Trump v Biden debate latest: Trump and Biden facing off in first TV debate – after Trump snubs usual prep – Sky News
Democrats are questioning whether Joe Biden should continue his re-election bid after a debate “disaster” against Donald Trump. Scroll back to read our updates from the clash or click the “oldest” tab to read from the start. Watch The World With Yalda Hakim on Sky News from 6pm for more.
Friday 28 June 2024 12:25, UK
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By Yalda Hakim, lead world news presenter
In a debate that was at times excruciating to watch, there were a few moments that had me sitting up.
About eight minutes into the 90-minute face-off, Donald Trump attacked Joe Biden for his handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
He described it as “the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country”, accusing Biden of leaving behind “billions of dollars worth of equipment” to the Taliban, and being responsible for the killing of “13 beautiful soldiers” after an ISIS-K suicide bomber attacked Kabul airport amid the chaotic evacuation.
Joe Biden listened to Donald Trump’s blistering attack, at times looking bewildered but unable to interrupt because his microphone was turned off.
Trump also linked the botched Afghanistan exit to the war in Ukraine, saying Russia’s Vladimir Putin was emboldened to invade by the incompetence and weakness displayed in the summer of 2021.
Trump said: “This was his dream, he would never have invaded Ukraine and frankly Israel would never have been invaded by Hamas, not in a million years… the whole world is blowing up under him.”
Joe Biden hit back – saying “I never heard so much malarkey in my whole life” – as he attempted to defend his record.
It’s impossible to know how Donald Trump would have handled the extrication from Afghanistan – after all, it was his administration that signed the Doha Deal with the Taliban that committed the US to withdraw by a date certain in 2021.
What is clear is that Joe Biden’s approval rating plunged following the chaos that summer and has never recovered.
Also notable is what neither presidential candidate mentioned in their back-and-forth – the human rights situation in Afghanistan or the fate of the Afghan people, including the millions of Afghan women and girls who have been shut out of education, employment and public life.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Trump’s critique was focused exclusively on the loss of American lives and prestige, remaining silent on the question of its values and principles, or any responsibility Washington still has to its allies in a 20-year war left behind.
Watch a special programme with more reaction to the US presidential debate on The World With Yalda Hakim on Sky News from 6pm tonight.
On today’s Sky News Daily podcast, Niall Paterson unpicks the debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Joining him is US correspondent James Matthews in Georgia to discuss the hits and misses, and pollster Scarlett Maguire to look at how American voters are feeling about the upcoming election.
Russia has declined to comment on the US presidential debate.
The head-to-head between Joe Biden and Donald Trump was an internal US matter, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Russia loomed large in the debate as both men tried to show who was tougher on foreign policy.
Trump said if the US had a “real president” who was respected by Putin, he would never have invaded Ukraine.
Joe Biden responded: “Go ahead, let Putin go in and control Ukraine, and then move on to Poland and other places. See what happens then. He has no idea what the hell he’s talking about.”
Putin said earlier this month he did not believe the outcome of the election would make much difference for Russia.
While Joe Biden’s stumbling performance at the debate has prompted anxiety among Democrats, Donald Trump’s supporters have seemed unconcerned about his relationship with the truth.
In our last post, former UK ambassador to the US Kim Darroch said Trump spoke “nonsense” and “total fantasy”.
Here we take a look at three issues on which he’s been called out for lying, denials or refusing to take responsibility.
Accepting defeat and role in infamous riots
When asked in the debate how he would reassure voters that he would respect his oath of office after the 6 January 2021 insurrection, he refused to denounce those who attacked police and stormed the Capitol building by breaking doors and windows.
More than 850 people have pleaded guilty to crimes, including seditious conspiracy and assaulting police officers, stemming from the riot. About 200 others have been convicted at trial.
The clashes came after Trump encouraged his supporters to gather at the Capitol, as he refused to accept the result of the 2020 election – which Joe Biden won. Trump insists he meant they should march peacefully.
