Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump faced off at CNN’s Atlanta studios Thursday night in the first presidential debate of the 2024 general election.
A nearly unanimous chorus of observers from across the political spectrum agreed that Trump handily won the debate and Biden turned in a dismal performance. Some prominent liberal voices even went so far as to suggest Biden step aside and allow another Democrat to seek the party’s nomination.
CNN anchors Dana Bash and Jake Tapper moderated the debate.
In the LOOPcast’s livestream of the debate, CatholicVote President Brian Burch noted that the clash was the “earliest debate in American history.” Technically, Burch observed, neither Trump nor Biden have yet been nominated.
Observers stated that Trump delivered a strong performance across the board, on virtually every issue.
When the issue of abortion came up during the early part of the debate, Trump confronted Biden and the Democratic Party’s aggressive pro-abortion push and pointed out that polling shows the American people do not want to leave abortion totally unregulated.
“We think the Democrats are the radicals, not the Republicans,” Trump said.
CatholicVote Director of Government Affairs Tom McClusky praised Trump’s answer during the LOOPcast livestream, stating: “It’s only taken us 50 years but we have a president that actually says what we want him to say on this.”
“Donald Trump is the Republican who does it,” said CatholicVote Vice President Joshua Mercer. “Amazing.”
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Later in the debate, Trump hit Biden on the rampant border crisis that has ballooned to unprecedented levels during the incumbent’s presidency.
“We had the safest border in the history of our country,” Trump said. “All he had to do was leave it.”
“[Biden] decided to … open up our country to people who are from prisons … mental institutions, insane asylums, terrorists,” Trump said.
Biden seemed to struggle with his responses throughout the night, and spoke in a soft, hoarse voice.
“I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence,” Trump quipped after Biden gave an answer on immigration. “I don’t think he knows what he said either.”
The former president also confronted Biden’s bizarre statement that he “finally beat Medicare.”
“He did beat Medicare, he beat it to death,” Trump responded. “This man is going to single-handedly destroy Social Security.”
Trump asserted that under Biden’s presidency, the United States is no longer respected by foreign nations.
“What has happened to this country in the last four years is not to be believed,” Trump said. “What this man has done is absolutely criminal.”
As expected, Tapper asked Trump about the events of January 6, 2021.
“On January 6, we had a great border,” Trump said. “We were energy independent. On January 6, we had the lowest taxes ever.”
“On January 6, we were respected all over the world,” he added. “Then [Biden] comes in and we’re now laughed at.”
Trump continued:
What happened to the United States’ reputation under this man’s leadership is horrible. Including weaponization, which I’m sure at some point you’ll be talking about, where he goes after his political opponent because he can’t beat him fair and square.
“[Biden’s] presidency is without question … the worst presidency in the history of our country,” Trump said.
Later in the debate, Trump said that if Biden “wins this election our country doesn’t have a chance, not even a chance of coming out of this rut. We probably won’t have a country left anymore.”
Biden’s performance received searing criticism, and not only from his usual critics.
Billionaire Bill Ackman, a prolific Democratic donor, wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “I have to say this is embarrassing not just for [President] Biden but also for our country.”
Heath Mayo, a self-described “conservative” who supports Biden, called the sitting’s president’s performance a “disaster.”
Chris Cillizza, formerly of CNN, wrote at one point during the debate: “Biden looks old. Halting. He just lost his train of thought. His voice is weak. Bad bad bad.”
CNN’s Kasie Hunt wrote:
The voice, open-mouthed look, and visual contrast between President Biden and former President Trump all have Democrats I’m talking to nearly beside themselves watching this debate.
Pollster Frank Luntz noted on X that voters responded negatively to Biden’s debate performance.
“After the first commercial break, I asked my focus group of undecided voters how many of them are more convinced to vote for Joe Biden,” he wrote. “Zero raised their hands. Half of them say they voted for Biden in 2020.”
Following the debate, Democratic political commentator and CNN contributor Van Jones said it was “painful” to watch Biden’s performance.
“I love Joe Biden,” Jones said. “He did not do well at all. He had a test to meet tonight to restore confidence of the country and of the [Democratic] base, and he failed to do that.”
“I think there’s a lot of people who are going to want to see him consider taking a different course now,” Jones added, alluding to the prospect of Biden dropping out of the race. “We’re still far from our convention and there is time for this party to figure out a different way forward if [Biden] would allow us to do that.”
However, CatholicVote’s Mercer challenged the notion that Biden may withdraw from the race. Biden was “doing well enough that Democrats are not going to bump him from the ticket,” Mercer said.
Despite the presence of other high-profile candidates in the presidential election, the debate featured a head-to-head face-off between just Biden and Trump.
Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy. Jr., failed to meet the threshold to qualify for the debate.
Despite this, he continues to poll at levels higher than any major party candidate since Ross Perot in the 1990s. Kennedy still has a chance to qualify for the scheduled ABC debate in September.
LifeNews Note: Joshua Mercer writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
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