Nine key takeaways from the Trump and Biden debate

The first debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump was predictably heated, with the two candidates trading a raft of personal insults over porn stars, their public record and even golf, during the 90 minute session hosted by CNN.

Viewers craving reassurance that the US president could give a strong performance and bat away concerns about his age were sorely disappointed after he began with a croaky voice, mixed up words, and froze halfway through an answer.

Donald Trump may have appeared sharper and more coherent, but that didn’t stop him from dishing out all kinds of claims about his own time in office.

Here are the key things from the debate:

Joe Biden’s performance

There will be no escaping the fact that the US president failed miserably to convince viewers that his age is not an issue in this election. Taking the first question on the economy, Biden answered in a shaky, breathless voice as he tried to explain how his administration tried to “put things back together”. “I’ve never heard him sound this frail,” one Vox reporter said. His campaign later revealed that the president was suffering from a cold. But minutes later he appeared to prove critics right once again, when he froze during an answer on childcare and taxes. He said: “Making sure that were able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with the, with the Covid, excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with, look ….” before trailing off and eventually resuming with: “Look, if, we’ve finally beat Medicare”. Trump retorted with: “He did beat Medicare. He beat it to death.” Kamala Harris later acknowledged that the president had got off to a “slow start” as she defended him. However his performance has already sent Democrats into a panic.

No audience and muted mics

The first debate in the 2020 election saw the two candidates chaotically talk over the top of each other some 76 times. This time, however, each presidential nominee’s microphone was muted when the other was talking. There was also no audience, which some commentators had predicted might challenge Trump, but could allow for, along with the mute button, a more civil debate. Instead the focus turned to the moderators – CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash – who asked questions but rarely interjected to challenge either candidate.

The facts – or lack thereof

Biden and Trump were largely allowed to carry on their own show during each two minute answer (and their one minute rebuttals), which meant they went unchallenged by the hosts during some pretty major claims. Some of those included Trump claiming his administration oversaw “the safest border in the history of our country”. NBC noted that in 2019, the last year before the Covid-19 pandemic brought down border crossings, there were roughly 860,000 illegal border crossings, far more than in any year during the Obama administration. Trump also claimed that his tax cuts “spurred the greatest economy we’ve seen”. Biden also made his own claims, including that “Black unemployment is the lowest level it’s been in a long, long time.” CNN noted the Black or African American unemployment rate was 6.1% in May 2024, higher than a record set under the administration when it fell to an adjusted low of 4.8% in April 2023.

The insults

Biden repeatedly called Trump a “whiner”, and a “child”, but it was when he got around to Trump’s more salacious past that the insults really started flying. Referencing allegations relating to the former president and Stormy Daniels, Biden said Trump had “sex with a porn star while your wife was pregnant.” He continued: “You have the morals of an alley cat”. Trump responded denying the allegation. Towards the end of the debate the mud slinging swung into gear again, bizarrely over their own prowess at golf. Trump bragged that he was in “very good shape” and had recently won two championships at one of his golf courses. “To do that, you have to be quite smart and you have to be able to hit the ball a long way.” He said Biden “can’t hit a ball 50 yards.” Biden responded with: “I got my handicap, when I was vice president, down to six,” and challenged Trump to a golf match, but said he carried his bag of clubs himself. Trump called Biden’s handicap claim “the biggest lie of all,” adding: “I’ve seen your swing. I know your swing,” and then sought to shut it down, adding: “Let’s not act like children.” Biden hit back: “You are a child”. As one commentator put it “It’s the third Golf War”.

Trump stumbles on 6 January question

The former president was asked how he would reassure voters that he would respect his oath of office after the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol. Trump tried to avoid addressing the issue and defended the people who stormed the Capitol, blaming Biden for prosecuting them. “What they’ve done to some people who are so innocent, you ought to be ashamed of yourself,” Trump told Biden. He suggested that those charged will somehow be found to be innocent one day. More than 1,400 people have been charged with federal offences stemming from the riot. Of those, more than 850 people have pleaded guilty to crimes, including seditious conspiracy and assaulting police officers. About 200 others have been convicted at trial. Trump warned that members of the congressional committee that investigated insurrection could face criminal charges, as could Biden himself. Biden shot back: “The only person on this stage who’s a convicted felon is the man I’m looking at.” Trump was later asked if he would accept the results of the current election. He did not give a clear “yes” but instead replied: “if it’s a fair and legal and good election, absolutely”.

Issue of abortion sees heated exchange

Biden blamed Trump for eroding abortion rights after the Republican’s three nominees to the Supreme Court voted to reverse Roe v Wade, which had recognised a nationwide constitutional right to abortion. “It’s been a terrible thing what you’ve done,” Biden said to Trump. The president pledged to restore the law under Roe if given a second term and said the idea of turning abortion laws back to states “is like saying we’re going to turn civil rights back to the states.” Trump said his presidency returned the issue of abortion to the people through state laws. He said he supports abortion ban exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother, and he repeated his false claim that Biden supports abortion up to and after birth. “We think the Democrats are the radicals, not the Republicans,” Trump said.

The viral moments

Joe Biden took a swing before the debate at the Trump campaign with a social media post joking about bizarre claims of drug use. Just minutes before the performance he put a post on X about his ‘performance enhancer’. “I don’t know what they’ve got in these performance enhancers, but I’m feeling pretty jacked up”. However all of that is likely to be forgotten in the aftermath of the debate. The moment Biden froze will undoubtedly go down as the most clipped and shared moment of the debate.

Who won?

A CNN flash poll of debate watchers found that 67% believed Trump gave a better performance. The poll, via text message with 565 registered US voters, found 57% had no real confidence in Biden’s ability to lead the country, and 44% said they have no real confidence in Trump’s ability to do so. Those numbers were largely unchanged from the poll taken prior to the debate. It also showed 36% of debate watchers now say they have a lot of confidence in Trump’s ability to lead the country, only 14% say the same of Biden. While Democrats may hope there is time yet to turn things around, the debate will still be seen as a crucial test. Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, who hosted the first debate in 2020, recently described that event as “one of the most consequential presidential debates in history” and that Trump’s performance lost him the presidency.

What happens next?

The second debate will be held on US broadcaster ABC on 10 September, although it is not yet known where the event will be held. Prior to that the Democratic National Convention will be held. Some commentators have even floated the idea that it could be used to replace Biden. Such a move would be unprecedented and extremely risky. Todd Belt, a professor of political science at George Washington University, recently told i “We’re barely at the beginning of the longest presidential campaign in US history. “We’re so far away, that I think each candidate will use the opportunity for ‘trial balloons’ on policy and messaging to see what resonates with voters, and then make those that do the centrepieces of their campaign. We’re not at the end, we’re barely at the beginning of the longest presidential campaign in US history.”