The scratchy Biden tries to attack, Trump responds with untruths

ATLANTA (AP) — A hoarse President Joe Biden repeatedly tried to confront Donald Trump in the first debate before the November election, while his Republican rival countered Biden’s criticism by spreading falsehoods about the economy, illegal immigration and his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

The debate, in which both men launched deeply personal attacks, came at a pivotal time in their unpopular presidential rematch and was a critical moment to make their arguments to a national television audience. Biden’s uneven performance risks reinforcing voters’ concerns that, at 81, he is too old to be president, while the rhetoric from the 78-year-old Trump was a perhaps unwelcome reminder of the bombast he delivered daily during his tumultuous four years in office.

Biden repeatedly attacked Trump personally, bringing up everything from the former president’s recent felony conviction to his alleged insults toward World War I veterans to his weight and golf game. After initially focusing on illegal immigration in many of his answers, Trump descended into familiar complaints in the second half of the debate, with each calling the other the worst president in history.

The current president and his predecessor had not spoken since their last debate a few weeks before the 2020 presidential election. Trump skipped Biden’s inauguration after leading an unprecedented and unsuccessful attempt to overturn his defeat, which culminated in the insurrection of his supporters at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Trump was ambiguous about whether he would accept the outcome of November’s election, saying he would accept it if the vote was “fair” and “legal,” repeating his baseless claims of widespread fraud and wrongdoing in his 2020 loss to Biden, which he continues to deny.

When Trump was questioned about his behavior on January 6, 2021, he showed no remorse.

“On January 6th, we were respected around the world, we were respected around the world. And then he comes and we are laughed at,” Trump said.

When asked by a moderator to answer whether he had violated his oath of office that day by calling on his supporters to block the certification of Biden’s Electoral College victory and failing to act for hours to call off the storming of the Capitol, Trump tried to shift the blame to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Biden said Trump encouraged supporters to go to the Capitol and sat idly in the White House as they fought with police.

“He didn’t do a damn thing and those people should be in jail,” Biden said. “They should be the ones held accountable. And he wants to release them all. And now he’s saying if he loses again, it could be a ‘bloodbath,’ like the whiner he is?”

Trump then defended those convicted and imprisoned for their role in the insurrection, telling Biden, “They should be ashamed of what they did to some such innocent people.”

The former president has allied himself with the January 6 rioters and sometimes opens his rallies with a rendition of the national anthem sung by people imprisoned for the unrest related to those charges.

Biden began the evening with a croaking voice and halting speech as he tried to defend his economic record and criticize Trump. A person familiar with the matter said Biden was suffering from a cold during the debate, adding that his Covid-19 test came back negative.

Biden seemed to lose his train of thought while answering, drifting from an answer about tax policy to health policy, using the word “COVID” at one point, then saying, “Excuse me, dealing with,” and then falling silent again.

“Look, we finally defeated Medicare,” Biden said as time ran out to answer.

As the debate continued, Biden gave clearer answers, albeit still in a harsh voice, and attacked Trump’s record on issues such as combating climate change.

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

Trump and Biden began the evening facing stiff headwinds. Polls showed the public tired of partisan tumult and broadly dissatisfied with both parties. But the debate made clear that the two have starkly different views on virtually all core issues – abortion, the economy and foreign policy – and are deeply hostile to one another.

Their personal animosity quickly came to the surface. Biden got personal when he mentioned his son Beau, who served in Iraq before dying of brain cancer. The president criticized Trump for allegedly calling Americans killed in the war “suckers and losers.” Biden told Trump, “My son was not a loser, was not a sucker. You’re the sucker. You’re the loser.”

Trump said he never said that – a phrase attributed to Trump by his former chief of staff – 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.”

Trump himself had agreed to the withdrawal with the Taliban a year before he left office.

Biden directly mentioned Trump’s conviction in the New York hush money trial, saying, “You have the morals of a stray,” referring to allegations in the case that Trump had sex with a porn actress.

“I did not have sex with a porn star,” replied Trump, who chose not to testify at his trial.

Trump responded that Biden could face impeachment “after he leaves office,” harking back to his trademark threats of retaliation. Although there was no evidence of wrongdoing, Trump said, “Joe could be a convicted felon after all the things he’s done.”

When Biden has been pressed to defend rising inflation since taking office, he attributed it to the situation he inherited from Trump amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Biden said that when Trump left office, “chaos reigned.” Trump disagreed, saying that “everything went great” during his tenure in the White House.

When Trump left office, America was still battling the pandemic, and during his final hours in office, the death toll topped 400,000. The virus continued to rage through the country, and over a year later, the death toll reached one million.

Trump repeatedly stressed that the three conservative justices he appointed to the Supreme Court helped overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling and return abortion restrictions to the individual states, which “everyone wanted.” Biden countered that access to abortion has been regulated for 50 years and that Trump is making it harder for women in large parts of the country to access basic health care.

At one point, Trump defended his foreign policy record and blamed Biden for the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, saying those conflicts erupted when attackers felt they were unhindered to attack because they perceived Biden as weak.

“This place, the whole world is exploding beneath him,” Trump said.

“I have never heard so much nonsense in my life,” Biden replied.

Trump was asked what he would do to make child care more affordable, but he instead used his answer to brag about how many people he fired during his time in office, including former FBI Director James Comey, and criticized Biden for not firing people from his administration.

Trump has announced far-reaching plans to reshape the US government if he returns to the White House. Biden argues that his opponent would pose an existential threat to the country’s democracy.

To avoid a repeat of the chaotic 2020 duels, Biden insisted – and Trump agreed – to hold the debate without an audience and to allow the broadcaster to mute the candidates’ microphones when it was not their turn to speak. The debate’s two commercial breaks represented another departure from modern practice, while the candidates agreed not to consult with staff or anyone else when the cameras were off.

Both men followed the rules and said nothing inappropriate. Towards the end, Biden also appeared to question Trump’s weight – to which Trump responded while his microphone was muted, making his answer partially inaudible – and the two argued about their golf handicaps.

“Let’s not act like children,” Trump replied.

After the debate, both Biden and Trump will travel to states where they hope to win in the fall. Trump is traveling to Virginia, a former battleground state that has increasingly moved toward the Democrats in recent years.

Biden will soon fly to North Carolina, where he is expected to hold the largest rally of his campaign yet in a state that Trump narrowly won in 2020.