The 2024 presidential debate between Democratic incumbent President Joe Biden and his Republican challenger, former President Donald Trump, was a contentious affair. Both candidates delivered performances that drew significant criticism.
Biden, who at 81 years old is the oldest presidential candidate in U.S. history, was described as having a "shaky, halting" performance. White House officials attributed this to Biden having a cold, but the uneven nature of his responses raised concerns among some Democrats about his fitness for a second term.
Trump, meanwhile, aggressively attacked Biden on a range of issues, including abortion, immigration, foreign policy, and the economy. While Trump landed several blows, many of his attacks were deemed false or misleading by fact-checkers.
The two candidates also traded deeply personal insults, with Biden calling Trump a "felon" over the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, and Trump bringing up the recent conviction of Biden's son, Hunter, for lying about his drug use to purchase a firearm.
The divisive and combative debate comes at a time when opinion polls show the race for the White House is virtually tied. Biden's campaign team and allies sought to downplay the significance of his performance, but it was nonetheless seen as a significant setback, at least in the short term.
One top Biden donor even went so far as to call the president's performance "disqualifying," and said they expected renewed calls for Biden to step aside ahead of the party's national convention in August.
The debate highlighted the stark divisions and high stakes in the 2024 election, as the two oldest presidential candidates in U.S. history battle for control of the White House.
Here is the passage rewritten with the requested changes:
"They know him well, they served with him," he said. "Why are they not endorsing him?"
Former President Trump, meanwhile, unleashed a barrage of criticisms, many of which were well-worn falsehoods he has long repeated, including claims that migrants have carried out a crime wave, that Democrats support infanticide, and that he won the 2020 election.
The two septuagenarian candidates, Biden and Trump, were both under pressure to display their fitness for office. Biden has been dogged by questions about his age and sharpness, while Trump's incendiary rhetoric and sprawling legal woes remain a vulnerability.
"The biggest factor is that Biden still seemed old and raspy and less coherent than when he ran last time," said Matt Grossmann, a political science professor at Michigan State University. "I don't think Trump did anything to help himself beyond his existing supporters, but I think it's eclipsed by people's impressions of Biden on his biggest vulnerability."
When asked about the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters, the former president refused to accept any responsibility and claimed that many of those arrested were innocent.
"This guy has no sense of American democracy," Biden scoffed in response.
Biden also blamed Trump for enabling the elimination of a nationwide right to abortion by appointing conservatives to the U.S. Supreme Court, an issue that has bedeviled Republicans since 2022.
Trump countered that Biden would not support any limits on abortions and said that returning the issue to the states was the right course of action.
Trump said Biden had failed to secure the southern U.S. border, ushering in scores of criminals.
"I call it Biden migrant crime," he said. Biden replied, "Once again, he's exaggerating, he's lying."
Studies show immigrants do not commit crimes at a higher rate than native-born Americans.
NAME-CALLING
Here is my rewrite of the text you provided, with the current date of 2024-06-28 in mind:
The televised 90-minute clash between President Biden and former President Trump took place on June 15, 2024 - far earlier than any modern presidential debate, more than four months before the November 5th Election Day.
The two candidates appeared with no live audience, and their microphones automatically cut off when it was not their turn to speak - both atypical rules imposed to avoid the chaos that derailed their first debate in 2020 when Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden.
The two men - who have made little secret of their mutual dislike - did not shake hands or acknowledge each other before or after the debate. However, there were plenty of moments where their bad blood was evident, with each calling the other the worst president in history and trading insults.
The debate focused heavily on the economy, as polls showed Americans remained dissatisfied with Biden's performance despite wage growth and low unemployment. Biden acknowledged inflation had driven up prices, but said he deserved credit for the economic recovery following the pandemic. Trump asserted he had overseen the greatest economy before COVID-19 struck.
The debate took place amidst profound polarization and voter anxiety about the state of American politics. Two-thirds of voters said they were concerned about potential post-election violence, nearly four years after the Capitol riots.
Trump took the stage as a felon facing multiple criminal cases, including those related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Biden's challenge was to deliver a strong performance after Republican claims about his mental faculties. National polls showed a tied race, though Biden trailed Trump in key battleground states.
The second and final debate in the 2024 campaign is scheduled for September.
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