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NEW YORK, U.S.A | TASS | The season’s first presidential debate between incumbent US President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, ended in what many are calling a slam dunk win for the latter. Biden’s stunted performance in the debate was described as the final nail in his political coffin, as Trump’s supporters hailed the beleaguered Republican’s moxie.
TASS has gathered key takeaways from the presidential face-off.
No handshake
Democratic President Biden and former US leader Trump walked into their first presidential debate in Atlanta, Georgia, without even shaking hands.
In his speech, Trump said that his opponent would lose the presidential election “fair and square.” Also, the Republican called Biden the worst president in the history of the United Nations as he once again accused him and the Democrats of scandalizing his ties with Moscow.
According to Trump, Biden’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan was “the most embarrassing moment” in US history. He also claimed that inflation is “killing our country.” Trump criticized Biden for his incoherent speech when he stumbled and failed to finish his closing remarks on immigration clearly.
Commenting on the Ukraine conflict, Trump said that Biden had put the United States in a “bad position,” with Ukraine “not winning that war.”
In turn, Biden warned that Trump’s position on the Ukraine crisis risks starting a nuclear war and that, after Ukraine, Russia may move on “to Poland and other places.” He opined that his opponent would pull out of NATO if he won. In the debate, Biden made another derogatory statement about Russian President Vladimir Putin, once again calling him “a war criminal.”
Biden insisted that climate change was the only existential threat to humanity.
Trump’s better job
A flash poll showed that 67% of watchers said Trump performed better during Thursday night’s debate, CNN said, while only 33% believe that Biden outperformed Trump. Newsweek magazine, too, said that Trump crushed Biden. Trump’s campaign officials said he dominated the debate with a wide-margin victory.
US Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged that Biden had a “slow start” but insisted that the finish was “strong” and that the incumbent US leader was “extraordinarily strong.”
Another CNN survey showed that an 81% majority of registered voters who watched the debate said it had no effect on their choice for president.
Media reaction
CNN said some Democrats “hit the panic button” following Biden’s very bad performance in the televised debate.
NBC TV channel quoted a party strategist as saying that “Democrats just committed collective suicide” as he described Biden’s “babbling” performance as “a nail in the political coffin” of the current leader.
The New York Post echoed this view as it wrote that millions “witnessed the end of a presidency live on television,” arguing that letting Biden continue to run for re-election is “political malpractice and national malpractice.”
New York Times opinion columnist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Nicholas Kristoff said that Biden should pull out of the presidential race unless he wants Trump to move into the White House in January.
Politico reported, citing three strategists close to the Democrats, that, after Biden’s faltering performance, some in the party are actively discussing replacing him with an alternative candidate.
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SOURCE: TASS
