Biden Fails, Trump Lies: A Decisive Presidential Debate for the Campaign

With Election Day just four months away, the first-ever general election debate pitted two presidents, one current, one former, against each other, and featured plenty of bitter personal attacks. Joe Biden universally acknowledged that his poor performance surprised and even panicked Democrats; Donald Trump gave a more forceful, even truthful, performance.

The Conversation asked two researchers, Mary Kate Cary and Karrin Vasby Anderson, to follow the debate and analyze a passage or moment that stood out to them. Anderson is a communications specialist specializing in gender and the presidency, as well as popular political culture. Cary teaches political speechwriting and worked as a White House speechwriter for President George HW Bush, for whom she wrote more than 100 speeches.

President Joe Biden speaks during the CNN debate against Donald Trump on June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Karrin Vasby Anderson, Department of Communication Studies, Colorado State University

One of the first definitions of what a good public speaker is that I learned as an academic debater and student of rhetoric came from Quintilian, an ancient Roman scholar and teacher of rhetoric. In his 12-volume Institutio Oratoria, Quintilian said that the ideal orator was a good person, speaking well. He was particularly concerned about the danger that a competent but characterless rhetorician could pose to society.

A presidential debate should feature talented and talented speakers, but also people of character. The June 27 debate offered voters a two-tier scenario.

Former President Donald Trump was aggressive, assertive and disciplined, but he peppered his remarks with a constant stream of lies, half-truths and misinformation. President Joe Biden focused on Trump's criminal and political past, but he failed as a speaker, demonstrating neither the charisma nor the power displayed in his last State of the Union address he only four months ago.

The contrast was clear early in the debate when CNN's Dana Bash asked Trump if he would block access to abortion drugs. Trump said he wouldn't do it. He then falsely claimed that in the lead-up to the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade and removed federal protection of the right to abortion, everyone wanted to give it back to the states, everyone, without exception.

Trump then went on the offensive, accusing Democrats of taking the life of a child in the eighth or ninth month, or even after birth.

Biden’s response was clear and resolute: “What you did was terrible,” he said. And he pushed back against the absurd claim that everyone wanted Roe v. Wade overturned, saying that the idea that states could do that is a bit like saying we’re going to give civil rights back to the states (and) let each state have a different rule.

But the rest of Biden’s response was confusing. After inexplicably turning to an anecdote about a woman murdered by an undocumented immigrant, Biden expressed his support for people’s right to choose, saying three times that the decision should be made by the doctor rather than the pregnant person.

Trump ended the debate by repeating his blatant lie in stronger terms: This means he can kill a baby in the ninth month and even after birth, because some states, run by Democrats, kill after birth. The Associated Press’ fact-check on this claim is succinct: Infanticide is criminalized in every state, and no state has passed a law authorizing the killing of a baby after birth.

After nearly a decade of exposure to Trump's usual misinformation, lies about states murdering babies may not seem as shocking in a presidential debate. And it's certainly an argument that Biden should have been easy to refute.

But if the people must choose between a good person and someone who speaks well, Quintilian reminds us that someone who speaks well but has no integrity is dangerous.

The consequences for the Republic could be disastrous.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump answers a question during the first debate of the 2024 US presidential election. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Mary Kate Cary, Department of Political Science, University of Virginia

I think America just saw history being made.

In less than 10 minutes, President Joe Biden, his voice hoarse, was asked about the budget deficit. He lost his train of thought and ended his answer by mumbling something about cutting Medicare. It was horrible.

There were so many moments where Biden seemed confused and unable to comprehend what was going on. I took notes on key exchanges, but the number of awkward episodes, unfinished sentences, and incoherent sentences from Biden is too long to list. His answer about why he should be president when he was 80 years old somehow turned to South Korea making computer chips.

Former President Donald Trump made his share of missteps, but overall he was relatively sharp and restrained when provoked. He scored a few points on these issues and did much better than in the first debate four years ago. Trump did better than many people thought.

Our mission tonight was to find a moment to react and put it into context. I've been to several presidential debates and watched many more on television over the years, and I've never seen anything like this.

Can Democrats make a compelling case for keeping Biden as nominee?

Bottom line: Moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash did a good job asking substantive questions and maintaining control of the debate; Trump missed an opportunity to knock it out of the park, but he succeeded; and Biden will most likely have brought disaster to the Democratic Party.

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