ATLANTA \u2014 President Biden struggled through a raspy voice and uneven delivery Thursday to unleash a charged and deeply personal attack on his longtime rival, former president Donald Trump, who responded in kind with a blizzard of personal jibes and falsehoods at the first presidential debate of the cycle.<\/p>\n
Biden noticeably stumbled at times as he delivered his retorts with a thin voice, mumbled words and occasional look of confusion \u2014 a performance that drew immediate worries among Democrats concerned about his age and perceived fragility among many voters.<\/p>\n
Trump, who attempted to deliver a less voluble and defiant performance than past debates, based many of his answers around falsehoods that went unchallenged by the debate moderators.<\/p>\n
In the sharpest exchanges of the night, Biden accused Trump of having \u201cthe morals of an alley cat\u201d for allegedly having \u201csex with a porn star,\u201d a reference to allegations Trump still denies that were a part of his recent criminal trial in New York.<\/p>\n
Biden called Trump a \u201cconvicted felon\u201d and \u201csuch a whiner\u201d and also denounced Trump for his refusal to condemn those who committed violence in the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea that you have the right to seek retribution against any American is just wrong. No president has ever spoken like that before,\u201d he said, before predicting that Trump is unlikely to accept the results of the coming election if he loses.<\/p>\n
Trump, in turn, called Biden\u2019s actions \u201cabsolutely criminal,\u201d and falsely alleged that Biden \u201cgets paid by China\u201d and is a \u201cManchurian candidate,\u201d assertions that are not backed up by any evidence. Trump, unprompted, also brought up the recent criminal conviction of Biden\u2019s son, Hunter.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not equipped to be president. You know it and I know it. It\u2019s ridiculous,\u201d Trump said at one point. \u201cWe have a debate. We\u2019re trying to justify his presidency. His presidency is, without question, the worst president, the worst presidency in the history of our country. We shouldn\u2019t be having a debate about it. There\u2019s nothing to debate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump told Biden that he should be ashamed about Justice Department prosecutions connected to the Jan. 6 attack. Later he said of Biden, \u201cEverything he does is a lie. It\u2019s misinformation and disinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biden, 81, came into the debate aiming to cast Trump as a more unhinged and extreme version of the politician that voters elected in 2016, while Trump, 78, looked to capitalize on voter perceptions that Biden has been a less successful president and now faces diminishing faculties because of age.<\/p>\n
Biden did little to put to rest voter perceptions that his age is a major issue in this election, largely avoiding a question about voter worries that he would be 86 years old at the end of his second term.<\/p>\n
Democrats expressed concern after the debate that Biden had done little to settle concerns about his ability to serve another term as president, and even some campaign officials acknowledged that Biden may have damaged his candidacy. \u201cIt was a really disappointing debate performance from Joe Biden. I don\u2019t think there is any other way to slice it,\u201d said Kate Bedingfield, Biden\u2019s former communications adviser, on CNN after the debate ended.<\/p>\n
Twelve minutes in, Biden appeared to lose his train of thought while answering a question about the deficit. He mixed up \u201ctrillionaires\u201d for \u201cbillionaires\u201d and \u201cmillions\u201d for \u201cbillions\u201d while starting to explain that taxing the ultra-wealthy would make \u201cevery single solitary person eligible for what I\u2019ve been able to do with the covid.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stopped to correct himself. \u201cExcuse me, with the, dealing with everything we have to do with \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked down and trailed off, then finished with \u201clook, if \u2014 we finally beat Medicare.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Biden\u2019s time ran out, CNN\u2019s moderator Jake Tapper stepped in and gave the floor to Trump, who seized on Biden\u2019s words.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, he\u2019s right, he did beat Medicare,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Ten minutes later, after Biden gave another mumbling answer, Trump pounced: \u201cI really don\u2019t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don\u2019t think he knows what he said either.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump later challenged Biden to take a cognitive test and argued that he did not think Biden had the ability to hit a golf ball 50 yards.<\/p>\n
Biden responded by saying he had recently been a six handicap and would play Trump in golf if Trump agreed to carry his own bag. \u201cJust take a look at what he says he is and look at what he is,\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen your swing. I know your swing,\u201d Trump responded, calling the Biden claim of a six handicap false.<\/p>\n
Biden\u2019s performance improved as the debate continued. His voice cleared and he appeared more comfortable on stage. Trump, for his part, made a point of honoring the strict rules that had been imposed by Biden\u2019s campaign, promptly yielding the floor and maintaining his composure while Biden was speaking. Each candidate\u2019s microphone was turned off when they were not speaking in an effort to limit cross-talk.<\/p>\n
The exchange over age and fitness was one of the only times the two men interrupted one another during the 90-minute debate.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s not act like children,\u201d Trump said to Biden.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are a child,\u201d Biden responded.<\/p>\n
The candidates were not able to bring notes or speak with their advisers during the two commercial breaks during the roughly 90-minute meeting at CNN\u2019s television studios. The moderators, anchors Tapper and Dana Bash, did not fact-check the candidates during the debate, which moved along swiftly from topic to topic as the candidates spoke in one- or two-minute chunks.<\/p>\n
