Former President Trump and President Biden have been preparing for weeks before taking center stage at tonight’s CNN presidential debate.
The debate will be the first between the two men in the 2024 presidential election cycle, with millions of Americans across the country looking to hear answers to questions about issues important to voters.
But Americans also look forward to the buzzworthy moments each presidential candidate will utter and express, especially as both candidates are accustomed to being talked about on social media.
Young Trump fan sheds tears after meeting former president
President Biden and former President Trump will face off tonight in the first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle. (Win McNamee/Getty Images/Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Since Biden took office, the incumbent president has racked up hundreds of thousands of clicks with a number of gaffes and stumbles.
In 2022, Biden was recorded falling off his bike while cycling in Delaware and the video quickly went viral on social media platforms.
Last summer, Biden stumbled and fell to the stage floor during his Air Force Academy graduation, garnering social media attention.
Trump went viral over the weekend for a moment he shared in Philadelphia with a young boy wearing a Trump-inspired suit and wig. The boy met the former president, got his autograph and was gifted a $20 bill, an exchange that was captured on video and had been viewed nearly 900,000 times on X as of midday Sunday.
“I love that kid! And if your parents don’t want you, I’ll take you,” Trump said in the video.
President Biden nearly falls while climbing the stairs of Air Force One
Biden has been in the news for falling multiple times since taking office. (Fox News)
Following his arrest in Fulton County, Georgia, in 2023, Trump’s mugshot from his arrest went viral and has since been used to decorate coffee mugs, sweatshirts and T-shirts, including some sold on Trump’s own campaign website.
There will be no audience in CNN’s Midtown studios in Atlanta tonight, and the microphones will be operated by members of the media, but viewers around the world will be tuning in to watch the candidates’ reactions clash, especially Trump’s usually unabashed rhetoric.
Here are some of the most memorable facial expressions from former presidents during the presidential debates so far.
Trump responds to Biden’s comments that he has no coronavirus countermeasures
During the Sept. 29, 2020, presidential debate between Trump and Biden hosted by Fox News, Biden said of Trump during the coronavirus pandemic, “He’s been recorded publicly saying to one of your colleagues, that he actually knew how dangerous it was, but he didn’t want to tell us, he didn’t want to tell us because he didn’t want us to panic.”
“He didn’t want us to. Americans didn’t panic. He panicked,” he said, adding that Trump currently “still doesn’t have a plan” for next steps to combat the disease.
Trump was responding to Biden’s comments during a 2020 presidential debate that he had “no plan.” (Fox News)
President Trump responds to question about whether he paid $750 in federal income tax in 2017
During the same presidential debate on September 29, 2020, Trump was asked by the moderator if he would tell Americans how much he paid in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017, to which he replied, “millions of dollars.”
He added: “And you’ll get to see it too.”
Later in 2022, Democrats sought to release President Trump’s tax returns and make his financial situation public to the American people, but Trump tried to block this in court.
Hillary Clinton complains that debating Trump is “impossible” and countering him is “a waste of time”
President Trump responded to a question about his federal tax returns during the 2020 presidential debate. (Fox News)
Trump’s reaction during the debate with Hillary Clinton
During a 90-minute presidential debate hosted by CNN in St. Louis on October 9, 2016, Hillary Clinton and Trump squared off on a range of topics, including taxes, the Muslim travel ban, Syrian refugees, and two-faced politicians.
“It’s a very good thing that we don’t have someone with Donald Trump’s temperament in charge of our laws,” Clinton said early in the debate.
“Because you’re going to jail,” Trump replied ominously.
Later in the debate, the former Secretary of State said, “Everything you’ve heard from Donald is not true. I’m sorry I have to say it over and over again, but he lives in an alternate reality, and it’s funny to hear someone who hasn’t paid federal income tax in maybe 20 years talk about what he’s going to do, but I’ll tell you what he’s going to do.”
President Trump responds to Biden’s energy policy statement
At the final presidential debate between President Trump and Biden on October 22, 2020 at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, the former and current presidents clashed over energy policy, with Biden calling for a move away from fossil fuels.
“He won’t give federal subsidies to gas, no, solar and wind,” Biden said of Trump, after which Trump responded with several “Whoa!”s.
Trump responded to Biden’s comments during a 2020 presidential debate hosted by ABC. (ABC)
Trump responds to Clinton and climate change comments
The first presidential debate between Clinton and Trump was watched by more than 84 million people.
“Donald Trump thinks climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese,” Clinton said of Trump during a debate on September 26, 2016. Trump responded with a slight raise of his eyebrows and added, “I never said that.”
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Trump responded to Clinton’s comments on climate change during an NBC presidential debate in 2016. (NBC)
