Over in the U.S.
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump faced off in their first televised debate ahead of their November rematch, and from the beginning, they clashed over topics including the economy, immigration, and the Ukraine war.
Our Shin Ha-young reports.
U.S. President Joe Biden and his Republican rival Donald Trump held their first election debate of this year’s presidential campaign on Thursday evening, local time, at CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta.
The 90-minute debate kicked off at 9 PM eastern time.
Entering the debate stage without even a handshake, Biden and Trump immediately clashed over the first topic which was the economy.
Biden blamed the current economic difficulties on inheriting a failing economy from Trump, while his rival argued that he built a strong economy during his term, claiming the incumbent’s poor policies have led to more jobs for illegal immigrants and rising inflation.
The candidates continued to attack each other’s records on abortion and immigration.
Trump also denied being responsible for the January 6 Capitol riots while Biden called Trump a convicted felon.
They also had a heated debate about foreign policy.
Trump criticized Biden for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and blamed him for the deaths of American soldiers, calling it “the most embarrassing day” in the country’s history.
Biden fired back, saying Trump had let Russian President Vladimir Putin do whatever he wanted and that the world would be more chaotic if the Republican were president again.
He touted his success in getting 50 countries, including South Korea and Japan, to support Ukraine.
Trump claimed he got NATO members to pay more for defense, and criticized Biden for letting those contributions drop.
The event saw President Biden and former President Trump sharing a stage for the first time since 2020.
The candidates traded insults and accusations of lying in the acrimonious debate.
“I went to the World War Two cemetery, World War One cemetery he refused to go to. He was standing with his four-star general, and he told him, he said, ‘I don’t want to go in there because they’re a bunch of losers and suckers.’ My son was not a loser. Was not a sucker. You’re the sucker. You’re the loser.”
“The whole country is exploding because of you. Because they don’t respect you, and they have to respect their president and they don’t respect you throughout the world.”
With the 2024 presidential election just about four months away, all eyes are on how the first debate will impact the candidates’ approval ratings among voters.
Shin Ha-young, Arirang News.
Source : Arirang TV, https://www.arirang.com/news/view?id=272571
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