So, what did we learn, and what was the first big clash between the two candidates?
Perhaps the biggest question heading into the night was how Biden would handle it, given voters' deep concerns about his age and acumen and his campaign's reluctance to debate thus far.
Biden delivered a spirited State of the Union address in March, but it didn't seem to allay many of the concerns, and going head-to-head with an opponent in a debate is another story than delivering a speech written from a script.
The performance on Thursday was not as strong and was downright tough at times.
Biden had a raspy voice, little strength or inflection in his voice, and stumbled over his words and lines of argument, perhaps most notably when he tried to make an early point about health care and was unable to finish his thought before time was up.
“[We’re] Each and every person “What I can do is get people eligible,” Biden said, pausing to add: “Let's deal with COVID, excuse me, everything that needs to be done, and then see if we finally win Medicare for America.”
At this point the moderator said time was up.
Later, while speaking about the border, Biden said, “I'm going to keep moving until we get a total ban, a total commitment in terms of what we can do with additional Border Patrol and asylum officers.”
“I have no idea what he said at the end of that sentence, and I don't think he knows what he said,” Trump countered.
Later in the debate, Biden got a bit more aggressive, calling Trump a “whiner” for saying the Capitol storming defendants had been treated too harshly. He called Trump a “loser” and a “child.” But Biden's comments, like many others, were not particularly persuasive.
Immediately after the debate, Democrats began to worry about Biden's candidacy like they had never seen before — one former Biden White House official called Biden's performance “really disappointing” — and the concerns will likely continue for days to come.
2. Biden drew rare attention to Trump's legal troubles on January 6.
If there was a good moment for Biden, it was when the conversation turned to democracy, the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and Trump's legal troubles.
Biden highlighted Trump's felony convictions, saying, “The only convicted felon on stage right now is the man I'm looking at right now,” before delving into the former president's other issues. He cited “sexual acts with porn stars” (the alleged affair that underlies Trump's Manhattan conviction) and “sexual abuse of women in public places” (for which Trump is found liable in the E. Jean Carroll civil lawsuit).
Biden also tried to put Trump in a corner by pointing out widespread American opposition to his suggestion that the defendants in the January 6 trial were being persecuted.
“Those people are patriots? You've got to be kidding me,” Biden said.
At the end of the election, Biden told Trump that after his 2020 loss (which led to him seeking to overturn the election results and two indictments), “something snapped inside you.”
Trump didn't have much of a good response, other than to cite the claim that his case was brought about by a weaponized justice system, something the American public doesn't stand by, much like the January 6 pardon. He didn't stand by his past comments about the January 6 pardon, and at one point he felt compelled to deny that he had sex with Stormy Daniels (“First of all, I don't have sex with porn stars,” he said).
While the Manhattan conviction does not appear to be a major blow to Trump so far, it is also clear that many Americans, especially those who only follow politics casually, are unaware of many of these details.
But this was largely the exception: Much of the discussion ended up focusing on Biden, despite his desire to make the 2024 election a choice, even a referendum, on Trump.
3. Trump made many false claims.
Not surprisingly at this point, Trump's performance included the usual array of falsehoods and misleading claims.
They include Trump's false claim that he put a cap on insulin prices before Biden, Democratic-leaning states executing babies after birth, there being no terrorist attacks during Trump's term in office, Biden wanting to quadruple people's taxes, and Trump's indictment of Biden (there is no evidence Biden was involved in any of these incidents).
Biden has also had some issues, including causing confusion when Trump was accused of having an affair with Daniels (Biden said Melania was pregnant, when in fact she had a young child).
4. It wasn't a great argument.
Before the debate, there were many questions about whether the format would work: In addition to the fact that it took place so early in the day, there were no spectators and there were mute buttons in case the candidates were talking to each other.
The format was mostly fine, but that doesn't mean it made for great discussion.
Maybe the mute button helped avoid a repeat of the food brawl that erupted during the first debate of 2020. The candidates seemed to understand that no good was served by speaking when it wasn't their turn.
No crowd meant they weren't playing to an audience and the audience had no impact on the event.
But even without the shouting and theatrics, the debate was hardly a master class in substance, and there was little contrast on the issues.
Trump primarily used the filibuster and repeated false claims with little fact-checking by Biden. The debate moderators (who had decided beforehand that that was not their role) did not speak at all, and while Biden countered some of Trump's points, he struggled to make his own points and highlight his contrasts, stealing most of the flow of the debate.
It's not clear that any format would have produced a more compelling debate — many of the problems lie with the candidates themselves — but it was not a debate that would have piqued people's interest in the campaign.
Towards the end of the debate, the candidates discussed their golfing skills, with Biden talking about his drive and handicap and Trump questioning his own ability.
“Let's stop acting like children,” Trump finally said.
“You're a child,” Biden responded.
5. President Trump finally takes an anti-abortion stance
President Trump has tried hard to avoid being pressed about his position on abortion, simply saying that abortion should be a state choice and saying nothing more.
But on Thursday night, President Trump finally spoke out about the abortion drug mifepristone, after a previous deadline had passed.
“First of all, the Supreme Court just upheld the abortion pill and I support that decision and I'm not going to block it,” Trump said.
The Supreme Court did not actually “approve” the abortion pill, but instead rejected challenges to it on technical grounds.
But it's a potentially significant statement given that Democrats have warned that the Trump administration could use outdated federal law to target abortion drugs. It's the latest signal that Trump fears what abortion restrictions could mean in a post-2020 world.Roe v. Wade How changes in the world will affect his candidacy: Imagine if just a few years ago a Republican presidential candidate had said he supported the abortion pill.
