Without exchanging a handshake, Democratic US President Joe Biden and his Republican predecessor Donald Trump squared off on Thursday night (4:XNUMX a.m. Friday in Greece) in their first teleconference ahead of November's presidential election. The two candidates clashed on many issues: the economy, immigration and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
"Inflation is killing our country," began the 78-year-old former president, who appeared comfortable repeating an argument he knows resonates with Americans, arguing that Biden has done a "very bad job" in the White House.
Biden and Trump responded to questions about voter concerns regarding age and ability to serve during the CNN presidential debate in Atlanta. Watch CNN and follow live: https://t.co/1L1VCZQBWF pic.twitter.com/02QySSSKkj
- CNN (@CNN) June 28, 2024
The 81-year-old Democratic president was hoarse and bothered by a cough in the first minutes of the debate, while at one point he seemed to lose his train of thought. However, he then showed more composure and launched frequent attacks on his opponent. Among other things, he blamed Trump for his role in the Supreme Court's overturning of the constitutional right to abortion. "It's terrible what you've done," the Democratic president of the United States said, addressing his Republican opponent in the November election.
He also accused Trump of "lying" about the immigration crisis and its connection to crime. The narrative that illegal immigrants are welcome in the United States is "not true," Biden stressed. "There is no evidence to support what he is saying. Once again he's exaggerating, he's lying," he said of Trump during the teleconference hosted by CNN.
In an attempt to portray the 81-year-old Biden as a weak leader, Trump argued that he is behaving "like a Palestinian" when he should let Israel "finish the job" on Hamas. "He has become like a Palestinian, but they don't like him because he is a very bad Palestinian. He's weak," Trump asserted, to later receive from Biden the response that he had never heard so much nonsense before.
In the US Presidential Debate, former president Donald Trump calls Biden "A Palestinian". pic.twitter.com/BSAMSyDBRR
— Michael Weingardt (@Michael_Wgd) June 28, 2024
The Republican tycoon also claimed that the war in Ukraine would never have broken out if there was a real leader in the White House and pledged that, if elected US president, he would end "the war between Putin and Zelensky" before he officially takes office on January 20.
Donald Trump, however, refrained from committing to recognize the result of the November presidential election. Responding to a related question, the Republican candidate said he would accept the result "if the election is fair."
"I doubt you'll accept it," Joe Biden later commented, because "you're such a whiner," recalling that his predecessor had not admitted defeat in the previous election.
A second debate between Biden and Trump is scheduled on the ABC network on September 10, two months before the crucial US presidential election.
Source: protothema.gr