Donald Trump lied about the economy during his time in office, about care for veterans, about crime and even about the violent participants in his attempted coup of January 6, 2021 – and was able to go largely unhindered by the president Joe Bidenwho delivered a weak and unfocused performance from the start.
As he did during his four years as president, Trump claimed he had created “the best economy in history.” In fact, the economy during his reign was essentially the same as that of his predecessor. Barack Obamaand even created fewer new jobs in his first three years than Obama did in his last three years.
Trump claimed he had passed the Veterans Choice Act, which allows veterans to go to private doctors if wait times become too long. In reality, that measure was also passed under Obama.
Trump claimed that crime was skyrocketing. In fact, crime peaked in Trump’s last year in the White House and has fallen every year under Biden.
Trump then claimed he had done nothing wrong in his handling of the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, accusing former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of failing to stop the violence. He then claimed that the prosecutions against him were not brought because of his actions, but because he was running for president.
“I did nothing wrong. We allegedly had a system that was rigged and disgusting,” he said. “He sued me because I was his political opponent.”
Trump even claimed that Biden took money from China. In reality, Trump received more than $5 million from China during his presidency, just through his hotel five blocks from the White House.
Despite all this, CNN moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper did not fact-check Trump, and Biden seemed unable to contradict him — often mangling and lagging syntax in his answers.
“How many billions of dollars in fines for publicly harassing a woman? For having sex with a porn star? While your wife was pregnant?” Biden said to Trump at one point about his various lawsuits.
And after Trump defended the January 6 mob that beat and pepper-sprayed police officers, injuring 140 of them and killing one an hour later, Biden’s response never mentioned the police attacks, making it seem as if Trump’s followers were merely engaging in vandalism.
“The idea that they didn’t kill anyone, they just kicked in doors, broke windows, occupied offices, toppled desks, toppled statues. The idea that those people are patriots?” Biden said.
Thursday night’s meeting will almost certainly revive the fears of many Democrats that Biden, at 82, is simply incapable of defeating a man they see as a real threat to American democracy. The performance will also add to speculation that party leaders are trying to convince Biden to step aside and allow another candidate to emerge at the party’s convention in August.
According to Biden’s staff, the president was suffering from a cold, but that statement is unlikely to allay concerns that he does not have the energy to defeat Trump, let alone complete a second four-year term.
Biden and Trump debated twice during the 2020 campaign, when Trump was president and Biden was the Democratic nominee challenging his re-election.
At their first meeting on September 29, Trump had tested positive for COVID a few days earlier but did not announce this. Instead, he continued with his public schedule, including a ceremony at the White House for recently nominated Chief Justice Amy Coney Barrett. He then came to the debate venue but failed to take a COVID test as he had agreed to do.
Three days later, he announced he had contracted COVID and was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center the following afternoon.
Biden and Trump met again in Nashville for a more subdued debate on October 22, 2020, by which time many voters had already cast ballots by mail.
In this campaign, a second debate between Biden and Trump is scheduled for September 10, sponsored by ABC News.
From now until then, both candidates are expected to be formally nominated by their parties at their party conventions. Trump is also scheduled to be sentenced on July 11 for his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying company records to prevent a porn actor’s story of an affair from coming out before the 2016 election.
Additionally, Trump may face a trial this summer in his January 6, 2021 election interference case, depending on the nature of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision expected in the coming days on his claim that he is immune from prosecution for his attempted coup because he was president at the time.
Trump also faces charges in federal court in South Florida over his refusal to turn over classified documents, and in Georgia over his attempt to overturn his election defeat in that state. Those cases are not expected to proceed this year, however.
