- Joe Biden and Donald Trump held their first debate of 2024 on Thursday.
- For Biden, it has been a total disaster due to his admittedly weak performance.
- Trump has used it to appear 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 Biden, and it turned out badly.
From the beginning of the debate, there was an unmistakable weakness in the president's performance.
Answering CNN host Jake Tapper's first question, Biden appeared out of breath, slurred his speech and rushed through the facts, sometimes skipping words.
Biden spoke incomprehensibly at times.
In response to another question about the Gaza war, Biden misspoke, saying, “We are the biggest 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 either.”
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.
There will be some key differences between this debate and past ones, including the two between Biden and Trump in 2020: There will be no studio audience, microphones will be turned off when the other candidate is speaking and there will be two commercial breaks.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.
