President Joe Biden faltered and meandered during the CNN debate with Donald Trump on Thursday (June 27) night, raising concerns about his age. Democrats expressed worries about his ability to defeat Trump in the November election.
The president coughed, made misstatements, and lost his train of thought, showing his age. He stumbled over key figures, like the number of new jobs created under his administration, caps for out-of-pocket drug costs, and insulin, which are key pillars of his re-election bid.
His performance in the debate will add ammunition to Republican attacks that the 81-year-old president – the oldest in US history — is not fit to serve another four-year term.
“I really don’t know what he said on this, and I don’t think he knows what he said either,” Trump said while arguing with Biden on immigration.
Biden has a cold
Biden is fighting a cold, making his voice weak and raspy.
Trump made misleading statements and did not answer all questions. Asked about Americans struggling with opioid addiction, he talked about immigration and Russia’s detention of a Wall Street Journal reporter. He falsely took credit for a cap on Medicare insulin prices, claimed January 6 rioters were invited into the Capitol by the police, and declared that he never had sex with a porn star, who was a key figure in the hush-money trial. He also dodged the question when asked if he would respect the results of the election.
Later in the debate talking about age, Biden retorted, “This guy’s three years younger and a lot less competent.”
“Look at the record. Look at what I’ve done,” he added.
Economic sparring
The candidates opened their first presidential debate duelling over the economy, with each blaming the other for the rising cost of food and housing.
Polls show voters think Trump handled the economy better than Biden. Though the Biden administration has seen job growth and investments in manufacturing and infrastructure, surging inflation has hit households.
“We had an economy that was in freefall. The pandemic was so badly handled,” Biden said, blaming Trump “What we had to do was try to put things back together again, and that’s exactly what we began to do.”
Trump defended his tax cuts, set to expire next year, saying they paved the way for a stock market boom.
“I gave you the largest tax cut in history. I also gave you the largest regulation cut in history,” Trump said.
Biden blundered while talking about the economy. He said 15,000 jobs were created during his presidency. The actual figure is 15 million. He said some seniors now have a $200 annual cap on out-of-pocket drug prices. The real figure is $2,000. He also incorrectly said some wealthy Americans were trillionaires.
“He’s not equipped to be president. You know it and I know it,” Trump said.
Capital insurrection
Trump tried to evade questions about the insurrection at the Capitol, talking instead about the strength of the country at the time.
“I had virtually nothing to do, they asked me to go make a speech,” Trump said.
Biden noted that Trump did nothing to intervene as his supporters were swarming the building. “The idea that those people are patriots? Come on,” Biden said.
On international relations, Trump said he would have the war in Ukraine “settled” before he takes office.
Trump’s legal troubles
Midway through the debate, Biden highlighted Trump’s legal troubles. Trump is the first former president convicted of a felony and faces three more criminal indictments.
“The only person on this stage who is a convicted felon is the man I’m looking at right now,” Biden said.
Trump was found guilty by a Manhattan jury for falsifying business records to conceal a hush-money payment to an adult film star and awaits sentencing.
Biden directly cited Trump’s hush-money payment to the actress, Stormy Daniels, accusing the former president of “having sex with a porn star while your wife was pregnant.”
“I didn’t have sex with a porn star,” Trump replied.
Trump pointed out that the president’s son, Hunter Biden, was also guilty of a felony, for illegally obtaining a firearm while addicted to drugs. Trump added that Biden himself would face prosecution.
Abortion issue
Later in the debate, the two sparred over abortion, a key issue in the election. Biden called Trump’s role on the issue a “terrible thing.” Trump appointed three of the Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade’s federal abortion protections.
Trump said the court’s ruling had just left the issue of abortion up to voters in the states.
In an exchange over care for war veterans, Biden attacked Trump for reportedly calling fallen US soldiers “suckers” and “losers”.
“He was standing with his four-star general, and he told me you said, I don’t want to go in there because they’re a bunch of losers and suckers. My son was not a loser. Was not a sucker. You’re the sucker. You’re the loser,” Biden said, referencing his late son Beau Biden, who died of cancer and served in the military.
Trump fired back, denying the quote and saying Biden should apologise to him.
Biden scoffed, saying he’s “done more for veterans than any president has in American history.”
Hamas cannot be allowed to continue, Biden said about the war in Gaza while calling for restraint in Israeli military operations.
Trump said Israel should be allowed to “finish the job.” He also struck a more isolationist note on foreign policy, urging Biden to demand that NATO allies in Europe contribute more for defence.
“He’s become like a Palestinian, but they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian, he’s a weak one,” Trump said.
Biden responded, “I’ve never heard so much foolishness.”
Source; Yahoo News