What the debate told us: Biden’s facts are no match for Trump’s lies
by Jennifer Rubin
What caught my eye
The problem for President Biden during his debate with felon and former president Donald Trump: He looked and sounded his age. He may have had his facts in a row, but in this format, it hardly matters. Unfortunately, allowing Trump to blather lies nonstop without fact-checking plays right into a compulsive liar’s hands.
Biden recited his economic accomplishments, reiterated figures on the debt, pounced on Trump for getting Roe v. Wade overturned (and made the case Trump would sign a nationwide ban on abortion), repeated the details of his border plan and called out Trump for “lies” on veterans and immigration. Biden showed real anger when he repeated Gen. John Kelly’s revelation that Trump called dead military “suckers” and “losers.”
He threw some punches, denounced Trump for threatening retribution against his enemies, declared Trump had “the morals of an alley cat,” hit Trump for praising neo-Nazis in Charlottesville and argued Trump doesn’t understand democracy. He brought up the vice president and advisers who refused to endorse Trump. And he said flat out that the only one on the stage who was a felon was Trump. “And now he says that if he loses again, being the whiner that he is, there’s gonna be a bloodbath?” Biden said. He was most effective when going straight at Trump.
Trump, on the other hand, unsurprisingly lied and lied some more. He claimed Biden had only given jobs to illegal immigrants; claimed the world now did not respect the United States; claimed illegal immigrants were on Social Security and Medicare; pretended that other countries pay tariffs; claimed babies are killed after birth; insisted “everyone” wanted abortion brought back to the states; claimed Biden “opened” the borders; and insisted we have “no borders.” On immigration, Trump dreamed up illegal immigrants in luxury hotels. He denied saying that military personnel who died are “suckers” and “losers.” He bizarrely insisted NATO went broke — over and over again. (He still doesn’t understand that our European allies support NATO through their own defense budgets, not by “paying up.”) Most appalling, he claimed Biden encouraged Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He even claimed credit for Biden’s effort to lower insulin drug prices.
As the debate continued, Trump began to show the extent of his break with reality (e.g., saying former House speaker Nancy Pelosi turned down National Guardsman — an appalling lie.) He defended the Jan. 6 mob (after trying to avoid a question), insisted Biden was a criminal and refused to say definitively he would accept the results of the election. Biden got stronger, more incensed as the debate went along. He will not, however, silence questions about his age.
The debate format allowed Trump to present a nonstop stream of nonsense and lies. Biden was compelled to play whack-a-mole. It is humanly impossible to bat them all down in a situation such as this, but Biden did a workmanlike job, gaining ground as the 90 minutes ticked by (e.g., pointing out the economy was “flat on its back” when Biden took over).
Trump can shamelessly lie when moderators don’t fact-check in real time. The format simply does not work with an inveterate liar. But at points, Trump showed his true colors and his utter inability to answer straight policy questions (e.g., he could never answer a question on child care or on opioids). One is left somewhat despondent that millions of Americans will nevertheless vote for him.
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