Washington DC
US Presidential Debate 2024: US President Joe Biden clashed with his Republican White House predecessor Donald Trump in the first presidential debate ahead of the November presidential elections. Biden repeatedly struggled to finish his allotted time and had to be reminded by the moderators that he had time to speak. Here are the key takeaways from the debate that Democrats are decrying as an event that has slimmed Biden's chances of returning to the White House.
Donald Trump's balanced stance on abortion
In a surprising turn of events, Donald Trump did not pander to the ultra-conservative lobby and said that he respects the recent court decision that allows the use of abortion pills. Asked if he would reverse the Supreme Court's decision on allowing the use of abortion pills, he emphatically said no.
Also read | US Supreme Court allows emergency abortion access in Idaho for now
"Like Ronald Regan, I believe in exceptions," Trump said.
Biden responded that it's women's sole right what they want to do with their bodies, not anybody else's.
But Biden later went off track by saying, "I support Roe v Wade, which had three trimesters. The first time is between a woman and a doctor. The second time is between a doctor and an extreme situation. A third time is between the doctor, I mean, between the women and the state."
The US president blamed Trump for the overturning of the Roe Vs. Wade verdict due to the inclusion of perceived Conservative judges in the Supreme Court during the Trump administration.
Biden struggles to give clear responses on wars in Gaza, Ukraine
Joe Biden appeared to struggle with Trump's strongman instincts as the former president said that Russian President Vladimir Putin's terms to end the war in Ukraine — keeping territory Moscow has occupied in war, and Kyiv to end its bid to join NATO — are not acceptable to him. Trump first claimed that he would get the Ukraine conflict settled before he took office, and later on during the debate, he added that a solution to the Ukraine crisis would emerge once he took office.
Biden simply described Vladimir Putin as a "war criminal" and repeated Washington's support to Ukraine against the Russian offensive. To this, Trump described Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky as the "greatest salesman" as he gets billions in US money every time he visits the United States.
The duo sparred over the war in Gaza. Biden repeated his three-stage plan to end the war in Gaza which includes the return of hostages in Hamas captivity and an immediate ceasefire.
Biden said that Hamas wants to continue the war while Trump retorted by claiming it's Israel that's continuing the war but nonetheless Israel must be allowed "to finish the job in Gaza".
Trump described Biden as the "weak one" while Biden described his predecessor as being "foolish".
Trump's clear answer on his age
Trump, 78 and Biden, 81, answered questions related to the concerns about their age.
Trump challenged Biden to take cognitive tests like he claimed he had. Biden laughed it off and challenged Trump for a "driving test".
Trump-Biden face off on immigration
Trump and Biden responded to some of the most pressing questions on illegal immigration. Trump described "migrant crime" as "Biden migrant crime".
Biden, meanwhile, went after Trump for "snatching children from their mothers" whilst he was in power.
Trump claimed that Americans are "living right now in a rat’s nest" due to rising crime in the country which he associated with more immigrants entering.
Also watch | Biden vs Trump US Presidential Debate: Biden and Trump trade attacks in first presidential debate
"They are killing our people in New York and California and every state in the union because we don’t have borders anymore," he said.
"They’re killing our citizens at a level that we’ve never seen before," the former president said.
Biden's dig on Trump over Stormy Daniels hush money case
In a striking moment of the debate, Biden took a personal dig at Trump and said that the former president had "sex with a porn star when his wife was pregnant".
"You have the morals of an alley cat," Biden told Trump.
"First of all, I did not have sex with a porn star," Trump said, while claiming that he is going to appeal the verdict of a Manhattan court on the same.
Emphasis on US' exit from Afghanistan in August 2021
At least thrice during the debate, Trump repeated that the US' exit from Afghanistan in August 2021 — which allowed the Taliban to return to power — was the "most embarrassing day in the history of our country."
Trump reasoned that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine had the US not exited Afghanistan the way it did. "They (the world) don't respect our country. We have become like a third world country," Trump said in a repetition of a similar claim he made earlier.
Also read | 'Too little, too late': Ex-US generals point to Biden admin's failures for Kabul's quick fall to Taliban
Biden hit out at Trump for describing the US as a "failing country". "No president in the US history has talked about this country like that," Biden said.