By Marta Garde
Washington/Atlanta, June 27 (EFE).- American President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump met Thursday in a face-to-face debate which could change the course of the United States presidential elections on Nov. 5.
The Republican candidate was more aggressive and the president had a hard time putting together messages and appeared doubtful and hoarse.
On a CNN set in Atlanta with no audience, support of written notes and advisors, muted microphones and assigned speaking time, the debate exposed the strengths and weaknesses of both candidates in a debate without interruptions.
The hesitations in the case of Biden, who had the flu, and the expressions of mockery on the part of Trump when his rival rambled and left sentences unfinished on more than one occasion, marked the debate.
“I have never heard so much nonsense,” Biden said about Trump’s foreign policy proposals, as the former president said the reputation of the United States under the current mandate has become “horrible.”
The Republican strongly attacked Biden’s economic policy, but responded to questions from hosts Dana Bash and Jake Tapper with evasion and inaccuracies or misinformation on topics such as the economy or immigration.
Biden said there are still “things to do” and defended his economic and immigration management compared to that of his predecessor.
“The pandemic was so poorly managed that many people died (…) The economy collapsed. There were no jobs,” he said. “The unemployment rate rose to 15 percent, it was terrible. What we had to do was try to put things back together again.”
Biden and Trump had last faced each other in September and October 2020, during the 2021 presidential campaign.
But this was not just another debate in American history. It was the earliest to have been held, as both candidates went in with the closest margin in the polls: according to the average prepared by the FiveThirtyEight website, Trump is in the lead with 41.1 percent of voting intentions, only two tenths more than Biden.
Biden, 81, had to not only defend his management of this last term, but avoid giving reasons to those who were going to look closely at any sign of his advanced age.
“He has no capacity to be president. We should not have a debate. There is nothing to debate,” said 78-year-old Trump.
Immigration offered the most fruitful setting for mutual reproaches. Trump accused Biden of having turned the country into a “rat’s nest” by not stopping the entry of “criminals” and causing immigrants to “kill Americans,” while the president called that statement “ridiculous” and said it was not supported by figures.
Biden said voting for Trump is voting against democracy. The Republican, on the other hand, said Biden remaining in power would destroy the US.
Trump denied any responsibility for his part in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but Biden reinforced the other three criminal proceedings the former leader faces.
“I don’t think he himself knows what he just said,” the Republican candidate said of the president, whom he called a “Manchurian candidate” who is “paid for by China.” EFE
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