Civility was missing in the first debate between Biden and Trump 
During the presidential campaigns in the US, it is customary for the candidates to debate each other at least once. The debates address the relevant problems for America and the world. But the debates do not make the final decisions on how many Americans vote. Candidates hope to change the minds of undecided voters.
The first debate for the 1960 election between Kennedy and Nixon had 66 million viewers out of a population of 179 million. The 1980 debates between Carter and Reagan had 80 million viewers out of a population of 226 million. The debate between George W. Bush and Al Gore in 2000 was watched by 46.6 million people, and the debate between Obama and Romney in 2012 had 67 million viewers. The Trump-Hillary Clinton debate in 2016 had 84 million viewers. CNN revealed that 47.9 million viewers watched the debate between Biden and Trump a few days ago. The debate between these two candidates in 2020 had 73.1 million views.
The June 27 debate showed two old candidates. Biden is 81 and Trump is 78. But Trump looked healthier than Biden, who struggled with his words. For instance, Biden said that “Trump invaded Ukraine.” Of course, he meant Putin not Trump. The debate made history because it was the first time a sitting president and a former president had ever debated. The two disagreed over abortion, immigration, foreign policy, inflation and more. The two candidates were expressing their differences over the issues.
What defines presidential debates in the US is the format, the style and the substance. All of these factors contribute to the degree of civility in the debate. Trump denied that the election in 2020 was fair. He said: “I would accept the results of the 2024 election if it’s fair and legal.” Biden replied: “You’re a whiner, and you lost the first time.”
But Biden did not answer the question on the national debt. He tackled that issue by saying that it would be better to raise taxes on the rich. Then, he moved to a new government spending program, Medicare. But he misspoke, saying: “We finally beat Medicare.” Trump took advantage of this. “Well, he’s right: He did beat Medicare,” he said, adding: “He beat it to death.” Trump later said: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said, either.”
However, Biden also severely attacked Trump. He said: “I’ve never heard so much malarkey in my life.” Then he charged that Trump described the American war dead as “suckers” and “losers.” And in reference to his son, Beau, who served in Iraq, he said, pointing to Trump: “My son was not a sucker. You’re a sucker. You’re the loser.”
The debates address the relevant problems for US and the world. But these do not make the final decisions on how many Americans vote.
Biden’s offensive lines included the following sentences. Trump “encouraged those folks to go to Capitol Hill, and he sat there for three hours watching,” Biden said, referring to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack in 2021 . Afterward, Biden intensified his attack on Trump by accusing him of bad ethics. He said: “You have the morals of an alleycat.”
On the economy, Biden made it known that Trump “is the only president other than Herbert Hoover who had lost more jobs than he had when he began.” He tried to portray Trump as a candidate who favored the rich. He confused the words “trillionaire” and “billionaire.” He said: “We have 1,000 trillionaires in America, billionaires in America, and what’s happening, they’re in a situation where they, in fact, pay 8.2 percent in taxes. If they just paid 24 percent or 25 percent — either one of those numbers when they raise $500 million, billion dollars, I should say, in a 10-year period, we’d be able to wipe out his debt.”
But Trump fired back at Biden with claims of his own. America “had a great border,” and was “energy independent” during his tenure, and the US had “the lowest taxes ever … and the lowest regulations ever.” Attacking Biden further, Trump said: “Every single thing he’s said is a lie. Every single one.”
After 90 minutes, it was clear that the two candidates were tired. Some people accused Trump of failing to commit to a total ban on abortion. Nevertheless, Trump claimed to favor a policy in which individual states could decide abortion cases separately according to their laws and statutes, as opposed to the federal government.
Following the debates, many US allies in Europe expressed their fears. They are worried that Biden, because of his frail health, could fail to manage the Western alliance with strength. They are also equally worried by Trump, who still appears unpredictable on foreign policy issues.
Finally, comparing the Biden-Trump debate of 2024 to previous presidential debates, it is obvious that while the format and the style of the debates have not changed much across the years, one can judge that the level of civility has sharply declined. The formal politeness and courtesy in behavior or speech exchanged between the two candidates is missing. This is not a good development for American democracy.
• Faisal Al-Shammeri is a political analyst. X: @Mr_Alshammeri
