President Joe Biden is three years and seven months older than former President Donald Trump.
But in their debate, the gap between the 81-year-old incumbent and his 78-year-old opponent seemed much greater.
Biden, hoarse and displaying little vocal range, was often unable to clearly express his differences with Trump. At one point, after Biden stopped short of defending his record on border security, Trump said:
“I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I also don’t think he knows what he said.”
Trump, however, repeated his frequent electoral denialism. He said he would accept the results of the 2024 election if they were “fair and legal,” but then repeated his lies about fraud in the 2020 election.
“You’re a whiner and you lost the first time,” Biden said.
Here are the main highlights of the debate:
Biden’s age was the focus
Biden failed to calm voters’ concerns about his greatest vulnerability – his age – and did not turn the election into a referendum on Trump. He stumbled, especially when he tried to cite statistics and legislation.
Biden’s One-Line Offense
Biden’s offensive strategy was to use short phrases to attack Trump. During a discussion about Trump being convicted of trying to cover up an affair with porn star Stormy Daniels, Biden said, “You have the morals of a stray cat.”
Trump is in the news with stance on abortion pill
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court rejected a case that would have rolled back access to the abortion pill mifepristone. And Trump supported the high court’s decision on Thursday (27). “The Supreme Court just approved the abortion pill, and I agree with their decision to do so and I will not block it,” he said. Abortion should have been Biden’s strongest issue. Instead, Biden struggled to explain his party’s position on abortion, rambled, appeared confused at times, and unpromptedly gave Trump an opportunity to bring up the crimes migrants committed against Americans.
Inflation attributed to the pandemic
Biden and Trump found the same scapegoat when asked to explain their economic records: the pandemic. Biden said he inherited an economy that was “in free fall” caused by Trump’s management of Covid-19. He said the pandemic was “very poorly managed” by his predecessor. Trump, for his part, blamed the pandemic for crippling an economy that he said was “the greatest economy in the history of our country” — a familiar refrain from the former president.
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