‘Clowns, Fools’ Mark a Debate With Only Lowlights
The first encounter between Joe Biden and Donald Trump changed nothing except to diminish the country’s dignity a little further.
Dignity was the biggest loser in what must have been the nastiest presidential debate in U.S. history.
Photographer: Kevin Dietsch/UPI/Bloomberg
Some political debates have highlights. The first presidential debate this year had only lowlights. Joe Biden called President Donald Trump “a clown.” Trump said Biden wasn’t smart. Biden said Trump “has been a fool.” And on it went, in what must have been the nastiest presidential debate in U.S. history. The most common word in the transcript will be “[crosstalk].”
Whose attacks landed best? The Trump campaign’s central critiques of Biden are that he is old and out of it, that he has spent too much time in D.C., and that he is too weak to resist his party’s left wing. Biden had a couple of senior moments during the debate. He forgot some of the details of his health care plan: The new government insurance plan he wants to create would not be limited to Medicaid patients, as he said. He flip-flopped twice on the Green New Deal in the span of a few sentences. But there was no devastating, memorable moment of befuddlement. He also had some crisp answers, and even a few good lines. (On Covid: “It is what it is because you are who you are.”)