US Elections 2024: Biden's Cold Performance And Trump's False Claims - 4 Key Debate Takeaways

The reality of the 2024 presidential contest is now being acknowledged, following the showcase of the two main options voters have in November during the first debate of the election cycle.

Joe Biden, apparently sick with a cold, was observed to mumble through the debate, failing to land otherwise well-crafted lines. Donald Trump, known for his prolific purveyance of falsehoods, was repeatedly noted to have told lies and avoided answering tough questions, as reported by The Guardian.

The prevailing reaction to the debate was one of resignation and disbelief that these two candidates were chosen by their parties to lead the country at one of its most critical moments.

Whether the debacle will sway undecided voters toward one candidate or the other remains to be seen.

1. Poor performance by Biden

The rightwing conspiracies that he would take some kind of performance-enhancing drugs before the debate were joked about by the president, with a link to a can of water for sale on his campaign website called "Dark Brandon's Secret Sauce" being posted by him.

However, his low-energy, muted and garbled performance was observed not to have lived up to expectations. It should be kept in mind that Biden was challenged to the debate by the former president, which, in retrospect, looks like a strategic error. Biden's age and fitness for office are frequently a concern for voters, as reported by CNN. This debate was not observed to have assuaged their fears.

If someone were reading a transcript of Biden's remarks, some of his lines would sound smart and aggressive. However, the delivery failed - and for a visual medium like TV, that's critical. His signature accomplishments, such as his infrastructure plan, failed to have been sold by him.

From the start, Biden's voice was observed to have been muffled. He was seen to have trailed off. In one gaffe, attacking Trump on his tax cuts and the national debt, he was observed to have confusingly ended his remarks with: "We finally beat Medicare."

On an abortion question, which should have been one of Biden's strongest assets for voters concerned about rolling back reproductive rights, girls killed by migrants were brought up by Biden - pivoting, for some reason, to one of his weakest areas.

He was seen to have become more lively over the course of the evening, but not enough to change the narrative of how the debate was seen to have gone down optically. The evening will undoubtedly lead Democrats to debate whether Biden should somehow be replaced at the convention, as reported by the Guardian.

2. Endless lies by Trump:

As expected for a politician so consistently fact-checked, falsehoods and half-truths were repeatedly attempted to be sold to voters by Trump. When questions were posed that would require tough answers, like one about the January 6 insurrection, he deflected and talked about something on which Biden could be attacked.

CNN's moderators did not fact-check statements live. At times, when the question was avoided, it was reiterated - sometimes successfully getting Trump to answer.

Claims were made falsely by him, such as Democrats wanting abortions up until and after birth. Without evidence, it was said that Nancy Pelosi refused his offer for national guard troops on January 6, 2021, to respond to an insurrection he encouraged. It was stated that his administration had the "best environmental numbers," although what that meant was unclear, as reported by the Guardian.

And the promise that retribution would mark a second term in office was also surfaced, in what seemed to be a veiled threat of prosecution: "He could be a convicted felon as soon as he gets out of office. Joe could be a convicted felon with all of the things that he's done. He's done horrible things."

3. Different visions were starkly on display:

The distinctions of the two Americas in which they live were shown by the two men. Trump repeatedly discussed how the US had failed, how Biden was the worst president in the country's history, and how the country is currently seen dismally by the world.

"Joe, our country is being destroyed. As you and I sit up here and waste a lot of time on this debate. This shouldn't be a debate. He is the worst president, he just said about me because I said it. But look, he's the worst president in the history of our country. He's destroyed our country," as reported by the Guardian.

Biden disagreed, offering an optimistic view of the US on the world stage.

"We're the most admired country in the world. We're the United States of America. There's nothing beyond our capacity. We have the finest military in the history of the world, the finest in the history of the world. No one thinks we're weak. No one wants to screw around with us, nobody."

4. The adult film actor moment:

Trump's convictions and varied court cases weren't brought up in the debate until it was well underway, a missed opportunity from Biden to hammer on one of Trump's key liabilities.

When the issue finally surfaced, Biden hit at Trump for having sex with an adult film actor while his wife was pregnant, referring to Stormy Daniels and the hush-money trial that concluded in 34 felonies for Trump, as reported by the Guardian.

"You have the morals of an alley cat," Biden quipped at Trump. Trump responded with a line that surely hasn't been uttered at presidential debates in decades past: "I didn't have sex with a porn star."