Traditional US presidential debate between contesting candidates, Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump took place at CNN headquarters in Atlanta. Both camps have kicked off the race for the presidential elections scheduled in coming November. It seems that the populist approach of Trump is posing problems to Democrats right from the outset. Inaugural presidential debate was meant to focus on usual issues but it turned into a verbal brawl between the sitting and the former presidents.
President Joe Biden 81 and opposing contestant former president Trump 78 made personal attacks casting doubts on the physical abilities and mental health of each other. Biden’s fumbling and incoherent verbal expression has drawn more attention of the audience and analysts. Firebrand Donald Trump has taken the natural advantage over Joe Biden on this particular aspect. Substance on the real issues has so far remained overshadowed and the spotlight is still laid on the personality aura and stage image of the contesting candidates. Following brief takeaways from the opening round of the US presidential debate are under discussion on international media-:
One, the Israel- Hamas war remained a hot point in the debate. This already known fact got more evidence that the US is standing firm on the back of Israel in total disregard for the sufferings of Palestinians. Donald Trump criticized Biden for failing to prevent Hamas from attacking Israel. Trump said “It is Israel that wants to continue with the war, and you should let them go, and let them finish the job. He [Biden] doesn’t want to do it. He’s become like a Palestinian, but they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian, he’s a weak one”. Biden took credit of pro-Israel stance and said ““We are the biggest producer of support for Israel of anyone in the world”.
Two, Biden targeted Donald Trump for handing over a deteriorated economy. He said “The economy was flat on its back. 15% unemployment. He decimated the economy, absolutely decimated the economy. That’s why there was no inflation at the time. There were no jobs.” Leaving aside the authenticity aspect, Trump glorified his economic performance and pointed the failures of Biden regime by saying “ We had the greatest economy in the history of our country. We have never done so well. Every – everybody was amazed by it. Other countries were copying us. We got hit with Covid. And when we did, we spent the money necessary so we wouldn’t end up in a Great Depression, the likes of which we had in 1929. By the time we finished – so we did a great job. We got a lot of credit for the economy, a lot of credit for the military, and no wars and so many other things. Everything was rocking good. I gave him a country with no, essentially no inflation”.
Three, Joe Biden’s attempt to project the tax cuts as an achievement was spoiled as Trump raised satirical objections on poor performance in healthcare and social services domains.
Four, prevailing polarization among various states on abortion rights is also reflecting in the stances of Republican and Democrat camps. While Biden supported the existing legislations, Trump made populist comments and said “ Biden and Democrats would be willing to, as we say, rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month”.
Five, Trump openly criticized the comparatively liberal immigration policies of Democrats. Biden asserted his point with a hard attack on Trump. He said “By the way, the border patrol have endorsed me, endorsed my position. When he [Trump] was president, he was separating babies from their mothers, putting them in cages, making sure their families were separated. That’s not the right way to go”.
Six , in response to a pointy question about the acceptance of election results, Trump avoided to express affirmative willingness rather stressed on the transparent elections and tried to downplay the post-election riots allegedly orchestrated by his supporters.
Seven, Donald Trump’s energetic expression and dominance in personal attacks on apparently aged fumbling Biden have stirred a debate in US media underscoring the dissatisfaction in Democrat camp. Even Vice President Kamila Harris has called the debate a slow start. Substitution of aged Joe Biden with a more suitable candidate is now talk of the town.
Attention is largely drifted from substance of the debate to the appearance, physical fitness, verbal expression of the candidates. Exchange of unpleasant personalized remarks between the candidates added more bitterness in the political environment. Saner political analysts take it as a sign of political deterioration in US. It is rightly believed that populist tendencies have gradually posed a serious challenge to the principle based mature politics.
