Ninety minutes of the presidential debate or showdown organized by CNN in Atlanta between current President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, they answered several questions on hot domestic and international issues.
The two presidents traded blows on issues such as abortion, the economy and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza in the first debate Thursday evening, giving voters a rare chance to see two older U.S. presidential candidates side by side.
Biden… Reluctance
During the first half hour of the debate, Biden appeared hoarse, at times hesitant, and stumbled more than once, while Trump launched one attack after another, including several misinformation such as the claim that immigrants are driving the crime wave. Democrats support the killing of children.
Gaza War
Trump criticized Biden’s policies that led to the October 7 attack and said his previous administration had dried up all revenue for Tehran, leaving it unable to support Hamas or any armed groups in the region.
For his part, Biden said that Iran has attacked and wounded hundreds of American soldiers during the Trump era.
He added, “The Security Council, the Group of Seven and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to a proposed plan in three phases…and Hamas wants the war to continue.”
He pointed out that he is “pressing hard to get Hamas to agree to the plan,” and Biden defended his decision to stop sending 2,000-ton (more than 900 kg) bombs because they are difficult to use in populated areas.
Noting that Hamas has been “weakened” and “we must eliminate the movement”, he stressed that the US is Israel’s biggest supporter.
Trump responded by saying, “Hamas doesn’t want a cease-fire and Israel doesn’t want a cease-fire. They need to end this thing.”
Trump described Biden as a “bad Palestinian.”
Former President Donald Trump did not directly answer whether he would support the creation of an independent Palestinian state to end the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Trump replied: “I’ll have to see,” before talking about trade deals with European countries.
Russia and Ukraine
Trump criticized Biden’s policies on the Ukraine war, adding: “If there was a real president that Russian President Vladimir Putin respected, Putin would not have invaded Ukraine.”
He added, “Biden was bad in Afghanistan and Putin saw the incompetence,” and Putin said he was going to invade Ukraine, his dream.
He insisted that “Putin’s conditions are unacceptable, but war should not start”, and that Biden gave Ukraine “200 billion dollars”, describing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “best seller” because “every time he comes to Washington, he gets billions.”
Addressing Biden, he said: “These billions should not be spent,” and insisted that “the war will be over before he takes office.”
For his part, Biden responded that his administration had “airlifted over 100,000 people and others out of Afghanistan” and that what was happening in Ukraine was encouraging “Trump-Putin to do what he wants.”
He said, “Putin wanted to control Kiev within days, but he couldn’t do it and lost thousands of people.”
Biden described Putin as “a war criminal who has killed thousands of people. He wants to restore the Soviet empire. He will not stop in Ukraine. If he wins the war, he will move on to other countries.”
Trump insisted that Putin’s conditions for resolving the Ukraine issue were unacceptable.
Withdrawal from Afghanistan
Former President Donald Trump called President Joe Biden’s withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan “the most embarrassing day in the history of our country.” “I’m getting out of Afghanistan, but we’re getting out of Afghanistan with dignity, strength and power,” Trump said.
Trump’s statement came after comments from Biden, who said of his predecessor: “When he was president, they were still killing people in Afghanistan.
The US State Department released its long-awaited Afghanistan Post-Operation Review report in June 2023, which found that the withdrawal of all US forces from Afghanistan by both the Trump and Biden administrations had serious consequences. It was the Biden administration that led to the deadly and confusing US withdrawal from that country nearly two decades later. A CNN investigation last April revealed new video evidence that undermined two Pentagon investigations into the withdrawal, raising serious questions for the Pentagon, which has consistently dismissed evidence of civilian shootings.
“World War III”
“Biden will lead us into World War III,” Trump said, adding, “Don’t fear Putin and Kim Jong Un.”
“If you want World War III, tell Putin ‘do what you want with NATO,'” Biden responded, referring to Trump’s earlier statement.
Climate change
Trump largely sidestepped the question of climate change to attack President Biden on the economy and immigration.
“Trump has done absolutely nothing for the environment,” Biden said.
Biden stumbles
When asked about black voters’ disillusionment with his administration, President Biden stumbled through an answer, pointing to a long list of policies such as child care costs.
“You’re the idiot. You’re the loser.”
“You’re the idiot,” Biden told Trump, “and you’re the loser.”
“More people died on his watch — even though we mostly fixed the situation — more people died on his watch than on ours, and we were in the middle of a crisis,” Biden added.
Miscarriage
US President Joe Biden criticized his predecessor Donald Trump for his “terrible” behavior against abortion rights during their first debate within the framework of the US presidential elections. “What you did was a terrible thing,” the Democratic president told his Republican opponent during a debate in Atlanta.
In turn, former President Donald Trump said he would not ban abortion pills if elected. He also said that he accepts the Supreme Court’s recent verdict on abortion pills.
Immigration
Biden accused his predecessor, Donald Trump, of “exaggerating” and “lying” about the immigration crisis in the United States, while Trump launched an attack on Biden over border policies. Trump noted that the Biden administration has seen more than 7.9 million encounters along the U.S.-Mexico border, nearly triple the number that occurred under Trump.
Trump noted that immigrants have left their homes for many reasons, including the pandemic’s impact on Central American economies and natural disasters. He also said he interviewed migrants who confirmed that they were encouraged to come because they expected a more welcoming administration.
Immigration is one of the main topics of the presidential campaign. “There’s no information to back up what (Trump) is saying,” Biden said, “he’s exaggerating again, he’s lying.”
Storm Daniel
Biden launched his strongest attack on Trump, telling him: “You had sex with a porn actress while your wife was pregnant.”
Trump replied: I have no relationship.
When asked about his criminal convictions, Trump did not answer directly, instead pointing to Hunter Biden’s criminal convictions, taking aim at the president’s son’s legal problems. “He could be a criminal as soon as he leaves office,” Trump said of Biden, adding, “This guy is a criminal.”
“convicted person”
“I see a convicted man right now,” President Joe Biden said to Donald Trump during the debate, referring to the charges and convictions Trump faces.
economy
The debate began with questions about the US presidential candidates’ views on improving economic conditions.
US President Biden said his administration took over from the Trump administration “an economy that was on the brink of collapse” as unemployment remained high, and that the administration had “reorganized” the economy, particularly by creating new jobs. In the industrial sector.
He insisted that his administration’s economic policies would have no effect on consumers, saying that what happened in the previous administration was a “mess” and that, for example, the price of drugs such as insulin was lowered.
Biden accused Trump’s policies of focusing on the wealthy, his administration has seen the deficit and debt rise to the highest levels in US history, and he criticized the tax cuts for the wealthy, which only account for 8 percent of taxes.
For his part, former President Trump responded by saying his administration had handed the Biden administration “the largest economy in American history despite the coronavirus pandemic,” stressing that an expansion of spending was necessary to avoid a recession.
He said that during his administration, the financial market was much better, and that the jobs Biden praised were created for immigrants, not Americans.
Trump has supported policies that would create tariffs to reduce the deficit and boost the US economy, insisting that even tax breaks would stimulate companies.
