Biden-Trump debate Live updates: Age, immigration, foreign policy, wars and inflation – 5 key points to watch tonight

A New York Times report suggests, Democrats, including staunch Biden supporters within his administration, have immediately reacted with alarm after his dismal performance during the debate. They exchanged urgent phone calls and text messages, with some expressing shock on social media over Biden’s performance.

Report further elaborates that, Privately, discussions arose about the implications for the party and whether it was too late to advocate for a younger alternative to Biden. A veteran Democratic strategist highlighted a growing chorus within the party calling for Biden to step aside, noting that the once-strong support for him among Democrats seemed to be waning.

Other than showcasing Biden as a strong opponent to Trump the debate has only exposed his capability issues further. Now even Democrat circles speculate over Biden’s ability to lead the party into the next election cycle.

“If the Democratic Party were smart, it would make Jamie Dimon the candidate. Jamie said he wouldn’t run unless he was anointed president. This would be his anointment,” Bill Ackman commented on the debate

Vivek Ramaswamy responds to presidential debate: “The fact that anyone is shocked by Biden’s brain-dead performance tonight is a scathing indictment of the media which has gone to great lengths to cover this fact up for the public.”

NY Times: ‘A raspy Biden melted down in prime time’

USA Today: ‘DEMOCRATIC PANIC, Biden supporters alarmed after president’s debate struggles’

NBC: Biden delivers shaky performance; Trump dodges accepting election results

CNN: Biden’s poor showing and Trump’s repeated deflection

Fox News: Raspy Biden gets off to a halting start against Trump in the first 2024 presidential debate

Reuters:

Biden’s performance: In a high stake face-off that will turn the tide for rest of the campaign president Joe Biden appeared struggling and even froze several times. The moment that most of his opponents were waiting for came early, when Biden appeared to freeze for several seconds while answering a question about the economy. Most of the time he stumbled during exchanges over key numbers, like the amount of new jobs created under his administration, caps for out-of-pocket drug costs and insulin that are key pillars of his reelection bid.

The shaky performance is not being used as a fodder by Trump supporters to call him the decisive winner of the debate. Biden’s team quickly rushed in for a damage control by claiming president has a cold.

Despite his awkward moments of silence and struggling Biden called out Trump, labelling him, ‘an alley cat with no moral, a ’whiner’ over rigged election claim, ‘having slept with a sex worker’, and a ‘sucker’ for attacking his son Hunter Biden.

Trump showed more aggression: On the contrary Trump capitalized on Biden’s missteps, swiping at his opponent during an exchange on immigration. “I really don’t know what he said on this, and I don’t think he knows what he said either,” Trump said.

His performance during the debate showed moments of controversy and missteps. He veered off-topic when asked about Americans battling opioid addiction, instead focusing on immigration and unrelated international issues. Trump made false claims, including taking credit for a Medicare insulin price cap that wasn’t his doing, and reiterated conspiracy theories about the January 6 Capitol rioters being invited in by police. He also faced uncomfortable questions regarding his alleged affair with a porn star, a topic central to his legal troubles. Moreover, Trump awkwardly dodged inquiries about whether he would accept the election results, adding to the contentious atmosphere of the debate.

“Donald Trump spent the night talking about himself, his lies, his legal woes, his affairs with a porn star, and his golf championships at his own club,” claimed Joe Biden.

NY Times Opinion extract: The debate got personal.

Former President Donald J. Trump repeatedly delivered aggressive, often misleading attacks against a shaky President Biden during a 90-minute debate Thursday night, offering millions of voters a stark contrast amid a high-stakes rematch in which Mr. Biden’s performance was repeatedly foggy and disjointed.

Mr. Trump, 78, made wild assertions and false statements, remaining unapologetic about his alternate-reality claims about the 2020 election, while avoiding a grievance-filled rant. Mr. Biden, 81, spoke rapidly and appeared to meander through his answers, fumbling at the end of sentences even as he accused Mr. Trump of being a liar and a threat to democracy.

Bloomberg Opinion extract – “President Joe Biden stumbled through exchanges in Thursday’s presidential debate, a performance that risks exacerbating concerns about his age and intensifying Democratic worries about their candidate’s ability to defeat Republican Donald Trump in November’s election.

