ATLANTA- Chairman Joe Biden failed to mitigate his biggest risk in his re-election bid during the CNN debate on Thursday, while being a former president Donald Trump doubled down on his grievances and missed opportunities to hide his own vulnerabilities.
Biden’s biggest weakness — according to polls, voters’ concerns about his age and sharpness — was on display during the more than 90-minute debate, as he struggled with answers and didn’t deliver the energetic performance that allies think he needed. And Trump had no new answers for voters on the issues on which he is weakest, including his felony conviction, his role in overturning Roe v. Wade and his actions on January 6, 2021.
The first showdown between Biden, 81, and Trump, 78, in 2024 will come early in the election year, giving voters a chance to see the president and his challenger side by side. Here’s what they saw — and what it means for the campaign.
Biden struggles out of the gate
The first presidential debate is often tough for sitting presidents. It was especially tough for 81-year-old Biden.
When he began Thursday night, his voice was hoarse, his throat was not clear, and he began speaking softly and struggled through some of his responses. His voice cracked throughout the debate. Biden’s campaign later said he had a cold.
In a particularly notable gaffe, Biden stumbled over an answer to an early question about rising costs, ending with, “We finally defeated Medicare.” Trump’s campaign mockingly highlighted the clip on his social media platform Truth Social.
During a clash over immigration, Biden stammered a few words while voicing support for stricter border laws, to which Trump responded: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either.” Trump repeatedly accused Biden of implementing weak border policies that he said have made crime in the U.S. worse.
Even Biden’s closest allies said it was a bad night for him. “It was a very disappointing debate performance by Joe Biden,” former Biden communications director Kate Bedingfield said on CNN.
Biden found his groove as he talked about foreign policy, protecting NATO and taking on Russia. He also took a swipe at Trump over Jan. 6, criticizing him for saying there were “very fine people” on both sides when neo-Nazis marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. Later, when asked if he has a vision for protecting Social Security, Biden said, “Yeah, let the very wealthy start paying their fair share.”
Near the end, Biden defended his re-election at his age when moderators asked him to address voters’ concerns. “This man is three years younger and much less competent,” Biden said.
Trump falls into grievances
Trump’s persistent tendency to air personal grievances, often at the expense of defending himself or his past, came to the fore throughout the evening.
When CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash asked him to address voters’ concerns about his actions on January 6, when pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol, Trump took the opportunity to call out the “un-select committee” of the House of Representatives and its “un-select committee” on January 6. two terrible Republicans.” When Biden brought up Trump’s alleged affair with Stormy Daniels, Trump took the bait: “I didn’t have sex with a porn star, No. 1,” he said.
Trump was also evasive when repeatedly asked whether he would accept the 2024 election results.
“If it’s a fair, legal, good election, absolutely,” Trump said, repeating his false claim that the 2020 election results were illegitimate: “The fraud and everything else was ridiculous.” In response, Biden mocked him. “You’re a whiner,” he said. “You can’t stand losing; something snapped in you the last time you lost.”
Ten minutes into the debate, Trump launched an unfounded claim that Biden was weaponizing American justice against him. He called it “a system that was rigged and disgusting,” because he was being prosecuted in multiple jurisdictions by independent prosecutors. Toward the end, Trump made the same allusion again: “He prosecuted me because I was his opponent.”
Trump also brought up the Russia investigation — “Russia, Russia, Russia,” as he called it — and Biden’s son Hunter Biden‘s laptop.
And Trump played up his promise of retaliation if he becomes president this fall. “He could be a convicted felon the minute he leaves office,” Trump said of Biden. Trump also said, “My retaliation is my success.”
Conflicts over abortion, taxes and more shape policy efforts
Trump embraced his role in appointing the three “major” Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, while repeatedly – and falsely – claiming that there was complete consensus on ending federal law and returning abortion policy to lawmakers in 2022.
“Everybody wanted it back to the states,” Trump said — polls show voters supported Roe v. Wade by large margins. “This is something everybody wanted.” He added that “every legal scholar wanted it this way” — many of whom disagreed.
And Trump embraced an argument popular among social conservatives, arguing that Democrats were the real radicals on abortion by refusing to support federal restrictions. After Trump claimed that Biden supports abortions “after birth,” Biden responded by saying he only supports restoring Roe v. Wade, which allowed for some restrictions. “We are not in favor of late-term abortion. Period of time. Period of time. Period,” Biden said.
Trump focused heavily on the border and immigration and criticized rising migration during Biden’s term.
And he also called for an extension of his government’s 2017 tax cuts, which expire at the end of 2025. Biden repeatedly promised to raise taxes on the wealthy, saying Trump “rewarded the rich — he had the largest tax cut in American history.”
Biden has singers prepared
Biden’s sharpest moments came when he delivered seemingly prepared one-liners against Trump, often calling him a liar or a criminal and often dismissing his claims with a dismissive grin.
“The only person on this stage who is a convicted criminal is the man I’m looking at right now,” Biden said, as Trump nodded in agreement.
When Trump attacked his record on immigration, Biden said, “Again, he’s exaggerating, he’s lying.” His other lines included, “Everything he said is a lie. Every single one.” And, “I’ve never heard so much malarkey in my entire life.”
At one point, Biden attacked Trump for calling service members “losers” and “suckers,” according to reporting from The Atlantic. “My son was not a loser. He wasn’t a loser. You’re the loser. You are the loser,” Biden said. (Trump responded by questioning the magazine’s credibility.)
When Trump said Biden has “become like a Palestinian,” Biden responded, “I’ve never heard so much foolishness.”
And Trump came up with a number of his own prepared lines, including one at the end, when he argued that the US “is a failing nation, but it will fail no longer — we are going to make it great again.”
“We’re living in hell,” Trump said. “The whole country is exploding because of you.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
