1. Biden performs poorly
The president joked about the rightwing conspiracies that he would take some kind of performance-enhancing drugs before the debate, posting a link to a can of water for sale on his campaign website called âDark Brandonâs Secret Sauceâ.
But his low-energy, muted and garbled performance didnât live up to expectations. And keep in mind: Biden challenged the former president to the debate, which looks like a strategic error in retrospect.
Voters regularly say they are concerned about Bidenâs age and fitness for office. This debate will not assuage their fears.
If someone were reading a transcript of Bidenâs remarks, some of his lines would sound smart and aggressive. But the delivery failed â and for a visual medium like TV, thatâs critical. He failed to sell his signature accomplishments, like his infrastructure plan.
From the start, Bidenâs voice was muffled. He trailed off. In one gaffe, attacking Trump on his tax cuts and the national debt, he confusingly ended his remarks with: âWe finally beat Medicare.â
Trump jumped on the moment: âHe did beat Medicare. He beat it to death, and heâs destroying Medicare.â
On an abortion question, which should be one of Bidenâs strongest assets for voters concerned about rolling back reproductive rights, Biden brought up girls killed by migrants â pivoting, for some reason, to one of his weakest areas.
He became more lively over the course of the evening, but not enough to change the narrative of how the debate went down optically. The evening will undoubtedly lead Democrats to debate whether Biden should somehow be replaced at the convention.
2. Trump lies endlessly
As expected for a politician so consistently factchecked, Trump repeatedly tried to sell falsehoods and half-truths to voters.
When questions were posed that would require tough answers, like one about the January 6 insurrection, he deflected and talked about something he could attack Biden on.
CNNâs moderators did not factcheck statements live. At times, when he avoided the question, they would reiterate it â sometimes successfully getting Trump to answer.
He falsely claimed Democrats want abortions up until and after birth. He said without evidence that Nancy Pelosi refused his offer for national guard troops on 6 January 2021 to respond to an insurrection he encouraged. He said his administration had the âbest environmental numbersâ, whatever that means.
And his promise that retribution would mark a second term in office surfaced too, in what seemed to be a veiled threat of prosecution: âHe could be a convicted felon as soon as he gets out of office. Joe could be a convicted felon with all of the things that heâs done. Heâs done horrible things.â
3. Different visions were starkly on display
The two men showed the distinctions of the two Americas in which they live.
Trump repeatedly talked about how the US had failed, how Biden was the worst president in the countryâs history and how the world views the country dismally now.
âJoe, our country is being destroyed. As you and I sit up here and waste a lot of time on this debate. This shouldnât be a debate. He is the worst president, he just said about me because I said it. But look, heâs the worst president in the history of our country. Heâs destroyed our country.â
Biden disagreed, offering an optimistic view of the US on the world stage.
âWeâre the most admired country in the world. Weâre the United States of America. Thereâs nothing beyond our capacity. We have the finest military in the history of the world, the finest in the history of the world. No one thinks weâre weak. No one wants to screw around with us, nobody.â
4. The adult film actor moment
Trumpâs convictions and varied court cases didnât come up in the debate until it was well underway, a missed opportunity from Biden to hammer on one of Trumpâs key liabilities.
When the issue finally surfaced, Biden hit at Trump for having sex with an adult film actor while his wife was pregnant, referring to Stormy Daniels and the hush-money trial that concluded in 34 felonies for Trump.
âYou have the morals of an alley cat,â Biden quipped at Trump.
Trump responded with a line that surely has not been uttered at presidential debates in decades past: âI didnât have sex with a porn star.â