While speaking about abortion restrictions, Biden referenced victims of rape and incest who are forced to carry pregnancies to term under some Republican state legislation and proposals. Trump then accused Biden of letting criminals come into the country, part of a pattern of pivoting to immigration throughout the debate.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the one that killed people with a bad border, including hundreds of thousands of people dying and also killing our citizens when they come in,\u201d Trump said. \u201cWe are living right now in a rat\u2019s nest. \u2026 We\u2019re literally an uncivilized country now. He doesn\u2019t want it to be. He just doesn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump alleged, as he often does in campaign speeches, that foreign countries are emptying jails and mental hospitals to send people to the United States \u2014 a claim that he has not provided any evidence to support. There is no research that establishes a connection between immigration and crime.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea we\u2019re emptying our prisons, we\u2019re welcoming these people, it\u2019s simply not true. There\u2019s no data to support what you said,\u201d Biden said. \u201cOnce again, he\u2019s exaggerating. He\u2019s lying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later, Biden faulted Trump for blocking a bipartisan compromise for boosting border security and for family separations at the border during his presidency.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the worst president in the history of our country. He destroyed our country,\u201d Trump said at another point. \u201cHe wants open borders. He wants either to be destroyed or he wants to pick up those people as voters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biden was ready for the last attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are the most admired country in the world. We are the United States of America,\u201d Biden said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing beyond our capacity. We are the finest military in the history of the world, the finest in the history of the world. No one thinks we\u2019re weak. No one wants to screw around with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
On foreign policy, the two men presented sharply contrasting visions on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, conflicts in which U.S. weaponry has played an outsize and increasingly controversial role.<\/p>\n
Highlighting the proliferations of conflicts in recent years, Trump looked at Biden and said, \u201cThe whole world is blowing up under him.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response, Biden quipped: \u201cI\u2019ve never heard so much malarkey in my life.\u201d He suggested that Trump would walk away from NATO and allow Russian president Vladimir Putin to have his way with Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Trump took Biden to task over the war in Ukraine, saying that the billions of dollars in taxpayer funding going to that conflict were unnecessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a lot of money,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThe money that we\u2019re spending on this war \u2014 and we shouldn\u2019t be spending. It should\u2019ve never happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Biden administration has secured more than $100 billion in taxpayer funding to support Ukraine in the wake of Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion, but the war has lost some backing among Americans as the costs have piled up and the fighting has dragged along.<\/p>\n
On Israel, Biden stood by his administration\u2019s handling of the war, saying \u201cwe saved Israel\u201d and asserting that the militant group Hamas \u201cshould be eliminated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump responded by attacking Biden over the conflict, suggesting that Biden should be more supportive of Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s become like a Palestinian, but they don\u2019t like him because he\u2019s a very bad Palestinian,\u201d Trump said of Biden. \u201cHe\u2019s a weak one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump responded to a direct question about his role in encouraging his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol by changing the subject to the state of the economy on that day.<\/p>\n
Tapper pressed him by repeating his question, and Trump falsely shifted blame for the attack to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, then attacked the bipartisan House committee that investigated the assault.<\/p>\n
Biden pushed back: \u201cHe sat there for three hours, three hours, watching, being begged by his vice president and a number of his colleagues and Republicans as well, to do something to call for a stop to end it.\u201d He then criticized Trump for pledging to pardon convicted rioters, saying, \u201cHe wants to let them all out, and now he says if he loses it again, such a whiner that he is, that it could be a bloodbath.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biden finished by pointedly asking Trump, as he did in their first debate in 2020, to denounce violent extremist groups such as the Proud Boys and others who attacked the Capitol. Trump did not answer, and Tapper moved on to the next question.<\/p>\n
Trump also avoided repeated questions about whether he would accept the results of the 2024 election once all legal challenges were exhausted. After he was asked the third time, he responded, \u201cIf it is a fair and legal and good election, absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump entered the debate in a substantially better position than during their 2020 matchup, with polling leads outside the normal-sized polling error in all battleground states except for Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, where the race is roughly tied. Biden\u2019s favorability rating in the Gallup Poll has fallen four points to 37 percent between December and June, while Trump\u2019s favorability rose four points to 46 percent, despite his felony convictions in a New York courtroom.<\/p>\n
Much of Biden\u2019s lost standing since 2020 comes from cracks in his own coalition, with historically large shares of Democrats continuing to voice displeasure that he is their nominee. Biden expressed confidence that the numbers would shift in his favor in the coming months.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s see where your numbers are when this election is over,\u201d Biden said to Trump.<\/p>\n
Breaking with tradition of three presidential debates, Biden has said he will participate in only one more event with Trump, an ABC News event on Sept. 10, with similar rules and format. Trump has called for additional meetings to be scheduled.<\/p>\n
The Biden campaign has also proposed an additional vice presidential debate after the Republican nominating convention in July.<\/p>\n
Scherer reported from Washington. Tyler Pager contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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