Biden replied: “If you want a war, let Putin advance and take kyiv. There you are going to have a war.”.
This chapter of foreign policy was completed with the views of both candidates on the conflict in the Middle East. Biden defended his agenda with Israel, which includes the ceasefire in Gaza, while Trump disqualified the diplomatic strategy of the Democratic administration.
The US international roadmap – above all the war between Israel and Hamas – it affects Biden’s electoral aspirations. Thousands of young people who voted for him in 2020 – when he proposed a new green agenda – now they chose for distancing itself from the position defended by the White House in Gaza.
Trump neither lost nor won votes talking about Middle East and Ukraine. On the other hand, Biden’s arguments about the situation in the Strip and Israel’s offensive they would only have served to confirm that this electoral volume will no longer return to Democratic territory.
Political tension reached its peak when Biden accused Trump of being a criminal and Trump asked him to undergo a cognitive analysis to determine whether age affects his decision-making as head of state.
“The only person on this stage who is a convicted felon “That’s the man I’m looking at right now. And the fact is, what he’s saying is simply not true,” the Democratic president said.
“I took two cognitive tests, and I approved them as you know. He (for Biden) didn’t take any. I’d like to see you take one, just one, a really easy one, like passing the first five questions. I could not do it”the former Republican president said.
This section of the debate was key for Biden. Their electoral strategy is demonstrate that Trump is a danger to democracy, claiming that he was involved in the assault on the Capitol and that he was convicted of committing 34 cases of corruption linked to a porn star.
Trump also benefited in this chapter of the debate. Its aim is always ensure that Biden’s age works like a time bomb that would be installed again in the White House if he triumphs in the November 5 elections.
After 90 minutes of constant tension, Biden and Trump made their closing speeches. The ex-president proposed a forward agenda, and its predecessor went back to question the results of the Democratic administration.
They did not take advantage of each other in the entire debate.
And history repeated itself like a political habit: when the studio lights went out for a moment, Biden and Trump avoided the protocolary greeting and they ignored each other.