The president’s performance was punctuated by stumbles, repeated lines, coughs, misstatements and an extended freeze that will stoke fitness and acuity concerns. He stumbled over key numbers, like the amount of new jobs created under his administration, caps for out-of-pocket drug costs and insulin that are key pillars of his reelection bid.

The shaky performance threatens to wound Biden’s already sputtering campaign, fueling Republican attacks that, at 81, the oldest president in US history is not fit to serve another four-year term. Trump capitalized on Biden’s missteps, swiping at his opponent during an exchange on immigration.

“I really don’t know what he said on this, and I don’t think he knows what he said either,” Trump said.

Biden is fighting a cold, according to people familiar with the matter.

Trump’s performance was not without missteps of his own. Asked about Americans struggling with opioid addiction, the former president talked about immigration and Russia’s detention of a Wall Street Journal reporter. He falsely claimed credit for a cap on Medicare insulin prices, claimed Jan. 6 rioters were invited into the Capitol by police, and was forced to claim he never had sex with a porn star – a central element of his hush money trial. He also repeatedly and awkwardly sidestepped questions about if he would respect the results of the election.”

In his closing statement, Trump criticized Biden for alleged failures in national security and immigration policies, accusing him of making the country unsafe. Trump condemned conflicts such as Israel’s war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, claiming they should have been prevented.

He painted a bleak picture of the current state of the nation, comparing it unfavorably to the Charlottesville incident during his presidency. Trump vowed to restore greatness to the country, contrasting his vision with what he described as a failing nation under Biden’s leadership.

Biden has said that the country has made “significant progress” on issues such as taxation and healthcare access after the “debacle” of Trump’s time in office, vowing to continue bringing down inflation.

He also said that Trump’s proposal to increase tariffs by 10 percent would amount to a “tax” on everyday people and that he would roll Biden’s efforts to increase the ability of Medicare to negotiate the price of some drugs for seniors.

During the debate, Biden and Trump bantered about their golf skills in response to questions about their age. Trump boasted about winning two regular club championships recently, emphasizing his fitness and skill.

“I just won two club championships, not even senior. Two regular club championships,” the former president said. “To do that, you have to be quite smart, and you have to be able to hit the ball a long way.”

“He doesn’t do it,” Trump said of Biden. “He can’t hit a ball 50 yards.”

Biden responded with humor, challenging Trump to a driving contest and joking about carrying his own golf bag. “I told you before I’m happy to play golf. If you carry your own bag. Do you think you could do it?” Biden responded.

Asked whether he would accept the result of the 2024 election if he loses after waging an effort to overturn his loss in 2020 based on false claims that the election was rigged against him, Trump said he would accept a “fair and legal” election.

Though he went on to reiterate false claims about widespread fraud during the 2020 election.

Biden called Trump a “whiner” for pushing the false claim that the election was stolen from him, saying that “something snapped” in Trump because he was incapable of accepting defeat.

During the debate Donald Trump has claimed that Russia may be asking for billions of dollars from US to release Wall Street Journalist reporter Evan Gershkovich. He is currently on trial for espionage in Russia.

However, Trump maintained on the debate stage that the key to his release is November’s election.

“As soon as I win the election, I will have that reporter out,” Trump said, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of coercing Biden for Gershkovich’s release.

Biden, earlier in the debate, called Putin a “war criminal”.

According to an NBC report, Biden “has a cold,” and he does not have Covid-19.

The justification comes after Biden’s quiet, raspy voice and occasional coughing has garnered significant attention throughout the debate.

During the debate, Biden and Trump clashed over the U.S.’s involvement in the Paris Climate Agreement.

Trump, who withdrew the U.S. from the accord in 2017, defended his decision, calling the agreement a financial burden on the country.

Biden criticized Trump’s environmental policies, “I don’t know where the hell he’s been,” Biden said of Trump, as the latter attacked his environmental record. “I’ve passed the most extensive climate change legislation in history.”

“And he didn’t do a damn thing about it,” he said of Trump. “He wants to undo all that I’ve done.”

