“Biden struggles” is the headline that appears in the main American newspapers a few hours after the end of the first one tv debate organized by CNN in Atlanta between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, with numerous commentators going so far as to hypothesize that “the Democrats could decide to replace him." The current president does not emerge well from a confrontation in which he was called upon to demonstrate strength, clarity and energy to Democratic voters worried about his age and in which instead he showed himself weak, with a low and hoarse voice (“he had a cold”, says his entourage), at times confused and unable to formulate even the simplest concepts. A difficulty so obvious that it overshadows the (important) topics covered during the 90 minutes, from inflation to abortion, from Ukraine to Israel, from the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan to immigration. Trump, for his part, didn't even have to "do Trump" to be the most focused candidate. He was more controlled and disciplined than usual, while letting slip as per tradition an enormous amount of lies and dribbling several questions without ever getting into the substance of things or making it clear what his solutions to the problems really are.
And in the end the result of the survey conducted by CNN among its viewers after the live broadcast leaves no room for doubt: 67% said Trump won the debate, with 33% choosing Biden instead.
Joe Biden's difficulties at the presidential debate
“It was painful to see him like that,” many Democrats comment and the party is feeling "strong panic" over a performance that risks sinking Joe Biden in the polls. Some even commented “we're screwed” (using a slightly more colorful term ed.) and someone else would have raised the possibility that the president would step aside, reports CNN, organizer of the discussion.
It was a highly anticipated debate, the first in history between a sitting president and a former president, and it turned into a show from which Biden comes out very badly. Uncertain, confused, shaky. He went from one sentence to another without finishing the first, uttering answers full of interruptions and speaking in a voice so low that it was almost inaudible.
One thing is now certain: the Democrats wanted this election to turn into a referendum on Trump and his dangerousness. However, the real theme of the electoral campaign will not be this. Neither inflation, nor support for Ukraine or Israel, but rather the state of Joe Biden's health and his ability to be president of the United States. So much so that during the confrontation Trump didn't even need to strike too hard. He invited his rival to take a cognitive test and, answering a question on immigration, said: "I didn't understand anything of what he said at the end and I think he doesn't know either."
Many people wonder in retrospect how it was possible. Some even accuse Biden's entourage of "letting him go," wondering what happened at Camp David. In fact, for the last week, the president has remained locked there with his campaign managers to prepare for the debate. “They gave him too much data and he got stuck”, some say, “they didn't prepare him well”, others comment.
The themes of the TV debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump
The two candidates entered the studio without even saying hello. The discussion conducted by anchors Dana Bash and Jake Tapper began immediately with the main theme: the economy. The two candidates have blamed each other for inflation, with Trump immediately defending his tax cuts for the rich.
Then abortion, a very delicate topic even among the Republicans on which it was thought that Biden was focusing a lot: for Trump Biden "is a radical", while according to the former president the termination of a pregnancy should only be allowed in the case of rape, incest or risk of death for the mother. “I support Roe v. Wade,” the president responded, referring to the 73 ruling that guaranteed abortion at a federal level and which was struck down by the Supreme Court. Here Trump replied in turn with a senseless phrase: according to him Biden would like to legalize abortion even "after the birth of the fetus".
The two candidates also showed themselves to be polar opposites foreign policy. The Donald repeated that the war in Ukraine would not have broken out if the US had had a real leader, without however saying what his solution would be to achieve peace. Biden responded that there would be no war because Trump would leave the field open to Putin and that the tycoon would like to get the US out of NATO. The former president then dribbled the question on the existence of the Palestinian state, limiting himself to saying that Israel "must finish its work with Hamas" and that Biden "has become a Palestinian not even loved by the Palestinians because he is weak".
The insults and accusations between Trump and Biden
About halfway through the debate, Biden managed to make his first move: “He said that American veterans who died in war were losers and losers,” he recalled, quoting an old revelation from the Atlantic from 2020. “My son was in Iraq and he was neither a loser nor a loser. You are a loser and a loser”. Trump tried to justify himself, saying that those words had been written by a very low level newspaper (The Atlantic is one of the most authoritative magazines in the United States, ed.) and then went on to counterattack on Hunter Biden. “This guy has no sense of American democracy,” the president replied at the time.
Only once did Biden manage to reference Trump's condemnation of the illicit payments to Stormy Daniels. “You had sex with a porn star while your wife was pregnant, you have the morals of an alley cat,” he said, with Trump simply denying: “I did not have sex with a porn star.”
At the end of the debate there was also talk of age: whoever wins, in fact, will the oldest president in US history. Trump cited two cognitive tests carried out when he was president and "passed great" and invited Biden to take them himself, saying he was certain he wouldn't even finish the first questions.
The debate ended with jokes about the athleticism of the two presidents and about golf. The next one, organized by ABC, will be in September. And who knows, some ask, if Biden will still be there on that occasion or if another Democratic candidate will be present in his place. Meanwhile, the sentence that Trump will have to serve for the conviction relating to the illegal payments to porn star Stormy Daniels will be announced in July. In both cases, after the first debate, It's America that emerges with broken bones.
