The Most Disturbed CNN Debate: The Case for a Democratic Party with a Conservative Majority of U.S. Senators
The enterprise, since then, has gone sour and flat, like so much else in our political life. CNN, which will host the first of two debates between President Biden and Donald Trump, is doing its best to gin up the old excitement, but the general feeling is one of unease. The debate is the ultimate hate watch, according to a Los Angeles Times editor. Matthew says he will watch in a fetal position.
Why bother, then? If the debates make a small difference, they could be the difference between victory and defeat. This is why Mr. Biden pressed so hard for an early debate. There is a way for him to win, but he will have to defy his instincts, tell a clear and compelling story about America in the 21st century and overcome the constraints and conventions of presidential debates.
President Biden stumbles through his answers and derails his thoughts. And former President Donald Trump ignored questions about addressing climate change, accepting the results of the election and he reiterated false claims about immigration and his criminal trial.
Immigration, abortion and the economy were some of the questions the candidates were asked during the CNN presidential debate. Here are a few of the issues that took center stage.
The Economic Pandemic That Became in the U.S. After the 2016 Presidential Debate, Biden-Trump Revisited
Biden said he inherited from Trump, his predecessor, an “economy that was in free fall” thanks to a pandemic that roiled the economy and tangled supply chains. It was up to the administration to try and make things better, Biden said.
In fact, government spending in the U.S. under both Biden and Trump also may have contributed to rising prices, putting more money in people’s pockets and enabling them to keep spending in the face of high prices.
Many prices were depressed early in the pandemic, however, so the comparison is less flattering if you start the clock when Biden took office. Since early 2021, consumer prices have risen 19%, while average wages have risen 16%. Wage gains have been outpacing price increases for the last year, so that gap should eventually close.
The federal debt grew under both Trump and Biden. While the pandemic accounts for much of that red ink, both presidents have overseen large deficits, including periods before and after the pandemic when the economy was in good shape.
It was access to abortion and differing state policy that was at the center of a heated argument between Trump and Biden. Trump said that he agreed with the US Supreme Court decision that rejected the challenge to abortion pill accessibility.
Trump during the debate accused doctors of executing babies who are born alive after a failed abortion attempt many times. Federal data suggests that the majority of babies born in the United States are not alive after an abortion. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recorded the deaths of infants born alive during abortions for the past 12 years.
The majority of abortions in the U.S. happen in the first trimester (first 12 weeks of pregnancy). Only 3% take place after 21 weeks and many are not viable or may endanger the mother.
Source: What to know about the key policies that got airtime in the presidential debate
The War Between Russia and Ukraine and the State of the Union in the 21st Century: President Donald Trump and the Israeli Embassy in the Rose Garden
“The idea that states are able to do this is a little like saying we’re going to turn civil rights back to the states, let each state have a different rule,” Biden said.
Trump doubled down that if he was in office, the war in Ukraine never would have happened. Biden accused Trump of encouraging Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump criticized continued federal aid to Ukraine, making the claim that he will have the war between Russia and Ukraine settled before he takes office if elected.
Trump said that Israel would not have been invaded in a million years by Hamas.
Biden claimed that he was the biggest producer of support for Israel in the world, decried Hamas and denied Israel “2,000-pound bombs.”
“Well, I shouldn’t have to say that,” he said. “But of course, I believe that it’s totally unacceptable. In addition to the speech I made in front of a crowd in the Rose Garden, you would say it’s the best statement you’ve ever seen, and that comes from my statements that I made on social media.
The president said that he encouraged people to be Peaceful and Patriotic, even though he denied any responsibility for the Capitol insurrection.
“If it’s a fair and legal and good election, absolutely,” Trump said. If you want, we will have another news conference on it in a week, or something like that, and the fraud is ridiculous, so I would rather not accept these. I will, there’s nothing I want to do.