2024 Election: How the Biden vs. Trump debate will change the race

ATLANTA (AP) — A raspy-voiced, sometimes choppy president Joe Biden I've tried to fight him many times Donald Trump In the first debate before the November election, his Republican rival countered Biden's criticism with false claims about the economy, illegal immigration and his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Biden's Performance variabilityHis comments, particularly early in the debate, highlighted concerns among many Americans that at 81, he is too old to serve as president, and renewed calls for the Democratic nominee to consider stepping down as Democrats fearful of a return to the White House.

Biden has repeatedly lashed out at Trump in an attempt to provoke him, bringing up everything from the former president's recent felony convictions to his alleged insults to World War I veterans to his own weight. Four years after spreading conspiracy theories about his defeat that culminated in the Jan. 6 riot, Trump, 78, has refused to say he will accept the results of November's election and has repeatedly misstated his record in office.

But Biden's opening speech at the debate garnered the most attention afterward, as Trump's allies quickly declared victory while leading Democrats publicly questioned whether Biden could move forward.

“I think the panic is starting to set in,” David Axelrod, a longtime adviser to former President Barack Obama, told CNN shortly after the debate about Biden's performance. “And I don't know if it's going to lead to anything, but I think we're going to hear a debate about whether he should continue to serve as president.”

“He didn't do a very good job at all,” Van Jones, another Democratic strategist, told CNN.

Rosemary DeAngelis, a Democrat who watched the debate from a party in South Portland, Maine, said Biden gave Trump good answers but felt it “lacked the oomph that we needed tonight.”

“That's going to be the challenge. It's only June and this is his first time, will he be able to handle it?” she said. “That's going to be the challenge.”

Vice President Kamala Harris later said on CNN: protect While acknowledging the criticism, he criticized the president's performance.

“We started off slow but finished strong,” she said.

Asked about his performance in the debate, Biden told reporters early Friday morning that “I think I did a good job” but that he had a “sore throat.” When pressed on whether Democrats were concerned about Biden's performance in the debate and should consider withdrawing, Biden responded, “No, it's hard to debate a liar.”

Biden lost his train of thought multiple times.

Biden, who began the debate in a raspy voice as he sought to defend his economic record and criticize Trump, had a cold during the debate and tested negative for COVID-19, a person familiar with the matter said.

Biden appeared to lose his train of thought during one answer, drifting from one about tax policy to one about health policy, at one point using the word “COVID,” then saying “I'm sorry, deal with it,” before pausing again.

“Look, we finally got over Medicare,” Biden said as time ran out to respond.

Trump also failed on abortion rights, one of the most important issues for Democrats in this year's election. He was unable to explain Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. A conservative court with three justices appointed by Trump overturned Roe two years ago.

When asked if he would support some restrictions on abortion, Biden replied, “I support Roe v. Wade, with three terms. The first term is between the woman and the doctor. The second term is between the doctor and the extreme circumstances. The third term is between the doctor, which means the woman and the state.”

She added that she believes decisions about “women's health” should be made by doctors, not politicians.

As the debate went on, Biden, while still husky, began to give clearer answers and attacked Trump's record on issues such as tackling climate change.

“The only existential threat to humanity is climate change, and he's done nothing about it,” he said.

President Trump tried to avoid responsibility for January 6th

The current president and his predecessor did not have a conversation. Since the last debate A few weeks before the 2020 presidential election. Trump Biden will not attend the inauguration After leading An unprecedented failed effort To reverse his defeat What led to the attack on the Capitol By his supporters.

Trump has remained vague about whether he will accept the results of the November election, saying he would do so if the votes were “fair” and “legal,” and repeating his unfounded claims of widespread fraud and irregularities in his 2020 loss to Biden, which he still denies.

When pressed about his actions on January 6, 2021, Trump offered no apology.

“On January 6th, we were respected all over the world. We were respected all over the world. And then he came along and now we're a laughing stock,” Trump said.

After being prompted by the moderator to answer whether Trump violated his oath of office that day by failing to stop his supporters for hours as they stormed the Capitol, rallying them to try to stop the certification of Biden's Electoral College win, he tried to blame then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Biden said Trump urged his supporters to go to the Capitol, then sat idly at the White House while they struggled with police.

“He didn't do anything, and these people should be in jail,” Biden said. “They're the ones who should be held accountable. And he wants to release them all. And now he's whining that if he loses again, this could be a 'bloody accident'?”

Trump later defended those convicted and jailed for their roles in the riot, telling Biden, “What they did to totally innocent people. You should be ashamed.”

Polls show that Trump and Biden faced tough headwinds, including from a public tired of the turmoil of partisan politics and widespread dissatisfaction with both men. A very different vision The two countries are at odds and harbor deep hostility towards each other on virtually every core issue, including abortion, the economy and foreign policy.

Their personal animosity quickly surfaced. Biden made the personal case for his son Beau, who served in Iraq and died of brain cancer. The president criticized Trump for allegedly calling Americans who died in combat “idiots and losers.” Biden told Trump, “My son wasn't a loser or an idiot. You're the idiot. You're the loser.”

Trump denied saying anything that his former chief of staff attributed to him and criticized Biden for the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, calling it “the most embarrassing day in the history of our country.”

President Trump himself agreed to a withdrawal with the Taliban. A year before he retired.

“You've got the morals of a stray cat,” Biden said, directly addressing Trump's conviction in the New York hush money trial, referencing an alleged incident in which Trump had sex with a porn star.

“I don't have sex with porn stars,” Trump responded, but did not testify at the trial.

Pressed to defend rising inflation since taking office, Biden blamed it on the conditions he inherited from Trump amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden said “things were a mess” when Trump left office – a claim Trump disagreed, insisting “everything was fine” during his time in the White House.

By the time Trump left office, America was still grappling with a pandemic that had pushed the death toll past 400,000 in his final hours in office, and more than a year later, the death toll had reached 1 million as the virus continued to ravage the country.

When asked what he would do to make child care more affordable, Trump bragged about how many people he'd fired during his term, including former FBI Director James Comey, and criticized Biden for not firing people from his administration.

Age questions arise again

Before the debate, about one in six American adults (59%) said they were “very concerned” that Biden was too old to be president. According to Gallup data collected in June,Just 18% expressed the same level of concern about Trump.The poll also found that Biden's age is causing anxiety among some Democrats, with 31% saying they were very concerned.

Trump supporters emerged in high spirits in the post-debate spin room, with senior Trump adviser Chris LaCivita calling it “the most one-sided victory in debate history” and mocking the Biden campaign for saying the president had a cold.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, a known Democratic ally of Biden, was asked if he would consider replacing Biden as president. Newsom dismissed the question, saying, “I would never turn my back on him.”

He said he knows Biden and his abilities and has “no concerns.”

Biden spent nearly a week at the presidential retreat at Camp David preparing for the debate. Shortly before the debate, he began selling cans of water labeled “Dirk Brandon's Secret Sauce” on his campaign website, mocking suggestions by Trump and his advisers that Biden would use drugs to enhance performance.

Biden briefly addressed supporters at a viewing party nearby the debate venue and did not directly address his own performance but said “let's keep going,” indicating he has no plans to drop out of the race.

“See you next time,” he said.

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Miller, Price and Weisert reported from Washington.