On Politics: The mess in Atlanta
A mess in Atlanta
Well, that was ugly. For 90 minutes on Thursday night, the presidential debate careened between former President Donald J. Trump's often misleading attacks and President Biden's shaky attempts to respond. Sure, they clashed over abortion rights, tariffs and immigration, with Trump often distorting his record and Biden struggling to explain his own. They disagreed over America's role in the world and slammed each other's economic policies. But mostly, they fought about each other. They hurled insults and invective in strikingly personal terms, calling the other the worst president in U.S. history. Each said the other would start World War III. They accused each other of seeking retribution against their political opponents. Glimmers of hope for substantive exchanges quickly died. Take the moment when Trump, 78, was asked if he was capable at his age of serving another term. That turned into a spat over the two contenders' golf games. Both Biden and Trump are deeply unpopular, and voters have for months been telling pollsters that they did not want this rematch even as they sent the candidates to the top of the ticket. Watching the debate last night, as each cast the other as the reason that he is running again, it seemed clear that the two Americans who most want this rematch were standing onstage. "I wish he was a great president because I wouldn't be here right now. I'd be at one of my many places enjoying myself," Trump said, adding, "The only reason I'm here is that he's so bad as a president." Biden portrayed Trump as a unique threat to the country, castigating him in deeply personal terms and repeatedly calling him a liar. "How many billions of dollars do you owe in civil penalties for molesting a woman in public, for doing a whole range of things, of having sex with a porn star on the night, while your wife was pregnant," Biden asked, before accusing Trump of having "the morals of an alley cat." The shakiness of Biden's overall performance is already giving rise to urgent questions from Democrats about whether he is really the right candidate to take on a figure he has cast as so dangerous to the country. But the deep enmity on display — and the messiness of the night — may have damaged them both. Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster, posted on X that the focus group of undecideds he had run during the debate moved away from Trump as he became more "vicious" toward Biden — although, by the end of the night, his group was calling for Biden to step aside. And Kristen Morris, 60, a nursing student in a suburb of Charlotte, N.C., who is unenthusiastic about voting for Biden or Trump, told my colleague Eduardo Medina that "the hyperbole on both sides is just really, really hard to stomach." Halfway through the debate, she said she was troubled by Trump's lack of remorse about his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. But she was also disturbed by Biden's inability to coherently finish thoughts. The whole thing, she said, was deeply unsettling — and it's likely that many Americans agree. What to read
Democrats feared a horror show. Some say they got one.Earlier this week, I wrote about the Democrats and supporters of President Biden who desperately wanted Biden to perform well in last night's debate but were worried that he might slip up. I checked in with some of them on Thursday night. They were not doing well. Laurie Lowe had told me that she and her friends had printed out debate bingo cards. They had booze on hand in case things didn't go their way and they needed to turn bingo into a drinking game. They started drinking, Lowe said, within 60 seconds. "That was so painful. Trump was his usual self, setting the fact-checking machine on fire, but oh dear … Biden's verbal stumbles and how frail he acted were stunning," Lowe emailed me after the debate, saying the night had been depressing for Democrats. "I'm not real excited any more about casting my vote in November." Jay Bodenstein, who had told me that he was "fearful" before the debate, described himself as "heartsick" during the second commercial break. "Biden just struggled and struggled to pull himself together. This was a terribly disappointing debate," Bodenstein said once it was over. "On the other side of the podium, Trump offered his standard rants and lies and never answered a question. Another debate will be catastrophic for Biden. This was painful to watch." Read past editions of the newsletter here. If you're enjoying what you're reading, please consider recommending it to others. They can sign up here. Have feedback? Ideas for coverage? We'd love to hear from you. Email us at onpolitics@nytimes.com.
|
posted by Goatz @ 2:00 AM
0 comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home