Atlanta: President Joe Biden made several verbal missteps on Thursday in the opening minutes of his debate with his Republican rival, Donald Trump, as both took the stage seeking to define their presidential rematch.
Biden had a raspy voice, struggling repeatedly to clear his throat, and had a halting delivery as he tried to defend his economic record and criticize Trump. Biden appeared to lose his train of thought while giving one answer, drifting from an answer on tax policy to health policy, at one point using the word COVID, and then saying, excuse me, with, dealing with, and he trailed off again.
Look, we finally beat Medicare, Biden said, as his time ran out on his answer. Trump picked right up on it, saying, That's right, he did beat Medicaid, he beat it to death. And he's destroying Medicare.
Trump falsely suggested Biden was weakening the social service program because of migrants coming into the country. Biden, the 81-year-old Democratic incumbent, entered the debate with the chance to reassure voters that he's capable of guiding the U.S. through a host of challenges as he moved to sharpen the choice voters will face in November.
Trump, 78, had the opening to try to move past his felony conviction in New York and convince an audience of tens of millions that he is temperamentally suited to return to the Oval Office. Trump and Biden entered the night facing stiff headwinds, including a public weary of the tumult of partisan politics and broadly dissatisfied with both, according to polling. But the debate was highlighting how they have sharply different visions on virtually every core issue abortion, the economy and foreign policy and deep hostility toward each other.
The two candidates strode on stage and walked directly to their lecterns, avoiding a handshake. The debate did not start with any of the fiery exchanges that defined their first meeting on the debate stage in 2020. Instead, each man stayed relatively measured as he defended his record and blamed the other for steering the country off track.
Biden pressed to defend rising inflation since he took office, pinned it on the situation he inherited from Trump amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump assailed Biden's withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, saying, It was the most embarrassing day in the history of our country's life.
Biden said that when Trump left office, things were in chaos. Trump disagreed, declaring that during his term in the White House, Everything was rocking good.
