What Happened In First Biden-Trump Debate Ahead Of The Presidential Election
The Democratic President of America, Joe Biden and his Republican rival Donald Trump went straight into mixing up on policies, without basic formalities. The sitting president and former president of Washington opened their first 2024 Presidential debate, which lasted for more than 90 minutes. 78-year-old Trump and 81-year-old Biden are the two oldest candidates ever to seek the country’s top post.
The debate started with the economic issues, a key player in the presidential election campaign. Biden started first, he said he rescued the country’s economy from “free fall” and “chaos” when he took over the top position from Trump in 2021.
Trump listened with a bemused expression. He did not try to interrupt, though his microphone was muted when Biden was speaking. During his turn, the former president bragged about the state economy during his term, claiming that “everything was rocking good”. Trump blamed Biden for spike in prices that have frustrated Americans. “Inflation is killing our country…it’s absolutely killing us”, he said.
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Biden took a jibe at Trump for eroding the abortion rights after the latter’s three appointees to the US Supreme Court voted to reverse the Roe v. Wade, which was recognised as a nationwide constitutional right to abortion. The reversal has caused many voters who support abortion rights to vote for the Democrats during the 2022 midterms and special elections.
Pledging to reverse the law under Roe if he was given a second term, Biden accused Trump of doing a terrible thing. “It’s been a terrible thing what you’ve done”, he said. Biden did not mention how he is going to reverse the law. He said that the idea of turning abortion laws back to states is “like saying we’re going to turn civil rights back to the states.”
Trump claimed that he returned the issue of abortion to the people through state laws. He said he supports abortion ban exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother, and he repeated his claim that Mr. Biden supports abortion up to and after birth. “We think the Democrats are the radicals, not the Republicans”.
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Though Biden started off on a weak foot, he appeared to be more in command of facts amidst the stream of falsehood from Trump. However, that may not be enough to overcome the rising concern on Republican’s claims that Biden is slipping because of his age.
The debate spilled out the animosity between the two candidates more than once, as they got personal. Each suggested that the other was a criminal.
Citing Trump’s conviction on hush money case, Biden said “the only person on this stage who is convicted felon is the man I’m looking at right now”. He also accused Trump of having sex with porn star Stormy Daniels.
One of the biggest issues which put US on scrutiny on global level gets little attention during the Presidential candidates’ debate. While the Foreign Policy and Middle East came several times during the debate, the sufferings of the Palestinians in Gaza received little attention.
The Debate hosts Dana Bash and Jake Tapper mentioned that thousands of Palestinians had been killed and the onset forced of famine conditions in Gaza due to Israel’s persistent blockage of aid, and destruction of the Gaza on massive level went unaddressed by the candidates.
When Biden falsely claimed that every party other than Hamas has agreed to the ceasefire proposal. Trump said Biden has become “like a Palestinian”. “They don’t like him because he is a very bad Palestinian. He is the weak one”, he further added. He retorted that Israel should be allowed to “finish the job” in Gaza.
