Biden’s uneven work crystallized the concerns of many Americans that, at age 81, he is too old to provide his services as president. It sparked a new round of calls for the Democrat to step aside.
Biden regularly tore into Trump in personal items in an apparent struggle to provoke him, carrying up everything from the former president’s recent felony conviction to his alleged insult of World War I veterans to his mass and golf game. But his halting delivery from the starting of the debate drew the most attention afterward. Trump’s allies immediately announced success while prominent Democrats publicly questioned whether Biden could move forward.
“I believe there was a sense of shock, actually, of how he came out at the starting of this discussion, how his voice sounded. He seemed a little disoriented. He did get harder as the discussion went on but by that period, I believe the stress had set in,” David Axelrod, a longtime provider to ex-President Barack Obama, said in a report immediately after.
Biden appeared to lose his train of belief while providing one answer, drifting from an answer on tax policy to health policy, at one point utilizing the word “COVID,” and then saying, “excuse me, with, dealing with,” and he trailed off again.
“Look, we lastly beat Medicare,” Biden expressed, as his time ran out on his answer.
Biden started to provide clearer answers as the discussion progressed, still with a rasp, and attacked Trump’s record on problems like fighting climate change.
“The only existential danger to humanity is atmosphere change, and he didn’t do a damn items about it,” he said.
The present president and his predecessor hadn’t spoken since their last discussion weeks before the 2020 presidential election. Trump skipped Biden’s inauguration after leading an unprecedented and useless struggle to overturn his loss that culminated in the Capitol riot by his supporters.
Trump equivocate on whether he would accept the outcome of the November election, stating he would accept them if the vote was “fair” and “legal,” repeating his baseless claims of widespread loss and misconduct in his 2020 loss to Biden that he still denies.
Both men abided by the laws and didn’t tell out of turn. Near the end, Biden also appeared to query Trump’s weight — leading Trump to react while his mic was muted, making his answer partly inaudible — and the two squabble about their golf handicaps.
Heading out of the discussion, both Biden and Trump will move to states they hope to swing their way this fall. Trump is moving to Virginia, a one time battle ground that has shifted toward Democrats in last years.
Biden is set to jet off to North Carolina, where he is expected to stop the biggest-yet rally of his campaign in a state Trump narrowly carried in 2020.