Biden, Trump exchange blame, jabs in first Presidential debate
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US President Joe Biden and his Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, exchange blame for a faltering United States.
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President Joe Biden, right, speaks as Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, listens during a presidential debate hosted by CNN, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP)
The United States has become uncivilized and is no longer respected in the world, former US President Donald Trump said Thursday, blaming President Joe Biden for causing a decline in the US statute on the world stage.
The first US presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump took place on Thursday night, marked by the lack of a traditional handshake between the political rivals.
President Biden asserted that the economy was in disarray under Trump's administration, while Trump blamed Biden for the red-hot inflation rates.
"He has not done a good job. He's done a poor job, and inflation is killing our country. It is absolutely killing us," Trump stressed.
In yet another one of his gaffes, President Biden falsely claimed that no US troops had died abroad during his presidency. "Truth is, I'm the only president… that doesn't have any, this decade, troops dying anywhere in the world," Biden said. However, this statement overlooked the deaths of 13 US military service members during the withdrawal from Afghanistan on August 26, 2021, and three US troops killed by a drone attack in Jordan on January 28, 2024.
Trump then went on to claim that he had averted another Great Depression during the economic turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that his leadership kept the economy from collapsing completely.
Trump, moreover, accused Biden of diminishing the United States' global standing. "We're no longer respected as a country. They don't respect our leadership. They don't respect the United States anymore," Trump said. "All of the things he has done, we've become like a third-world nation. And it's a shame."
Biden had a different position, however, claiming that under Trump, "The economy collapsed. There were no jobs," referring to the crash in employment at the height of Covid and the subsequent climb under the Biden administration to a far better labor market.
"He has not done a good job. He's done a poor job, and inflation is killing our country. It is absolutely killing us," Trump said in response, while his Democratic opponent claimed that Trump only sought to give more tax cuts to the rich, once again stressing that he took from his predecessor a US economy that was in chaos.
As proof, Biden pointed to the 1,000 plus American billionaires in America, who, as a result of Trump’s tax cuts, are "in a situation where they in fact pay 8.2% in taxes."
Gaza genocide
Trump claimed that Hamas would have never carried out October 7's Operation Al-Aqsa Flood if he had been in office. "Israel would have never been invaded in a million years by Hamas. You know why? Because Iran was broke with me. I wouldn’t let anybody do business with them. They ran out of money…They had no money for Hamas; they had no money for anything; no money for terror," Trump said.
Despite disagreeing over a plethora of issues, Biden and Trump sort of came into agreement over the war on Gaza, both backing the continuation of Israeli aggression on the war-torn Strip and blaming the Palestinians for the plight they are enduring.
Biden argued that "everybody from the United Nations Security Council straight through to the G7" endorsed the ceasefire plan he put forward while claiming that no one wants the war to continue "but Hamas," going on to boast about how his administration had no restrictions on what the Israeli occupation could use in Gaza other than the 2,000-lb bombs.
Trump, meanwhile, said the Israeli occupation should be allowed to "finish the job," claiming that it is the one that "wants to go. The only one that wants to keep going is Hamas."
He also called Biden a "Palestinian" despite over 35,000 Palestinians dying over eight months under his tenure and his unmatched backing of the ongoing genocide.
Ukraine war
Trump made a bold statement regarding the ongoing Ukraine war, claiming that if the US had a president respected by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the invasion of Ukraine would have never occurred. He also dismissed Putin's terms for peace in Ukraine as unacceptable.
Furthermore, he alleged that he "will have [the Ukraine war] settled between Putin and Zelensky as President-elect before I take office on January 20th."
He also relentlessly attacked Biden for his overspending on Ukraine, censuring his administration for giving Zelensky billions of dollars every state visit he made to the US. "Anytime that Zelensky comes into the country and walks away with billions. He is the greatest salesman ever."
Biden, on the other hand, defended the hundreds of billions of dollars given to Ukraine, boldly claiming that Putin intends to take over countries like Poland and Belarus if Russia proves victorious in the war.
"What do you think happens to Poland? What do you think [unintelligible] Belarus? What do you think happens to those NATO countries?" Biden said, adding that Putin wants to reform the Soviet Union.
Trump went on to underline in the face of Biden's remarks defending the military spending that Ukraine "is not winning that war," going on to stress that "they're running out of people. They're running out of soldiers. They've lost so many people [...] all because of him and his stupid decisions."
Moreover, he said Biden's policies are causing stark tensions that might bring about a third World War. "His policies are so bad. His military policies are insane. They're insane. These are wars that will never end with him. He will drive us into World War Three," Trump claimed. "We are very, very close to World War III and he is driving us there."
