The main thesis of the sparring: «you are the worst US president» — «no, you are the worst US president»
The world's leading media are actively discussing the first presidential debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden, which took place in Atlanta on June 28. Despite the many flaws of both candidates, almost everyone agrees that Biden's performance looked weaker. We, in turn, asked political scientist, professor of the Department of Business and Government Interaction at the Higher School of Economics Marat Bashirov to evaluate the verbal duel between the two candidates.
— It was, of course, a terrible sight, — says Professor Marat Bashirov. — Two people “poked”, “yakal”, accused and called each other names. At the same time, the hosts still tried to ask substantive questions about social issues, health care, migration policy, as well as the “green” agenda, which both candidates simply walked away from.
As the political scientist says, in order to get the full picture, he watched the debates in both the original version and the Russian translation.
— Now they write that Trump looked better. And this is true. But, on the other hand, when two people built their entire rhetoric on the basis of — “you are the worst US president”, “no, you are the worst US president”, plus “he lies”, this is, of course, very sad. But maybe this is the political culture in America now? They have political strategists, they feel it all.
According to the expert, it should be noted that Biden endured these almost two hours: the debate lasted 1.5 hours, plus commercials. True, then his wife Jill led him off the stage. But nevertheless, all these reports that Biden would physically not withstand the verbal duel turned out to be, in general, false and premature.
— But it was still noticeable that Biden, unlike Trump, was slowing down. When a question regarding health was raised, they got into a fight. Biden said Trump can't play golf. And Trump, accordingly, claimed that Biden could not throw a ball 50 meters. This was already an episode of a comedy show. This was interesting to watch.
Moreover, as the professor says, the presenters directly asked questions about health. Biden has been told he will be 86 by the end of his second term. And Trump, accordingly, will be 82 years old.
— Trump was not taken by surprise by this question. He had prepared. He said that he had passed two medical examinations, that he had excellent results, in particular — a good cardiogram. He even named the doctor he was seeing. That is, this doctor could be asked about his health. This was done on purpose. The topic of health is very important in America. And Biden had no such preparation.
The most interesting thing in the debates, in the political scientist's opinion, were the questions that concerned relations with China, relations with NATO. And also the fact that Trump dropped a phrase that made Kiev sad.
— Trump said that Ukraine is losing the battle with Russia. The fact that a politician of such a level and rank gave this assessment suggests that it is based on certain data. For Kiev, this is, of course, very sad. Considering that yesterday the Biden administration announced that there would be no additional large budget allocations for Ukraine until the end of the year, this is the only consensus story that both candidates agreed on.
As for relations with China, Trump recalled during the debates that they introduced protective tariffs. And even Biden left these tariffs because they bring in huge revenue to the United States budget.
— Trump recalled that on a number of positions, the decisions he made were canceled under Biden. And in this case, he had a great argument that he made this decision, and they, even wanting to harm him, did not change anything.
Trump also touched on the topic of relations with NATO.
— This is his old idea that Europe itself should pay for its own security. As for the threat from Russia, which everyone is talking about, Trump openly stated that America is far away, and European countries themselves should defend themselves and pay for it. This was also a great argument against NATO. And Biden had nothing to say on this matter.
Marat Bashirov notes that Trump generally has a very good sense of Americans.
— During the debates, he kept talking about money. This rhetoric, even regardless of what it will be spent on, in my opinion, was a strong move by political strategists. It works for the common man.
Biden, according to the expert, made a very big mistake.
— He said that he would not raise taxes for those who earn less than 400 thousand dollars a year. For the average American, this is simply a huge amount. The average American earns 30-40 thousand a year. From their point of view, people with incomes of 400 thousand are rich. Therefore, when Biden said that the middle class was allegedly destroyed under Trump, he obviously meant that Trump imposed high taxes on people who earn a lot. But this is actually a popular idea for the average American.
Otherwise, in the political scientist's opinion, the sparring between Biden and Trump basically boiled down to a yard squabble: «and you», «and me», «you're a criminal», «no, you are the criminal».