Trump probably satisfied, Biden less so after brutal Atlanta debate

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – In the wake of what could be the only debate between the two men who want to lead the United States for the next four years, President Joe Biden and Donald Trump likely have very different feelings Friday Morning.

The 46th and 45th presidents of the United States traded brutal criticism of their respective administrations Thursday night in Atlanta as they faced off in the first general election presidential debate in U.S. history.

“As far as the content of the debate and the way it played out, I think the Trump campaign can be very pleased,” said Dr. Ben Taylor, a political science professor at Kennesaw State University and a member of the election commission. Atlanta News First political analyst. “Maybe the Biden campaign isn’t so happy.”

“But on the merits, like what was actually said, what the candidates’ arguments were and what policies were discussed, both campaigns will have a lot to learn from this debate and they can both welcome it. ,” he said.

Thursday night’s historic Atlanta debate was defined by personal attacks from both men, with a raspy Biden’s responses shutting down and Trump continuing to push claims of a stolen 2020 presidential election.

“They’re trying to speak to the American people and both candidates – kind of because of the format, because it was just a studio and there was no audience – they were talking more to each other and more to the moderators than to the audience. They would have preferred the best of all possible worlds,” Taylor said.

“The main thing on both candidates’ minds now is what this person said in the debate that we can use to coach them going forward,” he said.

Biden’s uneven performance, particularly at the start of the debate, crystallized the concerns of many Americans who, at 81, consider him too old to serve as president. It sparked a new wave of calls for the Democrat to consider dropping himself from the party’s slate as members of his party fear a Trump return to the White House.

Biden has repeatedly ripped Trump in an apparent effort to provoke him, bringing up everything from the former president’s recent felony conviction to his alleged insult to World War I veterans to his weight. Trump, 78, has refused to state clearly that he will accept the results of the November election, four years after promoting conspiracy theories about his defeat that culminated in the Jan. 6 insurrection, and has repeatedly misrepresented the results of his term in office.

But it was Biden’s speech at the start of the debate that attracted the most attention afterwards. Trump’s allies immediately declared victory while leading Democrats publicly questioned whether Biden could move forward.

“If you’re a Trump supporter, you have plenty of reasons to continue to support former President Trump,” Taylor said. “If you’re a Biden supporter, you have plenty of reasons to continue to support President Biden. The question is, what are moderate and independent voters going to see in this debate? And the fact is, it’s not much different than what they would have seen four years ago.”

“That’s what these televised debates are all about,” Taylor said. “Since Kennedy-Nixon, it’s been as much about how the candidates present themselves as it is about what they say.”

Trump is scheduled to appear at a rally in Virginia on Friday, while the president is in North Carolina for a campaign appearance.

“If you knew at all who Donald Trump and Joe Biden were, I don’t think your opinion would have changed much about their policies or their agenda,” Taylor said. “So the question is which of these people is best able to implement the policies voters prefer. »

Thursday night also featured the first-ever televised debate between a sitting president and his predecessor; the first-ever presidential debate in which one of the candidates is a convicted felon; and the first general election presidential debate held in Atlanta (in 2020, Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta hosted a Democratic presidential primary debate between several candidates, including Biden and his eventual running mate, Kamala Harris).

Among undecided voters, Taylor said: “We know they care about the economy, we know they care about these kitchen table issues, you could think of it that way. And they talked about that a lot throughout the night.

“The question is, have either candidate put forward a positive agenda, the kind of forward-looking agenda that voters often seek in these situations? ” said Taylor. “And I’m really not sure.” I haven’t really seen either candidate come up with this kind of positive, forward-looking agenda, but sometimes candidates want you to think because actually both of these candidates have track records. And it’s a very, honestly, unprecedented situation. »

Here are the other historical firsts in the debate:

• First general election debate owned and controlled by a for-profit corporation.
• It was the first time since the 1960 inaugural presidential debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon that no voters were present.
• First general election presidential debate before the national Democratic and Republican nominating conventions.
• First presidential debate since 1988 not sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates.
• A showdown between the two longest-serving candidates in US history.

Biden and Trump also agreed to an entirely new debate format, presented by CNN. The rules were apparently designed to avoid a repeat of their 2020 debacle, during which they interrupted and booed relentlessly and ignored calls for decorum from Fox News moderator Chris Wallace.

First, the debate featured two commercial breaks during its 90-minute broadcast; previous televised debates did not allow television commercials to air.

Neither man was allowed to make opening statements. The candidates stood at identical lecterns; both made two-minute closing statements, and through a coin toss, Trump got the closing argument.

The debate began with a question, and Trump and Biden were given two minutes to respond. This was followed by one-minute rebuttals and responses to the rebuttals. Their microphones were muted, except when it was their turn to speak. Both candidates were given a pen, notepad, and water bottle on stage; no pre-written notes were allowed.

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