Trump, meanwhile, said he had a the “biggest heart” and defended his decision, “It was a ripoff of the United States, and I ended it,” Trump said. “It was costing us money.”

Biden and Trump each declare the other unfit to be president as their exchanges heat up at the midpoint of their debate. Trump calls himself the best president and Biden worst president in US history. Biden counters, it’s not my conjecture but by fact that Trump was the worst president for US.

US President Joe Biden on Thursday accused his election rival Donald Trump of having the “morals of an alley cat” in a blistering attack on the Republican’s character during the first debate of the 2024 campaign.

“The crimes you are still charged with. Think of all the civil penalties you have. How many billions of dollars do you owe in civil penalties for molesting a woman in public… for having sex with a porn star on the night, while your wife was pregnant? What are you talking about? You have the morals of an alley cat,” he told Trump during their showdown in Atlanta.

Trump’s claim Pelosi turned down his offer to send National Guard members on Jan. 6, 2021

Trump falsely claimed that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “turned down” his offer to send “10,000 soldiers or National Guard” to the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Pelosi does not direct the National Guard. Further, as the Capitol came under attack, she and then-Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell called for military assistance, including from the National Guard.

The Capitol Police Board makes the decision on whether to call National Guard troops to the Capitol. It is made up of the House Sergeant at Arms, the Senate Sergeant at Arms and the Architect of the Capitol. The board decided not to call the guard ahead of the insurrection but did eventually request assistance after the rioting had already begun, and the troops arrived several hours later.

There is no evidence that either Pelosi or McConnell directed the security officials not to call the guard beforehand.

-AP Reports

During the debate, Biden affirmed that voting for Trump was, in his view, a vote against democracy, particularly citing Trump’s actions and statements.

Biden referenced the 2017 Charlottesville white supremacist rally as a pivotal moment that motivated him to run for president in 2020.

“What American president would ever say, Nazis coming out of fields carrying torches… were fine people?” Biden asked.

Trump countered by denying the events occurred as Biden said. “He didn’t run because of Charlottesville. He used that as an excuse to run,” Trump said. “He made up the Charlottesville story.”

“We saw it with our own eyes,” Biden said.

Donald Trump , who has become the first president to be a convicted felon claimed Biden could be a ‘convicted felon’ after he leaves office

Trump said Biden could come under legal scrutiny after leaving office, calling him a “criminal” and saying that he himself had done “nothing wrong” but was convicted by a “rigged” court.

Biden said it was “wrong” for Trump to suggest that he could seek retribution against political rivals because he was president.

When asked whether he can be trusted to safeguard democracy after the riot by his supporters on January 6, Trump denied that he encouraged his supporters to act violently in his remarks on that day.

Biden countered, ‘Donald Trump encouraged the insurrectionists on January 6. He didn’t do a damn thing to hold them accountable.’

However fact is that Trump encouraged his supporters to walk up to the Capitol, and promoted false claims about the election being stolen that were embraced by the rioters.

President Biden claimed that everyone, including the UN and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has agreed to his ceasefire plan. He attributed the continuation of the war to Hamas.

Netanyahu has consistently stated that Israel will not agree to a ceasefire deal that ends the conflict.

Former President Trump countered Biden’s claim by asserting that Netanyahu desires to continue the conflict to pursue Israel’s goals, using whatever means necessary.

President Joe Biden faced delivery challenges during the CNN presidential debate, clearing his throat or coughing multiple times. Biden cleared his throat or coughed multiple times, a condition that his doctor has previously stated is caused by acid reflux.

“Continue to move until we get the total ban on the, the, the, the total initiative relative to what we’re gonna do with more border patrol and more asylum officers,” Biden argued

“I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence,” Trump countered

During the debate, Trump accused Biden of neglecting veterans while immigrants lived in luxury hotels, saying, “They’re living in luxury hotels in New York City and other places. He doesn’t care about our veterans.” Biden countered by referencing reports that Trump called fallen veterans “suckers and losers,” stating emphatically, “My son was not a loser or a sucker. You are a loser. You are a sucker.” Trump responded by denying the allegations, saying, “He made up the suckers and losers, so he should apologize to me right now.” The exchange continued tense as Biden expressed disbelief at the idea of apologizing to Trump.