Joe Biden meets Donald Trump in debate: on trial

Of: By Bjurman

Published: September 29, 2020 kl. 21.00

CLEVELAND. Joe Biden supporters are holding their breath.

In tonight’s first debate against Donald Trump here in unglamorous and marginal Cleveland, the Democratic presidential candidate must prove that the image of him as a more or less insane donkey is just a conspiracy cartoon.

– That’s what determines whether insecure voters can see you as president, says democratic opinion analyst Peter Hart.

It can be felt across the United States as the year-long election campaign, already so infected that it has divided families and torn by ties of friendship, is now approaching a climax and, most of all, it can be felt in Cleveland.

It is here at Case Western Reserve University, outside the central parts of the Ohio metropolis, on the south shore of Lake Erie, that Donald Trump and Joe Biden meet for their first debate tonight.

The interest is enormous, as is the nervousness.

Yes, even on the Republican side, anxiety bubbles up in many stomach pits.

Photo: Julio Cortez / TT

Cleveland.

The president has zealously cultivated the notion of the democratic challenger as downright senile, lacking full-fledged cognitive ability, and when they now meet for the first time in 2020, some fear it is enough that Biden makes a reasonably vital impression on him. exceed the expectations of voters.

– The Trump campaign has reduced Biden so much that in practice it is a fact that he will be perceived as a winner just by showing that he works, says Ed Rollins, a scarred strategist who for four decades has helped Republicans win elections, by Political site. .

But the pressure on Biden is even greater. He must show that common accusations of his lack of mental abilities are unfounded, and that is why many Democrats, and others who want to see Donald Trump defeated in November, catch their breath when headlights are turned on in the city that once was. the largest in the United States. polluted, known from the river running through downtown in 1969 self-igniting!

Because it is an indisputable fact that the 77-year-old former vice president, from time to time, gave a slightly confused impression, mixed facts and brought out striking frogs.

“So far, it’s all been a shadow game, the voters have only gotten what I call an indirect image of Joe Biden,” Democratic opinion analyst Peter Hart told the Wall Street Journal.

– Now go into the ring with Trump and for the first time they can decide for themselves and what they will decide is if they see him as a possible president. Biden must make sure that election is a referendum on the incumbent president, not the challenger.

The majority of the severely divided American electorate, of course, has already decided how they intend to vote and will not be affected at all by a verbal islet like tonight. It is impossible even to imagine what Trump could do to lose the support of his extremely devoted supporters, or win over those who do not support him. But as recently as a week ago, eleven percent in an opinion poll conducted by NBC and the Wall Street Journal stated that they are still not sure who they want to see as president for the next four years, and that is definitely a reasonable proportion. big enough to shake up the whole. the choice in one direction or another.

The debate, led by Fox News host Chris Wallace, is expected to last 90 minutes and focus on five topics: the “merit lists” of the two candidates, the Supreme Court, COVID-19, race and the violence in American cities and the integrity of the election itself. .

In an interview last weekend, Trump, who long rejected the idea that he needed to practice before the duel with his rival, but in recent days still received training from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former New York Governor New Jersey Chris Christie described the evening’s event as a UFC Game.

So it’s probably best to be aware that things can reignite in Cleveland.

Published: September 29, 2020 kl. 21.00

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