President Joe Biden gave a stumbling performance in a 90-minute showdown with Donald Trump – the first televised debate of the 2024 presidential election campaign.
Democrats expressed concern at the president’s performance – with party insiders saying his early answers triggered panic.
While Republican candidate Donald Trump faces criticism for the number of falsehoods he uttered, much of the attention has been focused on President Joe Biden’s poor performance.
Joe Biden appeared to struggle in several of his answers. As a result, concerns about his age and mental fitness have only risen further. Some Democrats have even asked after the debate whether the president could be replaced as the party’s presidential candidate.
Speaking to the New York Times, an unnamed veteran Democrat says the president will face a “crescendo” of calls to step down. “Joe had a deep well of affection among Democrats. It has run dry.”
Many of the president’s surrogates have come to his defence, though. Vice-President Kamala Harris told CNN “there was a slow start but there was a strong finish” by her running mate.
Donald Trump’s supporters, meanwhile, declared victory. House Speaker Mike Johnson called it “the biggest mismatch” in debate history.
He repeatedly attacked President Biden on the economy and his foreign policy record, Joe Biden took aim at his rival’s criminal conviction and alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
Donald Trump also repeated falsehoods – from abortion, to taxes and the deficit – and at first avoided answering if he would accept the 2024 election result.
Joe Biden called Donald Trump a “sucker”, a “loser,” and said he had the “morals of an alley cat”.
Donald Trump hit back, and said at one point: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence, and I don’t think he did either.”
On Russian state TV, political talk show “60 Minutes” mocked the debate, referring to it as “a reality show about the lives of pensioners”. The anchor concluded that it had been “disastrous for Joe”.
Meanwhile in China, the state-owned Global Times also described the debate as “like, external a reality show, external”. Chinese audiences did, however, enjoy the pair going “off topic to discuss their golf skills, external”.
In Ukraine, news websites such as Ukrayinska Pravda, external and NV, external, as well as the national United News TV service, gave prominence to Donald Trump’s remark that Vladimir Putin’s conditions for ending the war were “not acceptable”.
Ukranian media generally agreed that Joe Biden “lacked energy”. He failed to show voters that he can be the US president for another four years, the LB.ua website said, external.
The Hindustan Times in India said Joe Biden’s performance was “shaky” and he appeared to be “struggling and even froze several times”. Donald Trump showed “more aggression” and “capitalised on Biden’s missteps”.
Finally in Turkey, the Hurriyet newspaper said: , external“Biden had difficulty understanding the questions and hesitated when answering.”
Academic Hilmi Bolatoglu said in a post on X, external that Joe Biden’s performance suggested a “new Trump era is approaching”.
