For most of Thursday night’s debate, former Prez Trump verbally pummeled Prez Biden, painting his political opponent as an ineffective leader with a torrent of attacks that were frequently false, lacked context or were vague enough to be misleading.
Trump went directly after Biden’s personal character, calling him “weak” and little respected by global leaders who were “laughing” at him.He tried to accuse Biden of corruption, dubbing the president as a “Manchurian candidate” who was “paid by China,” a nod to frequent accusations of undue influence for which there is no evidence. He directly blamed Biden for a wave of immigrants “coming in and killing our citizens at a level we’ve never” seen, a hyperbolic claim that is not backed up by statistics. And in a wild misrepresentation of facts, Trump claimed falsely that Biden “encouraged” Russia to attack Ukraine, even though Biden has consistently tried to rally support for Ukraine.
Trump’s remarks during the debate were not different from the way he inveighs against Biden during his rallies. But the attacks were particularly striking given that Biden was standing mere feet away from him. The CNN anchors focused on keeping the peace, they did not even try to fact-check Trump’s assertions.
Biden did get in a few licks though. He said Trump had the “morals of an alley cat” and accused him of having sex with a porn star while his wife was pregnant. But by and large, Biden was on the defensive.
Seizing on Biden’s halting speech, Trump pounced at one moment when Biden trailed off, saying: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said, either.” But Trump’s most forceful attacks surrounded immigration. Trump invoked the idea of “Biden migrant crime,” claiming that Biden’s lax border policy had allowed terrorists and criminals to cross the border illegally. He accused Biden of killing “so many at our border” by not curbing the surge of migrants, an assertion that he did not back up with statistics.
Trump also went after Biden’s profile on the world stage. He argued that Putin was “laughing at” Biden’s leadership and at his failure to secure the release of WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich. Trump also revived his accusations that Biden improperly received payments from a Chinese energy company tied with his son Hunter. There is no proof any portion of those payments went to the president.
Trump went directly after Biden’s personal character, calling him “weak” and little respected by global leaders who were “laughing” at him.He tried to accuse Biden of corruption, dubbing the president as a “Manchurian candidate” who was “paid by China,” a nod to frequent accusations of undue influence for which there is no evidence. He directly blamed Biden for a wave of immigrants “coming in and killing our citizens at a level we’ve never” seen, a hyperbolic claim that is not backed up by statistics. And in a wild misrepresentation of facts, Trump claimed falsely that Biden “encouraged” Russia to attack Ukraine, even though Biden has consistently tried to rally support for Ukraine.
Trump’s remarks during the debate were not different from the way he inveighs against Biden during his rallies. But the attacks were particularly striking given that Biden was standing mere feet away from him. The CNN anchors focused on keeping the peace, they did not even try to fact-check Trump’s assertions.
Biden did get in a few licks though. He said Trump had the “morals of an alley cat” and accused him of having sex with a porn star while his wife was pregnant. But by and large, Biden was on the defensive.
Seizing on Biden’s halting speech, Trump pounced at one moment when Biden trailed off, saying: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said, either.” But Trump’s most forceful attacks surrounded immigration. Trump invoked the idea of “Biden migrant crime,” claiming that Biden’s lax border policy had allowed terrorists and criminals to cross the border illegally. He accused Biden of killing “so many at our border” by not curbing the surge of migrants, an assertion that he did not back up with statistics.
Trump also went after Biden’s profile on the world stage. He argued that Putin was “laughing at” Biden’s leadership and at his failure to secure the release of WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich. Trump also revived his accusations that Biden improperly received payments from a Chinese energy company tied with his son Hunter. There is no proof any portion of those payments went to the president.
