- Joe Biden and Donald Trump held their first debate of 2024 on Thursday.
- It was a total disaster, as Biden’s performance was clearly weak.
- Trump took advantage of that and appeared relatively calm and in control.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump held their first debate of the year on Thursday.
It was a big gamble for a president who has consistently trailed the former president in national and battleground state polls.
The results were terrible.
Biden got off to a particularly weak start.
From the start of the debate, Biden’s demeanor was unmistakably weak, and according to NBC, he was suffering from a cold.
Answering CNN host Jake Tapper’s first question about the economy, Biden appeared out of breath and began rambling on with facts, slurring and occasionally skipping words.
Biden spoke incomprehensibly at times.
In response to another question about the Gaza war, Biden gaffefully said, “We are the largest supporter of Israel in the world.”
In response to another question about the national debt, Biden cryptically concluded, “We finally got over Medicare.”
“Yeah, he’s right,” Trump replied. “He defeated Medicare. He defeated it big time.”
Meanwhile, Trump effectively exploited Biden’s weak performance, remaining calm and disciplined even as he occasionally criticized the president.
“I have no idea what he said at the end of that sentence,” Trump said. “I don’t think he knows what he said.”
Biden has become more energetic over time, but the response has remained mixed.
Biden’s raspy voice lessened a bit as the debate went on, but many of his responses remained incoherent.
Going into tonight’s election, many Republicans had alleged that Biden was using drugs and had predicted a relatively strong performance from the president.
They ended up being wrong, but it worked to their advantage.
There’s another debate on September 10th, and Biden will have to seriously consider whether to do it.
Both Biden and Trump have agreed to debate again on September 10.
If you’re a Biden supporter, there are a couple of ways you can look at this: It could be an opportunity to reset what was clearly a very bad start tonight, or it could be another opportunity for Biden to show weakness.
Thursday’s debate was the earliest general election debate on record. Both men are their respective parties’ presumptive nominees but have not yet been formally nominated.
Several other Democrats have long been seen as possible replacements for Biden if he were to drop out of the race.
But it’s unclear whether he would choose to do so or whether he would face such demands from within his own party.
Given the ideological divisions within the party, there is also the risk of chaos at the party’s convention in August if the party has to choose a new candidate.
