Atlanta: Joe Biden and Donald Trump square off in a historic US presidential debate on Thursday, with millions of voters tuning in for a rival showdown that could be an inflection point in the 2024 race.
The battle between the oldest incumbent and a convicted felon will add to a polarized and tense campaign summer in the United States amid chaos and violence surrounding the 2020 election.
With only two contests in this election cycle, Thursday’s high-profile event is even more important as both candidates mount personal attacks, showing the pair neck and neck in national polls.
As the candidates finalize their debate strategies, one big question remains: Will Trump show his aggressive political pugilistic tendencies or reveal his disorganization, as he did in the chaotic first debate four years ago?
“I think I’ve been preparing for it all my life … We’re going to do great,” Trump told the right-wing Newsmax in an interview to prepare for the debate.
The president wants to avoid a big problem. At the same time, at least on social media, there is no penalty for saying that “Donald Trump is the greatest threat to our democracy.”
The president arrived Thursday for the contest at CNN headquarters on Air Force One in Atlanta, the capital of the Southeast battleground, while his opponent flew in his private jet, named “Trump Force One.”
Trump has a slight advantage in key swing states, but the general election looks very close in an election that will be decided by a few shots in a handful of battleground states.
The latest Quinnipiac University poll on Sunday showed Trump leading the Bay 49% to 45%.
Both contestants took to the stage for a 90-minute debate to allay fears of a serious political commitment.
Biden, 81, is most concerned about his mental acuity, which, despite being three years younger than the Republican, is likely to increase the voter age more than Trump.
Ahead of the first debate between the two candidates who have served in the Oval Office, Trump and Biden made many mistakes, sometimes slurring words or looking confused, which raised questions about their age.
Trump is also concerned about his inflammatory rhetoric, 34 counts of falsifying employment records, not to mention other crimes, and the reason that he will arm the president to settle a personal score.
Biden spent a week retreating to Camp David, near Washington, under the radar, and attacking televangelists in debates under the lights of real television.
Trump’s preparations have been more relaxed, eschewing dress rehearsals in favor of informal roundtables and sparring strategies with the crowd.
Aides have urged him to focus his efforts on the economy and crime, while Biden will try to portray Trump as unwashed and unfit for office.
Trump’s campaign has portrayed Biden as weak and incompetent, but that has changed in recent days after warnings that his expectations for the Democratic presidency would help him.
“We know Joe Biden, after a week, will be ready for this,” Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, told reporters.
Trump and his team also pushed the baseless theory that Biden was on performance-enhancing drugs, which has been floated several times by CNN.
One of Biden’s biggest weaknesses is border security, where Trump has vowed to crack down on mass deportations of undocumented migrants from Mexico, and has been killed several times by migrants.
The Biden administration said Wednesday that there has been a 40 percent decrease in illegal crossings since the president announced a new border crackdown last month.
Most Americans expected a Trump debate victory over a Biden victory, 40 percent to 30 percent, but only one in 10 thought the debate would change tone slightly.
