Washington.-The debate, which will begin at 10 p.m. at CNN headquarters in Atlanta, will be key to winning votes in a clash that this time takes place much earlier than in other campaigns.
Americans and the world will see Joe Biden and Donald Trump face to face on Thursday for the first time in nearly four years in the same room, in a fierce debate that will begin to define the race for the White House in a divided country that faces the November presidential election with much frustration and with two well-known figures once again vying for the leadership of the world’s leading power.
Much has changed since October 2020, when they last faced off before the election, which Biden won, a victory that Trump never acknowledged. Since then, the United States has gone through a pandemic, a battered and uncertain economy, an unprecedented assault on the nation’s Capitol, the fall of federal abortion rights, and has been embroiled in two bloody global conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.
Meanwhile, Trump, 78, is now considered a felon, convicted on 34 counts by a New York jury, and faces several other trials. And Biden, 81, has become an unpopular president, widely seen as too old to lead the country, and facing deep opposition not only from Republicans but also from his party’s base.
Polls have shown a sustained tie between Trump and Biden, the protagonists of the past and the present. Both are strongly rejected by large swathes of the nation and in the final stretch of the campaign they are fighting for every vote they can get. The debate, which will begin at 10 p.m. Argentine time, at CNN headquarters in Atlanta, will be key to winning over votes in a clash that this time takes place much earlier than in other campaigns.
Biden has been holed up since the weekend at the presidential retreat at Camp David, training with 16 advisers and with his lawyer Bob Bauer assuming Trump’s role. Biden’s strategy, his aides say, will be to remind voters of the chaos that reigned in the White House under Trump, his criminal convictions and warn of an even darker future if he wins a second term.
Trump did not prepare with such dedication, but his ability in front of the cameras is well-known. He alternated campaign events with some meetings with advisors at his home in Mar a Lago. The tycoon seeks to argue that the United States has become more expensive, weaker and more dangerous globally under Biden’s mandate, and at the same time he will seek to attack his rival for his age.
In fact, Trump already spiced things up by saying that his rival was being drugged by his advisers to improve his performance and challenged him to submit to a drug test before the debate. “A drug test for corrupt Joe Biden??? I would also accept one immediately!!!” wrote the New York magnate on his social network Truth. It is not the first time that Trump has suggested that Biden will go to the face-to-face doped, since at an event on Saturday in Philadelphia he assured that the president will participate in the debate after receiving “an injection in the butt.”
The Republican often satirizes Biden for his age and his absent-mindedness, although Trump himself also makes mistakes and contradicts himself in his speeches. However, in an interview he said that the president should not be “underestimated” in the debate.
The televised clash offers opportunities for the candidates to make a comeback in the polls, but also poses significant risks for both, as a notable misstep by either candidate could linger in the electorate for months given that they will not meet until a second debate in September. Biden will have the chance to convince the electorate that he still has the lucidity and energy necessary for the job. In that sense, he will be scrutinized by the audience.
“This is a big turning point,” said Karl Rove, the strategist who ran George W. Bush’s two successful presidential campaigns. “Can Biden be consistently compelling, making people say, ‘Well, maybe the old man is up to the task?’ And is Trump going to be moderate enough that people say, ‘This is about us, not him,’” and his controversial personality.
Not only will this presidential debate be the earliest of an election campaign, it will also have many firsts. This time it is hosted by CNN instead of a nonpartisan committee and will be broadcast simultaneously on more than five networks, with no live audience and no opening statements. Each candidate will have two minutes to answer questions, followed by one-minute rebuttals and responses to rebuttals, and – key to avoiding interruptions – their microphones will be muted when it is not their turn to speak. They will not be able to read from papers, but they will be able to take notes. It will be moderated by journalists Jack Tapper and Dana Bash.
Trump is expected to attack Biden on inflation and immigration, two of the president’s biggest vulnerabilities, according to polls. Steve Cheung, the Republican’s communications director, said: “The real benchmark for Thursday’s debate should be whether or not Joe Biden can defend his disastrous record on inflation and out-of-control border invasion against President Trump’s unquestionable record of success in his first term.”
The Democrat will emphasize that a second Republican administration will be much more radical than the previous one and will put democracy at risk. “This debate is an opportunity to show the American people that Trump is more unhinged, he is more dangerous, he is seeking revenge,” said Rob Flaherty, Biden’s deputy campaign manager.
Independent candidate Robert Kennedy (Bob’s son and nephew of former President John) failed to reach the 15% needed in the polls to be included in the debate, so the duel will be exclusively between the two old rivals.Infobae.
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2024-07-03 06:24:35