Trump V Biden Debate: Key Takeaways

The presidential debate on June 27th that was hosted by CNN was certainly a spectacle. Trump went on a lying spree by lying more than 30 times in the debate on various issues. Biden also had a poor performance, a performance most people agree that was worse than Trump. Biden was consistently stumbling over his words and appearing bewildered throughout the night. Some Democrats have even begun to consider nominating a different person for the democratic party. Read this article to understand key takeaways from the debate.

Bidens age hindering his ability to be president wasn’t debunked as hoped

Bidens ability to serve as president has been called into question for a while due to his old age. Biden being 81 years old is the oldest American president ever. However Trump is not far behind him as he himself is 78 years old. However the contrast between the two candidates in terms of presence and speaking ability was dramatic. Trump looked and sounded decades younger than his actual age as he spoke clearly and confidently, whereas Biden had a very raspy voice and often stumbled on his words.

Trump lied a lot

Trump lied so much during the debate that he sent fact-checkers on a frenzy. He lied on various issues such as some Democratic-led states allowing babies to be executed after birth, that every legal scholar and everybody in general wanted Roe v. Wade overturned, that there were no terror attacks during his presidency, that Iran didn’t fund terror groups during his presidency, that the US has provided more aid to Ukraine than Europe has, that Biden for years referred to Black people as “super predators,” that Biden is planning to quadruple people’s taxes, among many more lies.

Debate was more personal than agenda focused

The moment Biden and Trump walked on stage you could feel the animosity the two have for each other. They both did not shake hands before and after the debate was over. Their hate for each other was showcased throughout the night through name calling and one-liners.

Here are some quotes each of them said:

“You have the morals of an alley cat,” Mr. Biden said at one point.

“He can’t hit a ball 50 yards,” Mr. Trump said.

“Let’s not act like children,” Trump scolded

Biden lashed back, “You are a child.”

Biden appeared at times disgusted whenever he discussed Trumps actions, such as when he brought up the time that Trump called dead American soldiers “suckers and losers”. Biden also attacked Trump for “having sex with a porn star” and stated how Trump was the only convicted felon on stage. Trump went after Bidens son who was received a criminal conviction on federal gun charges. Trump also made a subtle threat that if Biden loses he could face charges from a future Trump administration.

Blaming inflation on COVID

Both Biden and Trump had the same scapegoat for the economy: the pandemic. Biden said he inherited a bad economy that was caused by Trump’s stewardship of COVID. Biden said the pandemic was “so badly handled” by his predecessor. Trumps explanation for the state of the economy during his presidency was that he had “the greatest economy in the history of our country”, but it came to a halt because of the pandemic. Trump added twice as much federal debt than Biden, but went on to claim that he was about to start paying down the country’s debt when the coronavirus first appeared. 

Trumps foreign policy: blame Biden

Trump bashed Biden on his foreign policy by claiming that the Ukraine-Russia and Israeli-Hamas wars would not have even happened on his watch. He also claimed that the military “can’t stand him” for many reasons, including his withdrawal from Afghanistan. He continued to paint a unsafe world with Biden as leader and how he would make countries respect America again as he claims they currently laugh at us. Trump refused to make a clear commitment to NATO, instead he talked about his efforts to get NATO members up to date on their dues.

Biden gave two reasons for continued US support for Ukraine: First, he believes that Putin would not stop at Ukraine’s western border. Second, he argued that the existence of NATO inherently empowers the US – because such close allyship with Western Europe offers the US a stronger hand in all its interactions around the world. With the Israeli-Hamas war Biden said how he would be “providing Israel with all the weapons they need and when they need them”, not offering much on whether he plans to help the Palestinian people who are suffering from violence and hunger. Biden also talked about the ceasefire deal he spoke about a few weeks ago that has yet to happen.

Trump still won’t accept election results

Trump was asked twice if he would accept the results of the 2024 election. He ducked answering the question both times. However, after being asked the question for a third time, he said he would accept the outcome “If it’s a fair, and legal, and good election”. Throughout the year Trump has baselessly insisted that the Democrats will cheat in November, suggesting that any election that he does not win, was rigged against him.

Trump won’t acknowledge Jan.6

When January 6 was brought up, Biden of course met it with glee as it was an opportunity to make Trump look bad. And of course Trump did not directly address Jan.6, but rather described the country in his eyes at the time which “had a great border”, was “energy independent,” and that the United States had “the lowest taxes ever”. He did not address the speech he gave to his supporters before the riot where he told them to “show strength” at the capitol. Biden said that Trump “sat there for three hours watching” while people begged him to bid his supporters to stand down.

Split screen hurt Biden

Biden not only appeared out of it when he spoke, but also when he was displayed on the split screen. CNN’s split screen of both candidates showed Biden often with his mouth open, eyes darting, and overall looking confused. Trump in contrast looked attentive, waiting for his moment to attack.

Immigration persisted in debate

Trump took every opportunity he had to bring up immigration, which is one of his strongest topics (usually with most Republicans). He accused Biden of “opening up the safest border in the world to terrorists, prisoners”. He claimed that Biden was letting thousands of illegal immigrants in as well as lots of drugs and violence. Biden said that border patrol had endorsed his position and that “when he [Trump] was president, he was separating babies from their mothers, putting them in cages, making sure their families were separated. That’s not the right way to go”. Biden also talked about how his administration has been handling the influx of immigrants by tightening border security and working on the bipartisan National Security Agreement.

Biden failed to deliver stance on democrats strongest issue: abortion

While abortion should have been Bidens strongest moment of the debate, given the emphasis his campaign has placed on restoring access, Biden’s answer instead took a confusing turn and gave Trump an opening to talk about crimes committed against Americans by migrants.

Democrats are worried

Half an hour after the debate began, some influential Democrats in the country were texting notes of panic about the state of their candidate. This chatter is still continuing after the debate has happened. Bidens hoarse voice and dismal performance rattled Democratic leaders who were hoping for an energetic performance that would have quelled the worry about his old age. His performance has made Democrats wonder if hey need to replace Biden with someone younger as their candidate. Whether or not they will do this remains to be seen.

Conclusion

Biden and Trumps performances can be summed up to this: Trump look and sounded great, but he told so many lies and said so many misleading things, whereas Biden didn’t look all together and had a raspy voice but he told the truth and had more substance to his arguments. Most people believe Trump won the debate and Bidens allies were disappointed in his performance.

Thank you for reading this analysis from the Coenen Chronicle.

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