Instead of showing contrition, Trump said the members of the congressional committee that investigated the 6 January riots could face criminal charges under his presidency, and threatened to prosecute his political opponent if he leaves office.
Asked last night if he would accept the results of the election, Trump gave a qualified answer, saying: “If it’s a fair and legal and good election.”
Outright lies? Trump’s unfounded border claims
On border security, Trump argued, with no evidence, that migrants arriving at the US border were coming from “mental institutions” and “insane asylums”.
At another point in last night’s debate, Trump said: “We have the largest number of terrorists coming into our country right now.”
In response, President Biden said: “That’s simply not true.
“There’s no data to support what he said, once again, he’s exaggerating. He’s lying.”
Denials – US soldiers ‘suckers and losers’ allegations
Biden also brought up Trump’s alleged comments that Americans who die in war are “suckers and losers”.
The sitting president turned angrily to his debate opponent, saying: “My son was not a loser, he’s not a sucker.
“You’re the sucker. You’re the loser.”
Trump was forced to deny the comments, which he reportedly made in 2018 when he declined to visit a US military cemetery in France. The then president apparently explained his decision by saying veterans buried there were “suckers” and “losers” – comments corroborated by his former chief of staff, John Kelly.
But Trump hit back during the CNN debate, claiming 19 people can corroborate the fact that he did not make the comments.
Trump added: “He should apologise to me right now.”
Neither candidate dispelled concerns about their biggest weaknesses, says our NBC colleague, news correspondent Alice Barr.
Focus groups felt Donald Trump made a lot of false claims, while there was concern about Joe Biden’s stamina for another term in office, she said.
Close allies of the president acknowledge he did little to resolve apprehension about his age, vitality and sharpness.
“Presentation really matters and that really is what is overshadowing even the substance of the debate,” said Barr.
“Though on the other hand, former president Donald Trump did little to resolve the biggest concerns about him.”
This includes downplaying the 6 January insurrection, and hedging whether he would accepting the results of the election, and making false claims about widespread voter fraud in 2020.
The Biden campaign made a choice to hold this debate at the earliest opportunity in the election cycle, betting on reminding people about the “clear contrast between the two candidates”.
Now the timing means they will hope they have enough time to bounce back again, Barr said.
Donald Trump’s performance was “pretty terrible too,” says a former UK ambassador to the US.
Speaking to Sky News just now, Kim Darroch said the difference was Trump produced “fluent, confident nonsense rather than stumbling, losing-my-train-of-thought nonsense”.
But Mr Biden’s performance has had a greater impact, emphasising concerns American voters already had about his age, he said.
The odds are approaching 50/50 as to whether the Democratic Party changes its leader, Lord Darroch estimated.
“Every answer from Trump, if you listen to them carefully, is a mixture of wild exaggeration and total fantasy.”
“It’s a policy-free zone. He is asked many times what he would do about the problems facing America, and he always retreats to how he had the ‘greatest performance’ of any president in history. So his performance was pretty terrible too.”
However, Joe Biden gave a “historically terrible performance”, he said.
“This was just comprehensively bad. So bad in emphasising the concerns which American voters already had about Biden – about his age, about his physical frailty.”
Democrats watched the start of the debate through their fingers, says US correspondent James Matthews.
Joe Biden looked stiff, often turning away from the camera, rather than delivering the energy and stamina needed to demonstrate he has the capacity to continue in high office.
Matthews said the president failed to provide an excuse to undecided Americans looking to avoid voting for Trump.
“It was Joe Biden at his worst. Losing the thread, unable to finish his sentences and looking every day of his 81 years,” said Matthews.
“That compared to Donald Trump, who told untruths on the night, not for the first time, but did so confidently.”
The New York Times counted more than 20 false statements made by Trump.
The debate moderators had difficulty pinning him down on the insurrection and accepting the results of this election, said Matthews.
Together, the majority of Americans feel Biden v Trump presents the worst choice they could have, he said.
