Presidential debate megathread (debate 1: June 27, 9pm EDT, CNN)

[Pericles]

This has gotten to the place where they are arguing over golf handicaps?!

[Reaganfan Democrat]

Are you f**king kidding me? These guys are having a d**k measuring contest about their golf games and insulting each other's weight?

[DrScholl]

Is Trump confusing Biden and Hillary with the "superpredators" thing?

Yupp. First real slip up from Trump.

He’ll say he and Hillary were on the same page with supporting the 1994 Crime Bill or something. Non-issue, nobody will notice.

Overall Trump is the most normal and presidential-seeming I’ve ever seen him, even as he of course lies and exaggerates everything. Biden seems like he just rolled out of bed in a nursing home days before his death.

This is the worst case scenario.

You are nothing but a Trump supporter. The excuse for his slip up is pure MAGA bs.

Bro Biden said he “beat Medicare” and otherwise has been rambling and incoherent.

And I’m not saying Trump was right, I’m saying that would be what the spin would be, if anybody even cares which they won’t.

I understand thinking rationally and abstractly is hard for some people though.

You can criticize Biden without making clearly ridiculous excuses for Trump. This isn't about what you said about Biden, it is about you not being rational enough to say Trump made an error.

But I'm mentally ill for not supporting Trump. Makes sense.

[walleye26]

The moderators have been great tonight. Bash is like “So are you gonna answer my question or nah?”

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Trump has been doing decently by this point while Biden has been recovering well and isn't too far behind now.

[Ferguson97]

Dems have an FDR in 1944 problem.  They need to pull a Truman-for-Wallace deal at the convention since Biden has his delegates locked up.  One could forgive Biden's failings if Kamala Harris, who is more unpopular, wasn't in the wings.

I wish we had an FDR in 1944 problem. He won.

[emailking]

This has gotten to the place where they are arguing over golf handicaps?!

I think we can blame Trump for that.

[Catholics vs. Convicts]

Awful awful awful nonsense about golf and weight.

[Dereich]

https://twitter.com/KellyO/status/1806505436457189594
This sounds very plausible.

If this was true why was it not leaked before the debate?

[LabourJersey]

I'm not sure Biden pointing out he was one of the youngest Senators ever helps him. In just a few hours, he'd beat Robert Byrd for the longest serving Senator ever were he still in the Senate.

It was a bad answer - it just reminds people that he's been a politician for 50 years.

I don't think that's a bad thing - many people spend their whole lives in politics! - but average voters don't particularly like career politicians.

[Reactionary Libertarian]

https://twitter.com/KellyO/status/1806505436457189594
This sounds very plausible.

If that was really true wouldn’t they have mentioned that before to temper expectations? I think they’re grasping at straws here and a cold sounds somewhat plausible.

[OSR stands with Israel]

The fact Trump said "lets not act like Children" was so lmao

[Lexii, harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy]

We finally reached the point of having the two geezers arguing about who's better at ing GOLF, wow 😮

[Ye We Can]

Regardless of Biden’s rally, he still sounds hoarse and somewhat incoherent. Trump is as usual beginning to struggle to stay on script.

[ProudModerate2]

Biden should not have fallen for the bait regarding "golf."
Silly to even go there.

[Christian Man]

Trump deflecting about 1/6

[emailking]

If Biden has a cold he really should have said that and apologized for his voice at the start of his first answer.

[Harlow]

I said this in November and turns out I had way too high expectations for Biden's team.

I find the concept of there being "debates" this general election cycle to be very abstract at best. I can't imagine Biden (or Trump tbh) being willing to share the stage with someone he believes is an anti-democracy authoritarian. And I especially can't picture either of them wanting to share the stage with Kennedy even if he was polling above the 15% threshold.

Plus, a debate would just further highlight Biden's clear cognitive decline.

[Anti-Trump Truth Socialite JD Vance Enjoying Juror]

Why is the site slower now than it was during the actual elections in 2022 and 2020?

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Biden clearly has a huge handicap

[emailking]

"Let's see where your numbers are when this election is over." Love it!

[Pyro]

This is possibly the saddest presidential debate I've ever seen.

[KYRockefeller]

It's so funny to see these CNN moderators losing their spirit over these 90 minutes as these candidates don't answer the questions posed.

[Red Velvet]

I missed the first hour of the debate, but it is interesting that Atlas thinks Biden is doing so bad but I was told in a group chat I am in that is like 50% MAGA that Biden was doing better than Trump.

It’s common phenomenon these days, people idealize their politicians as badass heroes, so they always get disappointed when their fave doesn’t “humiliate” or “crush” the opponent.

They only have their own super irrealistic expectations to blame. Both of these men are closer to getting buried than they are to their anniversary of 60 years of age. It is what it is and that says nothing about either of the two. People are watching a debate, not the Hunger Games.

[Octowakandi]

We should have this election be decided with a golf tournament.