Watch: A shaky and mumbling Biden freezes in first debate
Joe Biden froze, stuttered and lost his train of thought on stage during a disastrous first 2024 debate against Donald Trump, raising serious questions about his ability to continue his re-election bid.
The 81-year-old president’s voice was faint as he rambled and struggled to coherently answer questions in the first of two set-piece live debates.
The poor performance allowed Mr Trump to claim the night, although the Republican candidate also delivered a string of clumsy responses and failed to say he would accept the results of November’s vote.
Mr Biden frequently paused to cough and looked down at his notes on the podium, rather than into the camera, as millions of Americans tuned in to watch his first encounter with his Republican rival in four years.
In the middle of the debate, the White House started to brief the media that the president was suffering from a cold.
“I have a sore throat,” Mr Biden told reporters later.
The debate in Atlanta, Georgia, opened with questions on the US economy, but Mr Biden repeatedly paused to correct himself as he confused millions and billions and percentage figures.
In one particularly damaging moment, Mr Biden lost his train of thought completely and froze on stage.
His response drifted from an answer on tax policy to health policy, bringing up Covid-19 before saying, “excuse me” and trailing off again.
“Look, we finally beat Medicare,” Mr Biden finally said, referring to health care for over 65-year-olds before being cut off by moderators.
Trump was quick to deliver a riposte: “That’s right, he did beat Medicaid, he beat it to death. And he’s destroying Medicare.”
“I really don’t know what he said, I don’t think he even knows what he said,” Trump added after another confused answer by Mr Biden.
Ugly attacks
The historic night – the first time a sitting US president and a former president have debated each other on stage – came with strict rules imposed by host CNN that limited the two men’s responses during the two-hour debate.
It prevented the chaotic scenes that marked the pair’s encounter in 2020, but did not stop the two men’s jousting over pointed personal attacks.
Mr Biden told his opponent he was a “sucker” and a “loser”. He branded his GOP rival a “convicted felon”, and a “criminal”.
He turned to Trump and accused him of having “the morals of an alley cat”, referencing his prosecution over a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who alleged an affair.
“I did not have sex with a porn star,” replied Trump.
Trump, in turn, told Mr Biden he was “the worst president in history”.
Trump frequently flipped questions on the economy into responses on the US-Mexico border crisis.
“The only jobs he created are for illegal immigrants,” he said of Mr Biden’s immigration policies. “We are living right now in a rat’s nest”
“He rewarded the wealthy,” Mr Biden hit back, as he raised Trump’s tax cuts.
Trump said in response: “They spent money like a bunch of people that don’t know what they’re doing”.
The question of abortion access was raised just minutes into the debate, a political vulnerability for Trump, who installed the Supreme Court that overturned the landmark 1973 ruling Roe v Wade that enshrined abortion access nationwide.
Trump took an ambiguous stance on where he drew the line on restrictions, saying abortion was “complex, but not really complex”.
Trump said he supported exceptions to abortion bans in cases involving “rape, incest and the life of the mother”.
Mr Biden shot back: “It’s been a terrible thing, what you’ve done” and promised to restore Roe v Wade.
The president claimed his opponent and his Republican backers in Congress would pass a “universal ban on abortion”.
“I’ll veto it, he’ll sign it,” he said.
Trump claimed that Vladimir Putin’s terms for peace in Ukraine were “not acceptable”.
But suggested he would drastically curtain US spending in support of Kyiv’s defences against Russia’s war, calling Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky “the greatest salesman ever”.
“I’m not knocking him. I’m only saying the money that we’re spending on this war... it should have never happened,” Trump said.
“You’ve got to ask these people [in Europe] to put up the money,” he said.
Trump went on to claim he would have the war “settled” before he takes office on Jan 29 next year if he wins back the White House.
Discussing Israel’s war in Gaza, Trump said the conflict had broken out because Biden was perceived as weak on the global stage.
“This place, the whole world, is blowing up under him,” Trump said.
“He’s become like a Palestinian,” he said at another point.
”But they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian. He’s a weak one.”
“I never heard so much malarkey in my whole life,” Biden retorted.
Trump said violence during the election on Nov 5 would be “totally unacceptable,” but he also declined to commit to accepting the results regardless of the outcome.
Asked three times whether he would accept the results, Trump said: “If it’s a fair and legal and good election, absolutely.”
Biden hit back: “He says that if he loses again, such a whiner that he is, that this could be a ‘bloodbath’”.
Trump, pressed on his actions during the Capitol riot on Jan 6 2021, was unapologetic.
“On Jan 6, we were respected all over the world, all over the world we were respected,” Trump said.
The debate descended into farce towards the end, with the two presidential candidates trading boasts over their golf handicaps.
Trump used an answer on his mental and physical fitness to brag about his skill on the course.
Joe Biden was laughing through much of the rambling answer and made a jibe about his rival’s weight.
He said: “Just look at what he says he is” and compare it to “what he is”.
Mr Biden then went on to talk up his own golfing skills, telling Trump he was “happy” to play against him “if you carry your own bag.”
“Let’s not act like children,” Trump said. Biden replied: “You are a child.”
Mr Biden was joined by his wife Jill, who watched from a green room.
Trump walked straight off the stage alone, after the debate. His wife Melania did not accompany him to Atlanta.
According to a CNN poll, 67 per cent of viewers thought Mr Trump won the debate, versus 33 per cent for Mr Biden.
The presidential election is on Nov 5.