“The difficulty for Joe Biden, if there was a part of the electorate looking for an excuse not to vote for Donald Trump, the people in the middle, then Joe Biden didn’t give that to them.
“He needed a big performance tonight, he needed energy and stamina to demonstrate that he has the capacity to continue in high office. He didn’t deliver.”
Watch a special programme with more reaction to the US presidential debate on The World With Yalda Hakim on Sky News from 6pm tonight.
There is a potential “loophole” which could allow Joe Biden’s party to replace him in November’s presidential election.
But such an outcome is still “highly unlikely”.
There are ways to replace a nominee if they die, resign or are incapacitated, but President Biden won the Democratic state primaries earlier this year, winning virtually all the delegates.
Democrats are now set to go through the customary process of rubberstamping his nomination at the Democratic National Convention on 19 August.
But the “loophole” allows the party to act if “in all good conscience” its actions “reflect the sentiments of those who elected them”.
So if concerns about his performance and mental acuity reach critical level this could be a way forward.
Read more on the process below…
A Democratic strategist has called for the party to replace Joe Biden and named three potential alternatives.
Theryn Bond told Sky News California governor Gavin Newsom and Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer could be candidates, but the “mostly likely replacement” is Vice President Kamala Harris.
But the strategist said she could not deliver a victory for the party because the US was “not ready” for a Black woman to be president.
“Unfortunately as much as I want the US to be ready for Black woman to be president, they are not ready,” she said.
“This country is not ready. This country is too divisive, unfortunately, we’re just not there. I don’t think she would be the one to take the Democratic Party to victory.”
Without a replacement, the country will be forced to choose between a convicted felon and “somebody in mental decline”, she said.
She added: “What we saw was mental acuity being diminished in real time and that’s very sad when you know what someone’s professional trajectory looks like and then you see a decline in real time.”
When asked at the debate whether he would urge Joe Biden to end his campaign, Mr Newsom said no, appearing to rule out a challenge.
Watch a special programme with more reaction to the US presidential debate on The World With Yalda Hakim on Sky News from 6pm tonight.
Joe Biden’s debate performance was among the worst by any presidential candidate in history, if not the worst, our US correspondent Martha Kelner wrote in the aftermath.
She said she was “literally gripping the sides of my seat at times it was so excruciating”.
Here are all the ways it went wrong for the president, according to her analysis.
Damning verdicts from Democrats
It was an “unmitigated disaster”, “a meltdown”, and “a slow-motion car crash”.
Those are not descriptors from Republican voters, they are the words of Democrats. Even former aides of President Biden admit it was a really horrible night for him.
Biden’s best self failed to reappear
Team Biden hoped to see State of the Union Joe on the stage, when the president gave a slick, impassioned and well-delivered speech.
Right from the start it became apparent this would be an entirely different version of him. His voice was hoarse, he was stumbling and there were long pregnant pauses.
Age fears dominated
Kelner was struck by how much older Biden looked than the last time he was in the same room as Donald Trump four years ago.
“We finally beat Medicare,” he said with a misspeak that is sure to go viral, a sentence that does not make sense and was pounced upon by Donald Trump.
Open goals missed
Biden was asked by the debate moderator about abortion, one of the strongest issues for the Democratic Party, a subject where he has the opportunity to really nail Donald Trump to the wall.
He somehow managed to ramble his way off-topic to talk about immigration, one of his biggest vulnerabilities. It was an open goal missed in spectacular style.
A trivial focus on golf
The debate descended near the end into a row between two senior citizens about who had a lower golf handicap and who could drive the ball further.
It summed up the quality, or lack thereof, of this debate. It might have been funny if it weren’t so depressing for American voters.
A gamble gone wrong
It is hard to believe that President Biden fought for this debate at this time, the earliest there has ever been.
His team calculated that, given he was trailing Trump in the polls and there were growing questions about his age and vitality, it was a risk worth taking.
But it was a huge gamble, given that this format is so exposing on the national stage. It could well be a gamble they come to regret.
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