The duel comes very early. Joe Biden and Donald Trump will face each other in their first TV debate of the election year on Thursday (9 p.m. local time, Friday 3 a.m. CEST) – more than four months before the US presidential election. In the past, however, the TV duels between the US presidential candidates only took place in the last three months before the election. This is all the important information about the TV duel:
The early debate date is also unusual because Biden and Trump have not yet been officially nominated as presidential candidates. The Republicans will not choose former President Trump as their candidate until a party convention in mid-July, while the Democrats want to nominate President Biden at a meeting in August.
However, the early date of the TV debate corresponds to the wishes of the Biden camp. One of the reasons given was that this time the TV debates should be over before the election process begins – thanks to the early voting option used by millions of citizens, the election will start in the second half of September. A second debate is scheduled for September 10.
In Germany, the first TV duel can be seen live on TV and via stream. There are three different options:
The debate on Thursday will be hosted by CNN in Atlanta, Georgia. The 90-minute duel will be moderated by CNN star journalists Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. There will be no audience.
In consultation with the election teams, CNN decided that the microphone of the candidate whose turn it is not will be muted – this is intended to prevent disruptive interruptions. Biden and Trump are not allowed to take prepared notes to their lectern, only a pen, a blank notepad and a bottle of water.
Trump will have the last word in the first duel. According to media reports, the decision was made by tossing a coin: The coin landed on tails and thus on the Biden campaign’s list of candidates. The campaign was therefore able to decide whether it wanted to choose the president’s podium position or the order of the closing statements – and decided on the former.
Polls continue to suggest that the November 5 election will be a very close race, as it was in 2020. Trump’s criminal conviction in the New York hush money trial has not changed the fact that he is ahead in several of the key states considered decisive for the election. However, more than four months before the election, polls are of very limited value, as a lot can still happen that will influence the election dynamics.
Biden is preparing meticulously for the debate and has been retreating to Camp David, the US president’s country residence near Washington, since Thursday. For his training, Biden has one of his advisers impersonate Trump.
According to his team, Trump, on the other hand, has not undergone as rigorous debate training as his rival. However, according to media reports, the former president has surrounded himself with senators and potential candidates for the vice presidential candidacy in order to discuss with them the likely topics of the TV debate.
Trump is also relying on aggressive polemics against immigrants in this election campaign and is likely to once again blame Biden personally for the record numbers of irregular migrants at the border with Mexico in the debate – even though the president recently drastically tightened migration rules.
The right-wing populist will also accuse Biden of a colossal failure in economic policy – even though the data points to a solid recovery in the US economy.
Conversely, Biden will try to put abortion rights at the forefront. He accuses Trump of having enabled the court to abolish nationwide abortion rights in 2022 with his nomination of three conservative judges to the Supreme Court.
Biden will also portray his rival as a foreign policy risk – partly because of his sympathies for Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin – not least with regard to the Ukraine conflict.
Above all, Biden will describe his opponent as a threat to democracy. The fact that Trump never accepted his election defeat to Biden in 2020, intervened against the election result at the time and is being prosecuted for this, provides Biden with plenty of material for his warnings.
Conversely, Biden’s advanced age is likely to become a topic of debate. The 81-year-old himself repeatedly fuels doubts about his suitability for the office with his occasional lapses. It is questionable how aggressively Trump will approach the issue in the debate. For him, it is a double-edged office – at 78, Trump is not much younger, and he too repeatedly gets into verbal tangles.
Biden and Trump also had two TV debates in 2020. And they were very aggressive. One thing that is remembered is Biden’s angry reaction to Trump’s repeated interruptions: “Can you shut up, man?”
This time, too, things are likely to get very tough. Trump does not necessarily expect to be able to throw the president into a tailspin. Rather, he is preparing for an energetic appearance by Biden – and, not for the first time, is spreading the perfidious insinuation that the president is taking stimulants.
The more than 60-year history of presidential debates on US television is rich in mishaps, embarrassments and provocations – and in this respect holds some lessons for Biden and Trump:
1960
Richard Nixon does not want to wear makeup for the first TV presidential debate in US history – a mistake. Weakened by the flu and with stubble on his face, the Vice President looks emaciated and presents a sharp contrast to the good-looking and dynamic Senator John F. Kennedy. Nixon loses the election.
1984
The 73-year-old President Ronald Reagan takes the edge off the allusions to his advanced age by ironically remarking in his duel with Walter Mondale: “I will not address age issues in this campaign. I will not exploit my opponent’s youth and inexperience for political gain.” Reagan is re-elected for a second term with a clear majority.
1988
In the debate with George Bush senior, Michael Dukakis is confronted by the moderator with the question of whether he would wish the perpetrator to die if his wife were raped and murdered. Dukakis then makes a dry statement against the death penalty that seems to have been read off – and thus confirms his image as the “Ice Man”. He loses the election.
1992
During the TV debate, President Bush senior lets voters sense his impatience by looking at his watch. This reinforces the impression that Bush is an arrogant rich man who cares little about the problems of ordinary people. His rival Bill Clinton wins the election primarily with the promise of getting the US economy back on track.
2000
Shaking his head and repeatedly sighing, Vice President Al Gore appears condescending in the first TV debate with George W. Bush. In the following debates, Gore tries to smile more – but he cannot shake off the reputation of an arrogant intellectual. He loses the election in an extremely close race.
2008
John McCain made a less than sympathetic impression during the debate when he pointed his finger at Barack Obama and called him “that one” instead of calling him by name. Obama’s Democrats then turned the tables and turned the derogatory statement into a campaign slogan. Obama became president.
2016
Donald Trump made massive personal attacks on his rival Hillary Clinton during the debates – and even threatened that if he were president she would be “in prison” because of an email scandal. During one of the debates, Trump lingered behind Clinton while she was speaking. She later reported in her memoirs that she got goosebumps from the sheer discomfort. She lost the election.
2020
Biden meets aggressiveness with aggressiveness and takes Trump to task in the debates. Biden reacts to his opponent’s repeated interruptions with the angry exclamation: “Can you shut up, man?” Biden also calls the president “Putin’s puppy” in reference to his sympathies for the man in Moscow. Biden wins the election by a very narrow margin.