Let’s talk about the United States presidential elections, because the international news of the moment is the poor performance of President Joe Biden in last night’s first debate against his opponent, Donald Trump, who stood out for the lies he told during the hour and a half that the event lasted.
The American press woke up today with the same question: Can Biden withdraw from the presidential candidacy? This question is the subject of numerous articles in The Washington Post, The Economist and The New York Times.
Did it go that bad? Yes. The debate televised by CNN was the opportunity for the Democratic president to show that his age (81 years) is not an impediment to continuing in power for another four years. But Biden seemed hesitant, with a trembling voice and a lost look in many segments of the debate.
“Before the debate was over, the Democratic elites panicked,” The Economist writes today.
But, the Democratic Party cannot force Biden to resign his candidacy. He already has almost half of that party’s electoral colleges to be nominated as a presidential candidate at the August convention.
The remaining option is for Biden to give up the aspiration. “There is no indication Friday that the president is planning to do so, although some Democratic strategists and state officials have quietly said it is a conversation the party needs to have,” the Washington Post’s political reporters wrote on the subject today.
Trump lied on many issues. The Republican candidate, convicted of 34 counts of fraud in a New York Court, told “at least 30 lies or half-truths in just 1 hour and a half of debate,” according to El Tiempo, citing reports from American media. He lied on issues such as abortion, immigration or taxes.
He did not commit to respecting the results of the November elections, as he did not do four years ago, provoking the siege of his most extremist followers on the Washington Capitol.
And what does that have to do with Colombia? A lot. The United States is the country’s first trading partner and the main ally in humanitarian aid and the fight against drug trafficking. A Democratic government would be more bearable for the government of President Gustavo Petro, while a possible Trump presidency would put more tension on the continent, where far-right leaders in power have emerged, such as the Argentine Javier Milei.
To learn more about how the debate went and what’s next in American politics, we recommend reading.
This analysis by Jon Stewart (a very accurate satire on what gringos felt when watching the debate).
And this episode of The Daily, from the New York Times, about Biden’s failures in his first appearance on the air.
