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Rumors had circulated for weeks that the first presidential debate was scheduled weeks earlier than usual to give Democrats time to oust Joe Biden if he falters. Some speculated that Biden could be persuaded to step down before the Democratic convention in August, giving the party time to field a new candidate.
That’s exactly where we are, according to devastated commentators after CNN hosted the debate. Even Biden’s all-out supporters were forced to admit the president doesn’t seem capable of serving another four years in office. And they’re not alone.
Shortly thereafter, Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times wrote an article titled “President Biden, We’ve Seen Enough,” saying, “But I hope he will reconsider his performance in Thursday night’s debate, withdraw from the race and defer the selection of the Democratic nominee to the party convention in August.”
Biden criticized for ‘old’ appearance and ‘weak’ voice during first presidential debate: ‘Very disturbing’
Kobeisi Letter reported on X that Donald Trump’s chances of winning the November election rose by more than 10 percentage points during the debate, reaching a new high of 63%. Even more surprising, before the debate, oddsmakers had given Biden an 86% chance of winning the nomination, but that has now plummeted to 38%. do not have It’s no surprise that he’s a candidate.
In fact, it is inconceivable that anyone who watched the first debate of the 2024 presidential election could vote for Joe Biden to be re-elected. As Biden walked onto the stage, he waved, as if forgetting that there was no audience. This gaffe set the tone for the evening, combining the president’s blank stare with his incoherent and sometimes incomprehensible remarks. One of the jokers on X posted that the Biden campaign brought in an interpreter, which would have been nice at times. Even former President Trump, who claimed he had no idea what Biden was talking about, had company.
The night was a stunning disaster, considering Joe Biden had spent a full week preparing for the debate and was reportedly rested, had a later bedtime, and was likely taking medication to improve his cognitive function.
Trump’s landslide victory over Biden raises troubling questions about 2024 election
Throughout the 90-minute head-to-head battle between the two candidates for the Oval Office, Joe Biden frequently flirted with disingenuous claims about his predecessor. He repeatedly noted that Trump left an economy in “tumble” and with sky-high unemployment. In fact, the economy had recovered quickly from the COVID-19 shutdown, growing 6% and with a rapidly declining unemployment rate of 6.4% in the first quarter of 2021 when Biden took office.
He went back to claiming that President Trump has lost more jobs than any other president, but he should know that the public didn’t blame the former president for “losing” jobs to the pandemic, nor did they blame him for bringing them back. Biden also blamed President Trump’s tax cuts for the surge in inflation that occurred during his term, which is absurd.
To make matters worse, Biden claimed that Trump had “annihilated” the middle class, when in fact real middle-class incomes rose rapidly under Trump but have fallen under Biden because of inflation.
But the economy wasn’t the only thing Biden lied about. During a debate on immigration, he claimed the Border Patrol supports him, a claim that the Border Patrol union refuted on The X Show that night.
Biden also claimed that Trump wants to reduce the number of police officers in the United States, though it’s hard to gauge what he actually meant by that. And again, Biden claimed he ran for president because Trump said there were “very good people on both sides” of the Charlottesville protests, a story that, as Trump pointed out, has been proven completely false.
Left-wing fact-checker acknowledges Trump never called Charlottesville neo-Nazis ‘very fine people’ in blowback against Biden
To be fair, Biden’s record is not easy to defend. He tried, unsuccessfully, to justify his disastrous border policies by suggesting he rolled back Trump’s policies because they were inhumane. When asked why he is losing support from black families, Biden said he is proposing a $10,000 tax credit on new mortgages for black people. In fact, the proposal is for everyone and addresses the home affordability crisis.
Contrary to expectations, former President Trump maintained his composure even as Biden got mired in mud. At one point, the president alluded to Trump having sex with a porn star while his wife was pregnant, a false note for a man who claims to walk the high road.
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Trump has attacked Biden on the border, the ignoble withdrawal from Afghanistan and the economy, but also missed multiple opportunities to criticize the president for excessive spending, the lack of a playbook for winning the war in Ukraine, his kowtowing to pro-Palestinian progressives in his party, his threats of big tax hikes and his attempts to pay off student loans after the Supreme Court ruled them illegal.
Trump alluded to some of these points, but more facts and figures could have strengthened his case. He also spent too much time making broad, bold claims about how well the country is doing under his leadership, and more time talking about what he’s going to do to make people’s lives better.
Still, Trump outperformed Biden with some strong performances and hits, such as pointing out that more people have died from the pandemic under his successor than under Biden, even as a COVID-19 vaccine became available when Biden took office, which is true.
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Trump also said Biden social securityIt would ease the burden of Medicare and Medicaid by providing benefits to millions of immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally — a smart move for Biden, as seniors are one of his few remaining constituencies.
Also contrary to expectations, CNN hosts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash managed the event fairly. The night was full of surprises.
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