The world media reacts to the CNN debate

The Biden vs Trump debate took place in the wee hours of the morning in many parts of the world, but one only had to watch a few clips and see the headlines within minutes of waking up to understand what had happened.

Unsurprisingly, much of the world's press focused on a very difficult night for the Democratic candidate, who failed to land any punches and occasionally jumped to the point of being unintelligible, raising once concerns about his age. Perhaps most surprisingly, some of the press coverage Deadline analyzed was positive about Trump's performance, though there was a laser focus on his lies and CNN's failure to correct them — a key tenet of Deadline's review. , who said Trump “threw one horrible person after another without any fact-checking by the CNN moderators.”

In France, where the country is currently focused on the first round of parliamentary elections this Sunday in which the far-right Rassemblement National party is expected to come out on top, the consensus, across political lines, was that the debate had been a disaster. . for Biden and the Democratic camp.

The focus was on his fragile demeanor and questions about whether the 81-year-old president was still physically and mentally fit to lead the US for another four years.

“Biden appeared diminished by age, facing an opponent in full command of his tools, who asserted truth and lies with equal audacity,” commented Adrien Jaulmes, a correspondent for the center-right newspaper Le Figaro.

“Rather than convincing an already skeptical electorate of his physical prowess and mental acumen, the Democratic president's performance confirmed the general impression: that he no longer has the capacity to hold the presidency for another four years,” he continued.

These sentiments were echoed everywhere.

“Crossing swords on live TV again for the first time in four years, the current and former presidents offered the painful spectacle of a Democratic president extremely diminished in the face of lies spewed by his Republican rival on the network,” the left wing wrote. . New York-based Liberation newspaper correspondent Julien Gester. “It was not a night to cool down. Almost 82 years old, with more than half a century in politics, Joe Biden has his good days and his less good days,” he continued.

There was a focus on how Trump lied throughout the debate, along with a sense that he would probably get away with it.

“It doesn't matter that he is inventing at full speed, martyring the facts, refusing to unconditionally recognize the results of the next election (having denied his defeat in 2020 to date), or that he is setting aside punishment his latest criminal, unprecedented in American presidential history (“I've done nothing wrong, it's the system that's corrupt”), to label his opponent a 'criminal'. Its lightness is its asset”, writes Liberation.

Some releases came surprisingly easy for Trump.

In the UK, which heads to the polls in less than a week, the BBC described his performance as “disciplined and agile”, in stark contrast to the “interruptions and hostilities that marred his first debate of the year 2020”. The article is currently leading the web on an article about Trump friend Nigel Farage's new party being “caught making racist slurs”.

The BBC continued to come down hard on Biden, opining: “Shock debate performance exacerbates ageist fears” while reporting Democrats are “backed into a corner”. “Before Thursday night, many Americans had expressed concerns about Joe Biden's age and fitness for office. To say that this debate did not assuage these concerns may be one of the biggest understatements of the year,” wrote the British publicist, pulling no punches.

Canada's CBC was similar to the BBC in its praise of Trump. While toeing the majority line by focusing on his “lies,” Trump was reported to have appeared “confident and focused” compared to Biden who “seemed to bring and lose his brain in a shaky performance that has reinforced concerns about his age.

The Guardian said Democrats are “panic” but wary of CNN, whose moderators “failed to fact-check,” wrote US journalist George Chidi. “Trump regularly answered direct questions — about the economy, abortion, or the opioid crisis — with non-sequiturs about immigration or China. He also repeatedly spread false claims about abortion, the environment and the border.”

Some press took a more balanced line.

It was even handed over to the South China Morning Post. The newspaper noted that the pair had “battled” in areas such as, unsurprisingly, China, the economy and security. The two presented “completely different visions of America's place in the world in a great debate,” he added.

The ABC in Australia was equally unimpressed by either. The Australian national broadcaster described Biden as “weird” but Trump as “odd”, with “no man who doesn't exactly live up to those expectations”. While Biden “had a brain fade”, the newspaper wrote, his opponent “became confused and left”.

“The story now is whether Biden can be persuaded to resign”

Of even greater concern to Biden, much of the world's media made major calls for him to step down in the months leading up to the general election.

Germany's Die Welt said Democrats “are considering replacing Biden after all,” leading its page with Trump's rebuttal: “I don't know what he said, I don't think he knows either.”

Elsewhere in continental Europe, Italy's centre-left newspaper La Repubblica suggested that wife Jill Biden should step in and help him decide.

“With a hoarse voice and a blunder: on double television Biden has paved the way for Trump's triumph. Now it's up to Jill to convince her husband to leave,” she wrote.

Back in Germany, Der Spiegel was even harsher, writing: “Biden should do the world a favor and quit.”

The UK's Daily Telegraph focused on Biden “facing calls to quit”. “This wasn't an argument, it was a medical emergency,” columnists Tim Stanley and Tony Diver wrote.

Rupert Murdoch's The Times said Biden's campaign was “plunging into crisis … causing panic among Democrats about his chances of regaining the White House.”

And writing in The Financial Times, columnist Edward Luce wryly wrote: “The best that can be said for Joe Biden's stifling debate performance was that it took place in June.”

“For more than a year, private conversations in Washington have been dominated by the aging of the president,” he added. “But public omertà on the subject was widely resisted. That cognitive dissonance has now collapsed. The story now is whether Biden can be persuaded to resign.