By: Timothy Xia

The first presidential debate happened on Thursday in Atlanta, Georgia. Current president Joe Biden struggled a lot in his first debate with former president Donald J Trump and stuttered a lot. On the other hand, Trump was speaking confidently and saying Biden’s shortcomings when he was president. After the debate was over, Trump said, “I really didn’t know what he was saying. I don’t think he did either,”(From New York Times). Based on what happened in the 2020 presidential debate, Biden wanted the mic off so Trump wouldn’t keep on interrupting, but it didn’t help Biden.

What did they debate about?

The main topics that they debated were inflation, climate change, immigration, abortion and crime. The conversation regarding crime got pretty heated when Biden stated that Trump committed a felony and Trump stated that Biden’s son, Hunter, committed a felony. Joe later stated that Trump once called dead American Service men “suckers and losers”(from New York Times),which Trump denied.

What Else Happened?

There was one time when the Moderators, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, asked if Trump would accept the results this year unlike the time in the 2020 election when the January 6th attack happened. Trump replied, “If it’s a fair and legal election, absolutely,”(From New York Times), but Biden said that Trump is a whiner and he doesn’t think that he will accept the results. But a lot of people just paid attention to the word, “if”(from New York Times). Another of Biden’s problems is that the split screen was showing on the stage and was distracting Biden when he was talking.

What Happened After?

After the debate was over, many democrats were worried about what was going to happen in the election. Governor Gavin Newsom(Governor of California) said, “ This is only the first debate, no one can choose based on just this,” (From New York Times). Some others said that even though Biden started off stuttering, he finished strong with his closing speech.

Source From:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/28/us/politics/presidential-debate-takeaways-biden-trump.html