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Chilling perplexity about American democracy in Australia and Denmark. Disdain for “chaos” and “insults” among US presidential contenders in a Chinese Communist Party tabloid. A European market watcher’s warning of a “credibility deficit” in US politics amid fears that a long tradition of peaceful and friendly transfer of power may be in jeopardy.
Many around the world watched in great horror as the first debate between the president of the United States, Donald Trump, and the Democratic challenger Joe Biden, turned into a short verbal fight in substance but with implications for the international image of States. United.
Emotions and adjectives ran the gamut, but few observers seemed to shy away thinking that the last remaining superpower could overcome its bitter partisan grudge as elections loom barely a month away.
“If last night’s presidential debate was supposed to inform and educate, all it did was simply confirm the credibility deficit in American politics, as President Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden participated in what can only be described as a fact-free name. – call contest, ” wrote Michael Hewson, CMC Markets UK’s chief market analyst.
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While many in Europe fondly remembered the more balanced America of yesteryear, others in Asia were monitoring the markets, which for the most part had changed little. Stock prices fell further in Japan and the dollar weakened against the Japanese yen and the euro. European stocks showed few initial tremors.
But a major concern that emerged from the debate was whether the election results could be challenged or delayed, in part because Trump raised concerns about ballots and possible vote rigging that critics say are a ploy to reduce turnout. or scare people away from the polls. center.
“A highly polarized and possibly legally contested US election is just around the corner,” said Stephen Innes of AxiCorp, a provider of forex trading services. “Since mail-in votes are likely to be too high (and potentially in question), there is a possibility that we still don’t know the result by Opening Day, with ensuing constitutional chaos.”
Europe and Africa woke up to reports of the cacophonous clash overnight.
“The comments I have seen from various European media outlets are basically: ‘I’m happy I’m not an American voter this year.’ It’s a disaster, ” said Jussi Hanhimaki, a Finnish-Swiss professor of International History at the Graduate Institute in Geneva.
“All of this is extremely disturbing for many Europeans, who in general would think that the United States would be a symbol of democracy; It has been the oldest democracy in the world, which has this long, long tradition of, yes, a very bitter debate, but there has always been a winner and a peaceful transfer of power, ” he said.
Patrick Semansky / AP
Government leaders around the world tuned in, but mostly distanced themselves from commenting on the debate.
Kenyan commentator Patrick Gathara joked on Twitter: “This debate would be pure comedy if it weren’t such a regrettable and tragic announcement of American dysfunction.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen wrote on Facebook: “An election debate in the States last night, where disruptions and disputes were allowed to get too crowded. Fortunately, this is not the case in Denmark. And I never expect it to be like this. The harsh words polarize and divide. ”
Amanda Wishworth, a lawmaker for Australia’s center-left Labor Party, said: “A lot of people would be scratching their heads, especially here from Australia, where, believe it or not, our policy is a little kinder than America’s. A.”
Other government leaders tuned in, but kept their distance.
Steffen Seibert, a spokeswoman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said she was “informed about what happened last night,” but declined to comment.
“We do not want to comment on this, we do not want to offer an assessment, because it will be immediately perceived as an attempt to interfere,” said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The Russian Federation has never interfered in the internal affairs of the United States and never will.”
Walter Veltroni, a columnist for the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera and a former center-left mayor of Rome, said he had seen every American television debate since Kennedy vs. Nixon in 1960, but “I have never witnessed a spectacle similar to the one before last night. “
He said that the debate showed how there are two Americas that seem irreconcilable.
“The impression is of a stagnant country, paralyzed by politics and tones alien to its tradition,” Veltroni said.
Hu Xijin, editor of the nationalist tabloid of the Communist Party of China Global timeswrote on the newspaper’s microblog that the “chaos, interruptions, personal attacks and insults” on display were a reflection of America’s “general division, anxiety and accelerating erosion of the original advantages of the system.”
Francois Mori / AP
The French newspaper Le Monde titles a photo of Trump and Biden with a caption that reads “Violence and confusion.”
“I used to admire this type of televised debate in American politics, but I have much more mixed feelings when I see (it) again now,” wrote Hu, who personally and through his newspaper routinely attacks American politics.
The general editor of The australian The newspaper, Paul Kelly, described the debate as a “spiteful, chaotic, abusive encounter, often out of control, with both candidates revealing their mutual contempt.”
“The United States faces several dangerous weeks,” he said.
Leslie Vinjamuri, program director for the United States and the Americas at the London Chatham House think tank, said many European observers already had “very low” expectations of Trump, but the debate was still jarring.
“There is still a level of disbelief, just shock, frankly,” that the president and the former vice president “were talking to each other, talking about the moderator, in the case of President Trump, repeating each other, getting off the subject,” outside script, ” Vinjamuri said. “So I think it was something extraordinarily disturbing because people want to be able to look to America to lead, guide and be a role model.”
Foreign policy issues were largely absent from the debate, though Trump launched accusations that China had paid Biden’s son Hunter for consulting work and Biden attacked Trump’s trade deals with China for failing to provide benefits.
Trump also repeatedly blamed China for the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 1 million people around the world and devastated economies around the world.
In the Middle East, the largely internal debate drew attention when Biden at one point said “inshallah,” while Trump refrained from saying when he would release his tax returns. “Inshallah” in Arabic means “God willing.” It can also be used to suggest that something will never happen.
Al-Arabiya, a Saudi-owned satellite channel based in Dubai, and The National, a state-linked newspaper in Abu Dhabi, both published articles highlighting Biden’s use of the floor.
An Emirati political scientist, Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, wrote on Twitter that he viewed the debate as a “tumultuous verbal battle.”
“How did the United States get to this level of political decline?” He wrote.
