ATLANTA: President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump clashed in Atlanta on Thursday during a debate in which they blamed each other for the country’s economic turmoil and handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, and could only agree on their desire to eliminate Hamas.
Broadcaster CNN bypassed the independent U.S. Commission on Presidential Debates to host the event, which was unprecedented because Biden and Trump have not yet been formally endorsed by their parties as candidates in the Nov. 5 election.
According to CNN, the format had restrictions in place to prevent a repeat of what happened four years ago, when Trump interrupted Biden 190 times.
His supporters say that without an audience to cheer or jeer, CNN’s rigid format may have benefited Trump by forcing him to appear less intrusive.
This shifted the focus to Biden, who was slow to answer questions, had difficulty hearing and mixed up some phrases and words.
Harsh insults and constant disputes over who was responsible for the country’s internal problems apparently distracted both sides from providing comprehensive answers to questions about the Middle East and Israel’s war with the Palestinians.
Pressed to explain what “additional leverage” Biden could use to get Israel and Hamas to support his ceasefire plan, the president called the Palestinian group a major obstacle to peace and the only point of agreement with Trump.
“Number 1, everyone from the UN Security Council to the G7 to the Israelis to (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu himself has supported the three-step (ceasefire) plan that I have put forward,” Biden said.
“The first stage is to prepare the hostages for a ceasefire. The second stage is a ceasefire with additional conditions. The third stage is to know the end of the war.
“The only one who wants the war to continue is Hamas, No. 1. They are the only ones who are not backing down. We continue to push them to accept.”
Biden added: “Hamas cannot be allowed to continue. We continue to send our experts and our intelligence people to find out how they can get Hamas like we did to (Osama) bin Laden. You do not have to do that.
“And by the way, Hamas has been greatly weakened, greatly weakened, and that is as it should be. They should be eliminated. But you have to be careful what you use these particular weapons for among population centers.
Trump said Biden is preventing Israel from eliminating Hamas. “When it comes to Israel and Hamas, Israel wants to go (and finish the job). He said the only one that wants to continue is Hamas. Actually, Israel is the only one and you should (let) them go and finish the job,” Trump insisted.
“He doesn’t want to do this. He has become like a Palestinian. But they don’t like him because he is a very bad Palestinian. He is weak.
Regarding support for efforts to create a Palestinian state, Trump said: “I have to see it.”
He said he prevented Hamas from attacking Israel by blocking funds to Iran, which he said was the group’s main sponsor. He added that Biden’s “weak” leadership opened the door to a Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
In response, Biden called Trump “weak” and added: “I was the one who organized the world against Iran when it launched a full-scale ballistic missile attack on Israel.
“No one got hurt. No Israeli died accidentally. And that’s it. We saved Israel. We are the largest producer of support for Israel than anyone else in the world.”
Trump called Biden the “worst president” in U.S. history. Biden has slammed Trump, calling him a “convicted felon” and comparing his morality to an “alley cat.”
The debate took place about a mile from Georgia Tech University, where it was watched on television by 800 journalists from 34 countries and campaign workers.
After the debate, the leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties came out to the university hall to talk to reporters. Both sides declared victory.
Republican member of Congress Elise Stefanik said the debate showed Trump would “easily defeat” Biden in November, adding: “It’s an absolutely crushing knockout victory for President Trump over the failed, inept and weak Joe Biden.”
Vivek Ramaswamy, who challenged Trump in the Republican presidential race, said Biden seemed confused and had only “a spark of life in him when he talked about January 6 and Trump’s conviction.”
“Biden doesn’t care about issues that affect Americans…President Biden seemed like the mean guy in the room.”
Several Democrats declined to answer reporters’ questions about the debate and instead issued statements defending Biden and predicting he would defeat Trump in November.
Asked whether Biden should be concerned about the election, Senator Raphael Warnock said: “I would be concerned if the president didn’t have a history to fall back on, but the fact is this is a man who has had a history of passing legislation.”
Warnock added: “The election is about the character of the country. Today, Americans had a chance to remember Donald Trump, a man who stood and lied for 90 minutes in a row.
“What struck me was that every time he was asked a question, you could see that Trump never answered the questions. America is better than Donald Trump.”
Biden and Trump are expected to participate in one more debate, to be hosted by ABC Network News on September 10.
This will also circumvent rules set by the US Commission on Presidential Debates, which has hosted all of these events since the 1980s.
Independent candidates excluded from the debate, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Jill Stein, hosted their own parallel events and answered the same questions CNN posed to Biden and Trump in real time.