No handshake, hoarse voice: Takeaways from the Biden-Trump US presidential debate

WASHINGTON – Democratic US President Joe Biden and his Republican rival Donald Trump

took the stage on June 27 for a debate

that offers voters a rare side-by-side look at the two oldest candidates ever to seek the US presidency.

Here are some of the major takeaways from the debate:

1. No handshake, hoarse voice

The leading question going into the debate was how the two men, both of whom have faced questions about their fitness for the job, would handle themselves on stage.

The early going favoured Trump, 78, who appeared forceful and energetic when compared with the 81-year-old Mr Biden, who spoke in a hoarse, halting voice and coughed regularly.

The White House said during the debate that the President was suffering from a cold, but only after Mr Biden turned in a fitful performance in the opening minutes of the debate.

Trump largely refrained from speaking over Mr Biden, showing the kind of restraint that eluded him during the candidates’ first debate in 2020.

Mr Biden began to find his footing later in the debate as he began to defend his record and attacked Trump’s character.

“The idea that I would apologise to you?” he asked at one point, incredulous after Trump accused him of mistreating veterans.

“You’re the sucker. You’re the loser,” Mr Biden told Trump.

But the images that millions of viewers saw and heard, especially during the debate’s opening minutes, will likely become fodder for Republican attack ads to fuel the narrative that Mr Biden is too old to hold office.

As the debate progressed, Mr Biden appeared more in command of the facts, in the face of a stream of falsehoods from Trump, but that may not have been enough to overcome concerns among Democrats over his unsteady delivery.

Going into the debate, the pressure on Mr Biden had been to disprove Republican claims that he was slipping because of his age. His campaign will now have to figure out how to recover amid calls among some Democrats for Mr Biden to be replaced as the party’s nominee for the Nov 5 election.

2. Bad blood

The animosity between the candidates frequently spilled into the open as the two men got personal. Each suggested the other was a criminal.

“The only person on this stage who is a convicted felon is the man I’m looking at right now,” Mr Biden said and then accused Trump of having sex with porn star Stormy Daniels.

“You have the morals of an alley cat,” Mr Biden said.

The bad blood was on display from the start when they eschewed the traditional handshake and did not acknowledge each other when they walked onto the stage. Mr Biden frequently referred to Trump as “this guy” and chuckled at some of his opponent’s more hyperbolic statements.

Near the end of the debate, Mr Biden cast doubt on Trump’s true height and weight, suggesting his opponent had lied about both. Trump, meanwhile, boasted of his cognitive and physical health and noted that he had won two championships at his golf club.

By contrast, he said, Mr Biden “can’t hit the ball 50 yards”.

Mr Biden immediately challenged Trump to a golf match, but only if Trump would carry his own bag.

“Let’s not act like children,” Trump responded.

3. Sparring over the economy

Both candidates tried to defend their performance on the key issue of the race for voters: the economy.

It is a tricky issue for Mr Biden as an incumbent presiding over the economy at a time when voters are angry over higher food and gas prices.

Mr Biden’s approach was to blame Trump. The former president, he said, had left him a “terrible” economy. He said he was working to bring down inflation.

Trump replied that Mr Biden’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic was a “disaster” and said inflation was “absolutely killing us”.

He blamed the pandemic for wrecking the economy and his shot at re-election. “Everything was rocking good,” he said.

Voters, right now, seem to be agreeing more with Trump than Mr Biden, with polls showing they favour Trump’s handling of the economy. Registered US voters favour Trump on the issue 43 per cent to 37 per cent, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling in June.

Mr Biden’s challenge on June 27 was to make clear to viewers that his administration was the one that dug the country out of the pandemic-induced hole.

“There was no inflation when I became president,” he said. “You know why? The economy was flat on its back.”

4. Biden losing his train of thought

Mr Biden seemed to lose his train of thought while responding to a question about the national debt.

His voice trailing off several times, he first referred to “billionaires” as “trillionaires” before correcting himself.

Then, while arguing that the wealthy should pay more tax, he seemed unable to complete his sentence, pausing for an extended awkward moment, before ending his thought in a way that sounded nonsensical.

Tax reform would create money to help “strengthen our healthcare system, making sure that we’re able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I was able to do with the, with the Covid, excuse me, with dealing with everything we had to do with”, Mr Biden said before pausing.

“We finally beat Medicare,” Mr Biden said, likely referring to Covid-19.

Trump pounced.

“He’s right. He did beat Medicare. He beat it to death.”

5. Black voters

Black voters’ views – whether excitement, disappointment or apathy – may help decide the election.

They have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats in the past, but both candidates used the debate held in Atlanta, a heavily black city in the swing state of Georgia, to make their pitch.

“I don’t blame (black voters) for being disappointed. Inflation is still hurting them badly,” said Mr Biden. But he added that he was pushing for first-time home buyer tax credits and student loan forgiveness that could ease their cost of living.

Trump ripped into Mr Biden and said he was picking up support from African-Americans who had been hurt by inflation.

“He lost much of the black population because he’s done a horrible job for black families,” Trump said. REUTERS