WASHINGTON (AP) — The first signs of trouble came before the debate even began.
“Folks, how are you?” President Joe Biden said as he shuffled onto the stage. His voice was hoarse and thin, his movements stiff. “Good to be here. Thank you.”
It was an ominous glimpse of what would become a historic night. The first and last debates between Biden and Donald Trump set off a chain reaction that led to Vice President Kamala Harris replacing Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket. She gets her own chance in the spotlight on Tuesday when she meets Trump in another debate. She and her team have been preparing, determined to maintain the momentum that has revived the Democrats’ chances this year.
Trump said in a recent interview with a New Hampshire radio host that he was prepared for a confrontation with Harris after his meeting with Biden.
“He was no good,” Trump said. “I hope she’s no good either.”
A look back at the June 27 debate offers lessons for Harris and warnings for Trump, whose rambling and occasionally incoherent language was overshadowed by Biden’s missteps.
The first hurdle is understanding the optics of the event.
Optics are important in debates
Ever since Richard Nixon lost the first televised presidential debate to John F. Kennedy in 1960, political pundits have treated them as visual spectacles. Biden looked pale on stage, and he appeared dazed, his mouth slightly open, when Trump spoke.
“This is an Instagram, Facebook, TikTok society,” said Michael LaRosa, a former spokesman for first lady Jill Biden. “Visuals matter.”
LaRosa said Harris must be balanced at all times, as footage of her reacting to Trump’s remarks could be just as powerful as when it’s her turn to speak. Her presentation will be closely watched because she’s less well-known than Trump, meaning Americans are still forming their opinions of her.
Biden also struggled to clearly argue his position and robustly attack Trump.
For example, during a question about the economy, Biden started talking about how the country could invest in education and social services if there were higher taxes on the wealthy. But he lost track and looked down at his desk. When he looked up, he inexplicably said, “Look, we finally defeated Medicare.”
He ran out of time. “Thank you, President Biden,” said Jake Tapper, one of the moderators.
When the camera caught Biden looking confused by his own answer, Trump jumped on it. “He killed it. And he’s destroying Medicare.”
Biden twisted his answers
The next topic was abortion, a subject that got Democrats thinking after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Trump spoke first, claiming that ending the national right to abortion was “something everyone wanted.”
“Every legal scholar in the world, the most respected, wanted it to be returned to the states. I did,” he said. “Now the states are working it out.”
The response was false and evasive, as Trump simultaneously attempted to take credit for the anti-abortion movement’s historic victory and deflect anger over the outcome.
Biden’s answer started off short and sweet.
“What you’ve done is horrible,” he said, adding that it was “ridiculous” to suggest there was a consensus to repeal Roe v. Wade. Biden said Trump’s view was like saying “we’re going to give civil rights back to the states, so every state has a different rule.”
Then Biden took an unexpected turn, perhaps prompted by Trump’s support for exceptions to abortion bans if a woman is raped. He raised Trump’s concerns about crimes committed by immigrants, then said that “there are many young women who are being raped by their in-laws, by their husbands, by their brothers and sisters.”
“And if those women get pregnant, there’s nothing they can do about it,” Biden said. “And they try to arrest them if they cross state lines.”
Paul Begala, a veteran Democratic strategist, called Biden’s response bizarre.
“He took his strongest point,” meaning abortion, “and started talking about his weakest point: border security.
Democratic panic started early
They were 15 minutes into a 90-minute debate and, Begala said, “my phone was blowing up with texts from other Democratic strategists saying, ‘Oh my God, it’s over.’”
After Biden stumbled over an answer to the question about immigration, Trump responded with ridicule.
“I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence,” he said. “I don’t think he knows what he said either.”
While the debate was still underway, the White House said Biden was nursing a cold. And in the days that followed, Biden said he was experiencing jet lag from traveling abroad.
But the damage had been done. Biden had already struggled to convince voters he could serve until he was 86, the age he would be at the end of a second term. Now he had seemingly confirmed the nation’s worst fears about his fitness for office.
Begala said Harris’s relative youth — she turns 60 next month — is a huge advantage, especially since Trump is 78.
“Every day she wakes up and she’s not 81, she’s breaking with Biden,” he said.
Trump offers no shortage of vulnerabilities in debate. He is forceful but hyperbolic and often dishonest. He sometimes rambles on about his grievances, which may amuse his loyal fans at political rallies but is not suited to a one-on-one debate.
Former President Bill Clinton had his own advice for confronting Trump: show that he only thinks of himself.
“The next time you hear him, don’t count the lies, dot the i’s,” he said at the Democratic National Convention.
