ADDS DETAILS THROUGHOUT
By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump sought to set the stakes for America's voters Thursday night as they sparred during their first presidential debate that repeatedly broke down into personal attacks and meandering, stream-of-consciousness diatribes.
Biden repeatedly struggled to maintain his train of thought during an exceptionally uneven debate performance as Trump spouted off a number of misleading statements while dodging concrete answers to moderators' questions. Both men, however, sought to convey to voters the vastly different approaches they would take to the presidency should they win a second term.
Speaking with a raspy voice throughout the night, Biden portrayed Trump as a boon for America's economic elite, saying he "rewarded the wealthy" during his presidency, including via "the largest tax cut in American history" that the president said greatly exacerbated the national deficit.
"He's the only president other than Herbert Hoover who’s lost more jobs than he had when he began," he said.
Trump for his part sought to portray Biden's first four years as a "disaster," repeatedly telling viewers that "our country is being destroyed," harping in particular on the state of the US economy and Biden's immigration policies.
"We're living in hell. We have the Palestinians, and we have everybody else rioting all over the place," he said, apparently referring to ongoing nationwide pro-Palestinian protests that have erupted in the wake of Israel's war on Gaza and ongoing US material support for the sweeping offensive.
"He's, without question, the worst president, the worst presidency in the history of our country. We shouldn't be having a debate about it. There's nothing to debate," he added. "The whole world is blowing up under him."
"I've never heard so much malarkey in my whole life," retorted Biden
- Trump says Biden is a 'very bad Palestinian. He's a weak one'
In one of many odd, off-the-wall moments that defined Thursday night's showdown, Trump sought to castigate Biden as a "Palestinian," saying the president is preventing Israel from reaching its aims in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.
"As far as Israel and Hamas, Israel's the one that wants to go. He said the only one who wants to keep going is Hamas. Actually, Israel is the one, and you should let 'em go and let 'em finish the job," said Trump. "He doesn't want to do it. He's become like a Palestinian, but they don't like him because he's a very bad Palestinian. He's a weak one."
Asked if he would support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, Trump demurred, saying, "I'd have to see."
- Men seeking America's highest office engage in contest over golf handicaps
The debate took a sharp turn when Biden and Trump railed into each other over their golf performances, particularly their handicaps, measures used to assess a player's ability. Typically, a lower number denotes a superior player.
"I'd be happy to have a driving contest with him. I got my handicap, when I was vice president, down to a six. And by the way, I told you before, I'm happy to play golf if you carry your own bag. Think you can do it?" Biden said.
"That's the biggest lie that he was a six handicap," said Trump. "I've seen you swing, I know your swing."
One of CNN's moderators then sought to interject, as Trump said, "let's not act like children." The episode marked one of the handful of times that the moderators actually jumped into the fray.
They seldom sought to correct the record and repeatedly did not do so when the debaters made demonstrably false comments.
- Biden claims he is only president to have no troops die on his watch, Trump says Capitol rioters "were ushered in by the police
Biden falsely claimed that he is the only president who did not have "any troops dying anywhere in the world" during his time in office.
Three US service members were killed in Jordan in January when a suicide drone launched by Iranian-backed militias struck their military base near the Syrian border. Another 13 troops died in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan during the chaotic 2021 US exit from the country that ended America's longest war.
Trump further falsely claimed that the group of his supporters who overran the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, breaking through barricades and windows to enter the federal legislature as they violently clashed with law enforcement, were actually allowed in by police.
"They talk about a relatively small number of people that went to the Capitol, and in many cases, were ushered in by the police," Trump said in an ahistoric reading of the events that saw the US Capitol overrun for the first time since the British burned it to the ground in the War of 1812.
Video and photographs collected that day demonstrate the chaotic, often bloody clashes as protesters broke into the Capitol, forcing lawmakers to go into lockdown as a gallows was erected outside.
- Biden, Trump trade barbs over felony convictions, with ex-president ridiculing Hunter
"The only person on this stage who is a convicted felon is the man I'm looking at right now, and the fact of the matter is, what he's telling you is simply not true," Biden said, referring to Trump's false claims that he offered former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi thousands of National Guard troops during the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and she "turned them down."
"The fact is that there was no effort on his part to stop what was going on up on Capitol Hill, and all those people, every one of those that are convicted, deserves to be convicted," added Biden after Trump claimed that the hundreds of people who were convicted of offenses related to the riot that day "are so innocent."
Pelosi, like all House speakers, did not have authority over the National Guard.
Trump then sought to flip the script on the president, saying his son, Hunter Biden, "is a convicted felon at a very high level, his son is convicted, going to be convicted, probably numerous other times."
"But he could be a convicted felon as soon as he gets out of office. Joe could be a convicted fellow with all of the things that he's done," he added.
- Trump says he will not accept ceding of Ukrainian territory in any peace deal with Russia
Trump further said he would not be in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin's terms for a peace deal with Ukraine that would allow the Kremlin to keep any territory it currently occupies.
"No, they're not acceptable. But look, this is a war that never should have started if we had a leader in this war," he said. "He's given $200 billion now or more to Ukraine. He's given $200 billion -- that's a lot of money. I don't think there's ever been anything like it. Every time that (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy comes to this country, walks away with $60 billion he's the greatest salesman ever."
Biden said Putin has been clear about his objectives in Ukraine.
"He wants to reestablish what was part of the Soviet empire, not just a piece. He wants all of Ukraine. That's what he wants," he said.
Trump "keeps talking about, go ahead, let Putin go in and control Ukraine, and then move on to Poland and other places. What happens then? He has no idea what the hell he's talking about," Biden added.