Gerald Herbert / AP
This combination of photos shows Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, and President Joe Biden during a presidential debate hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta.
Sunday, June 30, 2024 | 2 a.m.
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Political insiders, pundits and analysts have spent the past 48 hours sharing their fear and alarm after a disappointing performance by President Joe Biden in Thursday night’s presidential debate.
We admit that, at times, Biden’s voice was raspy and barely audible — a reality that the Biden team chalked up to a cold. No matter the cause, Biden’s condition did little to alleviate fears that the oldest person to ever serve as president is too old for a second term.
But despite concerns about Biden’s age, the American people, and Democrats in particular, would be wise to remember that Biden has overseen one of most successful and ambitious legislative agendas in modern American history. His poor performance at the debate, while disappointing, was nowhere near the most frightening or concerning aspects of Thursday night’s showdown. Rather, the possibility that the man sharing the stage with Biden, convicted felon Donald Trump, might return to the Oval Office should strike fear in the heart of all freedom-loving Americans.
Just one month ago, Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts that can essentially be summarized as repeatedly lying on official documents in order to manipulate the results of the 2016 election.
Rather than taking lessons from his criminal convictions, Trump continued to offer a seemingly endless river of lies on Thursday, all designed to manipulate voters yet again.
In this regard, Biden’s greatest failure at the debate was not his raspy voice, but his failure to expose Trump for the authoritarian bully and con man that he is.
In Biden’s defense, the CNN moderators, Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, didn’t help. Their silent refusal to ask tough follow-up questions, fact-check Trump in real time or otherwise engage in anything resembling journalism is a stain on the profession.
Trump didn’t even make it terribly difficult to challenge him. His statements about “uncivilized” immigrants “killing our citizens at a level we’ve never seen before” and turning the United States “into a rat’s nest” are little more than remixes of an authoritarian dictator’s greatest hits playlist.
American politicians of the past used nearly identical language to describe immigrants of every race, nationality, color and creed. Most Americans need not look deep into their family tree to find ancestors that Trump and his ilk would have described as “criminals” and “vermin.”
His rhetoric not only stokes the fires of nationalism but also radicalizes his followers, inspiring violent mobs such as the Unite the Right rioters in Charlottesville, Va., and the Jan. 6 insurrectionists.
Speaking of Jan. 6, during the debate, Trump never denounced the violent mob that stormed the Capitol that day, leading to the deaths of five police officers. Instead, he told more lies, attempting to paint the insurrectionists as the victims of a weaponized Justice Department. But a weaponized Justice Department didn’t assault police officers with metal railings and fire extinguishers, smash windows at the Capitol, chant to hang the vice president or steal property from the offices of congress members.
The violent mob of MAGA adherents should be held accountable for their actions that day, as should their leader. Unfortunately, the justice system seemed to move further from that goal on Friday when the U.S. Supreme Court held that the portions of the Sarbanes—Oxley Act that deal with obstructing an official proceeding were only intended to apply in limited circumstances involving tampering with physical evidence. By the court’s logic, the insurrectionists could only have obstructed the certification of the 2020 election by stealing or destroying the actual certification documents.
Of course, Trump denies all responsibility for his role in Jan. 6. Among his lies at Thursday’s debate, were claims that most of the rioters were doing good and were invited in by the police. He also tried to claim that he strongly condemned the violence.The truth of course is that Trump watched his violent followers attack police on TV from the White House, ignoring the pleas of the police for assistance and waiting hours to ask the rioters to stop the violence.
As if previewing a future insurrection, on Thursday, Trump also refused to say that he would accept the outcome of the 2024 election — a red flag for any American who believes in democracy, law and the peaceful transition of power.
Such disdain for democracy is shared by other global leaders who use similar language to Trump, all of whom Trump has publicly offered his admiration and respect. That list includes Kim Jong Un in North Korea, Xi Jinping in China, Viktor Orban in Hungary and Vladimir Putin in Russia.
The last name on that list is particularly concerning because not only is there strong evidence of Russian interference in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 elections that was designed to benefit Trump, but Trump has promised that if elected, he’ll end Russia’s war on Ukraine on Day 1 of his administration. That might be one of the only true statements Trump uttered during this campaign season, but it’s not because he is a great diplomat. It is because he may make good on his promise to let Russia “do whatever the hell it wants.”
This would likely end the war in Ukraine relatively quickly and plunge the world into chaos as Putin and his allies in China, North Korea and Iran pursue their imperial ambitions with the knowledge that Trump and the United States won’t stop them.
As Thursday’s debate demonstrated, the 2024 presidential election is a battle for the soul of America. One candidate, Joe Biden, believes in democracy, the rule of law and the pursuit of peace via strong international alliances. While the other believes in authoritarianism, mob rule and the pursuit of empires beholden to the whims of dictators.
Trump’s voice may have been stronger than Biden’s at the debate, but what they each said is of greater importance.
