For many Americans, it may seem like a television rerun, but President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will debate again Thursday night at a pivotal moment in their campaigns toward the Nov. 5 election.
It is the earliest debate in the four-year U.S. presidential election cycle, but it is a repeat of their two 2020 matchups, which took place in the two months before Biden defeated Trump’s bid for re-election to a new term in the White House.
At the presidential debate Thursday will be the first time two US presidents face each other and it is the first time Biden and Trump will be in the same room since they last debated in October 2020.
Trump skipped Biden’s inauguration in January 2021 and they have been attacking each other ever since.
In recent days, Trump has mocked Biden’s debate preparation and suggested he would need medical backup to get through the face-to-face meeting. Trump said at a rally in Philadelphia, “Right now, corrupt Joe has gone to a log cabin to ‘study,'” while he pantomimed quotes with his hands. “He is now sleeping because they want him to be healthy and strong.”
Trump has long maintained that Biden cannot put “two sentences” together. More recently, however, Trump has been preparing his supporters for the possibility that Biden is something more formidable than the staggering old man he has been portraying him as.
“I assume it will be someone who will be a worthy debater,” Trump told an interviewer. “I don’t want to underestimate him.”
For his part, in mid-May, just before Thursday’s debate was agreed upon, Biden said: “Donald Trump lost two debates against me in 2020. Since then, he has not appeared in any other debates.” Trump skipped several such encounters against Republican opponents in the party’s presidential nominating process earlier this year.
“Now he acts like he wants to debate me again,” Biden said. “Well, make my day, buddy.” Trump is likely to accuse Biden of mishandling the U.S. economy and lax control of the U.S. southwest border with Mexico, which allowed thousands of migrants to enter the United States before Biden recently tightened entry restrictions.
Trump has claimed that excessive government spending at the start of Biden’s presidency drove up consumer prices at an annualized rate of more than 9%, slashing household budgets for food, gas and other necessities, although the rate has since fallen. substantially, to 3.3% in May.
For his part, Biden is likely to point out that Trump is now a convicted felon, convicted on 34 counts last month related to an attempt to influence the outcome of his successful 2016 presidential campaign by falsifying records of a payment money to a former porn star.
Additionally, Biden is sure to remind voters that Trump faces three other allegations, including two that allege the former president illegally attempted to overturn his 2020 election loss.
Biden is likely to blame Trump’s appointment of three conservatives to the U.S. Supreme Court for his 2022 decision to overturn the nearly five-decade-old constitutional right to abortion in the United States.
Biden has maintained that Trump, if given the opportunity during a second term, to carry out his “retaliation” plans against his political enemies is a threat to American democracy.
National polls show Biden and Trump practically tied.
Many political analysts in the U.S. say millions of Americans have already made up their minds in the race between the two oldest candidates in history, Democrat Biden at 81 and Republican Trump at 78. Many voters dislike either of the two — “double enemies” in current American political parlance — and can only reluctantly choose one of the two, vote for a third-party or independent candidate, or not vote at all.
For independent politicians who have yet to decide, or perhaps for those who have not followed the race closely, the debate could be decisive or at least guide them in the direction of one or the other. A second debate is scheduled for September 10.
More than 73 million people tuned in to the first Biden-Trump debate in 2020, which became a scream-fest that was heavily criticized by analysts as possibly the worst presidential debate of all time because both candidates frequently interrupted and talked at each other. . Their second meeting was more civil.
Debate rules
There are new rules for Thursday’s meeting that could stop the theater of discussions. It takes place in a television studio at headquarters in the southern city of Atlanta, and is moderated by two of the news network’s veteran anchors, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.
There will be no live audience, eliminating the possibility of cheers, boos and applause for Biden and Trump from Trump’s most die-hard supporters, respectively.
Under the terms of the debate agreed upon by both campaigns, each will have two minutes to answer questions posed directly to them and then each will have one minute for rebuttals and responses to those rebuttals.
Perhaps most importantly, the microphones will only be active for the candidate who is asked a question, although it is unclear whether that microphone could pick up any simultaneous responses from the other candidate. Flashing red lights will alert you when you have five seconds left to finish a response and then turn solid red when time is up and the microphone is turned off.
The debate is scheduled to last 90 minutes, with two three-and-a-half-minute ad breaks, but campaign aides will not be allowed to speak to their candidates during intermissions. Candidates will also not be allowed to use any props or pre-written notes, and will only be provided with pen, paper and water.
There are no opening statements planned and the campaigns had to flip a coin to decide which lectern to endorse or the order in which they would make a closing statement. Biden won the coin toss and chose the right lectern on stage, giving Trump the final statement of the night.
Aaron Kall, a debate coach at the University of Michigan, told the Voice of America “The lack of an in-person audience diminishes the incentive to be maximally aggressive while a constant barrage of gossip unfolds. They will land without fanfare and candidates will not know how the audience is reacting in real time.”
“President Biden must, above all, do no harm and make a disqualifying mistake that will create a negative media cycle regarding his advanced age and his resilience to serve a second term,” Kall said. “He should remind the audience of the worst and most chaotic parts of the Trump presidency and he should exhibit the proper resilience needed to move the country forward over the next four years.”
The debate coach added: “Trump must avoid the constant interruptions from President Biden and the moderators that negatively impacted his performance” at the first debate in Cleveland four years ago.
Kall said Trump “should try to act presidential and stay above the fray during any contentious exchanges. We have witnessed this version of Trump during some formal speeches in joint sessions of Congress, but it is unclear whether he can remain disciplined for 90 minutes in a debate against President Biden, given the history and personal animosity between the two.”
Finally, he asserted: “Both candidates have an incentive to be civil, but all bets could be off once the event is underway. “’s new debate rules are designed to bring out a more civilized and substantive product in Atlanta, but tens of millions of Americans will be watching to see if that actually comes to fruition.”
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