President Joe Biden’s halting performance in Thursday’s debate with former President Donald Trump has sparked new questions about his future, as the event was widely seen as a test of the candidates’ fitness for office.
During the debate in Atlanta, the two candidates discussed various policies, but little new ground was broken. The main focus was on how the 81-year-old president and his 78-year-old predecessor would handle another term, with Democrats expressing concern over Biden’s performance.
Here are five major highlights from Thursday night’s debate:
Biden’s slow start
Biden began the debate with a raspy voice and stumbled through several answers early on. For example, he initially mentioned “thousands of trillionaires” when discussing the national debt before correcting himself.
His most significant stumble came about 12 minutes into the debate. After discussing potential uses for tax revenue from wealthy Americans, Biden paused for six seconds and seemed to lose his train of thought:
“We’d be able to help make sure that all those things we need to do, child care, elder care, making sure that we continue to strengthen our health care system. Making sure that we’re able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with the — with the COVID, excuse me — dealing with everything we have to do with, look … we finally beat Medicare,” Biden said.
This moment underscored concerns about Biden’s mental acuity and fitness for office, leading Republicans to celebrate.
“Game over!!!,” Bryan Lanza, a former Trump campaign aide, texted ABC News.
Democrats also voiced concerns. One high-level Democratic strategist suggested Biden’s team should look into “espresso; and honey and lemon for the throat.”
As the debate progressed, Biden seemed to gain momentum. He called Trump a “convicted felon” and engaged in a heated exchange over their records. However, his performance lacked the energy of his opponent.
Biden team’s response
Biden’s campaign quickly attempted to spin his performance, acknowledging that it might not have met Democrats’ expectations.
They revealed that Biden had a cold but had tested negative for COVID-19, a fact that was not disclosed earlier. The campaign said that they felt fine but admitted Biden had a slow start.
Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s campaign chair, stated, “Tonight, President Biden presented a positive and winning vision for the future of America — one in which every American has a fair shot at the American dream, where every one of our rights are protected, and where our president fights to strengthen our democracy — not to tear it down.”
Trump presents more reserved presence in debate
Observers were curious about which version of Donald Trump would appear on stage Thursday: the aggressive interrupter from the first 2020 debate, or a more composed figure aiming to appear presidential.
In general, Trump adopted the latter approach.
Although Trump did indulge in some of his typical bombastic rhetoric—exaggerating the economy’s state under his term, inflating the number of border crossings and crimes under Biden, suggesting Biden “could be a convicted felon,” and accusing the president of targeting his political opponent due to fears of losing fairly—he did not focus heavily on unfounded election fraud claims or frequent attacks on Hunter Biden, who was recently convicted on felony gun charges.
Instead, Trump often redirected his answers to favorable topics for him, such as inflation and immigration, even when asked about the January 6 Capitol riot.
“”Let me tell you about Jan. 6. On Jan. 6, we had a great border. Nobody coming through. Very few on Jan. 6. We were energy independent on Jan. 6, we had the lowest taxes ever. We had the lowest regulations ever,” he said.
Following the debate, Trump’s campaign quickly declared victory.
“Tonight President Trump delivered the greatest debate performance and victory in history to the largest voter audience in history, making clear exactly how he will improve the lives of every American,” top Trump campaign hands Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement.
“Joe Biden on the other hand showed exactly why he deserves to be fired,” they said. “Despite taking a week-long vacation at Camp David to prepare for the debate, Biden was unable to defend his disastrous record on the economy and the border.”
New debate rules ensure cleanliness but imit pushback
Thursday’s debate featured new rules that successfully created a cleaner atmosphere compared to previous debates. There was no audience present to interrupt with applause or boos, and candidates’ microphones were cut off when they were not recognised to speak.
This resulted in a debate with minimal crosstalk or disruptions, a notable improvement from the primary debates earlier this year and the 2020 debates, where excessive crosstalk often made candidates’ comments hard to follow.
However, the more structured format also had its downsides. Moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash sometimes chose to move on rather than correct falsehoods or insist on direct answers if a candidate had exhausted their response time.
Despite the cleaner format, the debate occasionally strayed into less serious topic, with both candidates sparring over their golfing abilities toward the end.
Lots of policy talk, little new ground
The debate’s structure helped keep the focus on policy, but there were few new revelations regarding the candidates’ positions on key issues.
Biden pledged to reinstate Roe v. Wade and protect abortion rights, raise taxes on wealthy Americans, and support Ukraine.
Trump defended his tax cuts, said he would pressure European allies to increase their support for Ukraine against Russia, and asserted that Israel should continue its military operations in Gaza.
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