Those who expected the first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump to be a fight between two heavyweights in search of a knockout They couldn’t have been more disappointed. Instead they found the usual pathological narcissist (Trump) firing a barrage of lies and a veteran politician well into the twilight of his career (Biden). Instead of witnessing a worthy fight for the so-called “most powerful office in the world,” they saw a sometimes childish pugilism between a stammering old man and a convicted criminal incapable of assuming the minimum responsibility for crimes that include attacks against women, various scams. and an attempted coup d’état. They say that debates don’t matter, this one came to change that belief.
From the beginning the show was painful. Not 15 minutes had passed when a Biden, whose voice was almost inaudible and broken, froze, losing the discursive thread when talking about the complementary insurance program (Medicare). They were eternal seconds that were very embarrassing to witness and that predict a very tortuous future for his candidacy. They could even precipitate his abrupt political end if Democrats assume that the responsible thing to do is to ask him to retire. This would undoubtedly be a clear victory for his rival. But it may be the only chance to defeat his aspiration to return to the White House.
Trump, in turn, came out proclaiming one lie after another like a broken record. The first of them is that the United States is a country invaded by criminals and mentally ill people due to Biden’s immigration policies. But no one should be fooled: Trump’s country is the same one he drew when launching his candidacy in 2015 and that he finished outlining in his inaugural speech in 2017: a nation consumed by anarchy and criminal violence, a country taken over by bad men. and which only he can rescue by cleaning it of undesirable immigrants. It’s the same Trump as always: a showman overflowing with ego and platitudes, without substance and incapable of going beyond his incendiary exaggerations or his vague and delirious promises of greatness to articulate coherent proposals in line with the complexity of the United States.
On the other side of the stage, Biden stumbled through almost every answer, uttering astronomical numbers ranging from millions to billions to trillions and back again, confusing anyone who heard him. But one of the biggest problems with the debate was not the candidates, but the lack of an instant fact-check that would allow the moderators to draw attention to the many lies Trump was spreading.
Before the pause in the middle of the debate, the networks were abuzz with memes and messages evaluating first impressions. It was already known that Biden had started off on the wrong foot. The debate continued downhill in the context of new rules that undoubtedly hurt the president more than his arch-enemy.
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Although CNN moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash followed an agenda that ranged from the economic situation and abortion to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza; from the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan to Trump and the MAGA coup attempt on January 6, 2021, it was 90 minutes of a lackluster exchange.
Biden tried to maintain a speech based on facts and data that would allow him to highlight his achievements and successes. It is true that he had moments of lucidity and peaks of energy. He even allowed himself to directly call Trump a liar and convicted criminal with the morals of a stray cat and told him that he had slept with a porn actress while his wife was expecting a child. But his performance was so ragged and soulless that these blows made little or no dent in his rival.
In turn, Trump made it clear that his great advantage in the race was his total lack of scruples. When asked about the Ukraine war, his best idea was to say: “Putin would never have invaded Ukraine if I had been president.”
Trump’s offensive was mainly aimed at portraying Biden as a senile and corrupt old man, projecting his own shortcomings onto him. And, in fact, at times he managed to put him on the defensive. Again and again Trump took advantage of his rival’s criticism of him to exonerate himself from the flood of charges against him, stating categorically that he has done nothing wrong and that he is a victim of a rigged system. According to a statistic from the The New York TimesBiden spent 12 minutes and 52 seconds of the 36 he spoke attacking Trump, while the Republican candidate took 18 minutes and four seconds of the 41 seconds he spent attacking Trump.
The lowest moment of the debate, however, occurred when the opponents engaged in a comparison of their quality as golf players. It was there when they showed themselves like school boys fighting to prove who had a better handicap.
There is no doubt that this was a historic debate, but for the worst reasons.
Before concluding, it was already evident that Biden had lost in the performanceregardless of whether their answers had more content.
By 10:27, Times columnist Nick Kristof had already posted a message on social media calling on Biden to think things over and drop out of the presidential race. Ian Bremmer, another respected commentator, concluded that the meeting was simply a huge defeat for Biden. From that hour on, calls for him to drop out continued to pour in. Former Democratic Senator from Missouri Claire McCaskill was devastating on the cable channel MSNBC: “He is a very good candidate for Biden.” [Biden] He had to do one thing, make sure that at his age he can handle the job, and he failed tonight.”
That is the complete opposite of what Biden achieved in the union speech on March 7, less than four months ago, when he appeared strong, alert and assertive, even capable of improvising and making jokes in front of a hostile Republican caucus. Biden himself defended himself after the debate by saying that he has the flu and that it is difficult to debate a liar. But the damage was already done.
The reactions of voters frustrated with the field of candidates were also harsh and blunt, but perhaps more balanced. NBC interviewed a panel of voters in Phoenix, Arizona. One of the members was a middle-aged woman who said she was shocked and frustrated by what she had just seen. Referring to the golf match, she complained that they looked not like two presidents but two first-graders.
At debate headquarters in Atlanta, Trump’s team declared him the winner. On CNN, Chris Wallace, one of the deans of broadcast journalism, commented that Biden’s performance was “a slow-motion car crash,” alluding to all the warnings Democrats had received about physical weakness and lack of fitness. of Biden. And, in fact, that is the most obvious conclusion of the debate: Biden has been overcome by age and is not sufficiently fit for the enormous demand for physical and mental vigor required to lead the most powerful nation on the planet.
However, another conclusion must be drawn: the debate was a stark demonstration of the ineptitude of both candidates. It is wrong to believe that Biden’s decline makes Trump more suitable or better. The felonious former president is the greatest threat to American democracy today and, by extension, to democracy in the world. Without panicking in the face of what lies ahead, the Democratic Party must act responsibly and immediately find the best replacement from a generation of talented politicians. There are women like Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and men like California Governor Gavin Newsom, perhaps two of the most Googled names on the night of the most painful debate in the political history of the United States. But they are not the only ones. Democrats today have a moral obligation to do everything possible to prevent a second Donald Trump presidency.
