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

[Progressive Pessimist]

I have full confidence in Biden. Sure, he isn't his 2012 self, but Trump has always sucked at debates. It will also finally put Trump in the spotlight of having to commit to issues and probably garner some ad/campaign material. And Biden may finally get an audience he needs to sell his accomplishments and draw a contrast to Trump. This race needs to be shaken up somehow even as debates likely won't matter by November.

I think even the timing can benefit Biden, this could possibly happen after Trump gets his verdict in the New York case and around the time the Supreme Court will release some surely controversial rulings.

This would help Biden.
The landmine will be Israel, trought.

In a way, yes. Although it finally forces Trump to take a position on the matter.

[wbrocks67]

I think Biden's team's view of this is that while they could definitely be doing better in polls, this race is going to be the longest of all time and people really need to realize sooner than later that this is the matchup whether they like it or not, so we might as well get on with this and start framing it around real life, and the debate forces Trump to be in the spotlight and to answer (or not answer) questions

In the end, the debate just solidifies the matchup and makes it real for most voters, especially the stakes. I think the Biden teams frustration up to this point is that there are some voters who are not tuned in at all and/or not taking it seriously enough

[Open Source Intelligence]

In the end, the debate just solidifies the matchup and makes it real for most voters.

Yeah, how sh*t that's going to be. I've got the dumbass I hate and helped cause me to leave the Republican Party and the incumbent that's been a complete f#cking failure so much so that he doesn't have the balls to stand on his record or what the hell he actually plans on doing for the next 4 years, and instead like a piece of sh*t coward constantly points at his opponent. Meanwhile we've got idiots whose reality is they're living a South Park episode passionately arguing about whether to vote for the douchebag or the turd.

"God Bless America!"

[All Along The Watchtower]

It's kind of ridiculous to me that an incumbent President running for reelection is focusing not on his term of office at all but instead his opponent that was President preceding him, but that seems to be the entire gameplan.

The incumbent President and his party (among many others) believe in their bones that his opponent and predecessor is an existential threat to American democracy who shouldn't even be eligible to run again.  After all, he interrupted the peaceful transfer of power in an attempted self-coup, culminating in his incitement of violence by his supporters  on members of Congress and his own Vice President. Of course that would be their focus!

Oh, and it goes without saying that this is personal for the incumbent President.

[Del Tachi]

I think what this shows is exactly how risk-averse Biden's campaign is.  Having fewer, earlier debates is fundamentally about limiting Biden's exposure to unscripted moments.  A candidate who is down in the polls should want to debate more, not less.

[Open Source Intelligence]

It's kind of ridiculous to me that an incumbent President running for reelection is focusing not on his term of office at all but instead his opponent that was President preceding him, but that seems to be the entire gameplan.

The incumbent President and his party (among many others) believe in their bones that his opponent and predecessor is an existential threat to American democracy who shouldn't even be eligible to run again. After all, he interrupted the peaceful transfer of power in an attempted self-coup, culminating in his incitement of violence by his supporters on members of Congress and his own Vice President. Of course that would be their focus.

That message is clearly not resonating with voters that were not already dyed-in-the-wool voting Democrat, whether the candidate be Donald Trump or Mitt Romney.

[All Along The Watchtower]

It's kind of ridiculous to me that an incumbent President running for reelection is focusing not on his term of office at all but instead his opponent that was President preceding him, but that seems to be the entire gameplan.

The incumbent President and his party (among many others) believe in their bones that his opponent and predecessor is an existential threat to American democracy who shouldn't even be eligible to run again. After all, he interrupted the peaceful transfer of power in an attempted self-coup, culminating in his incitement of violence by his supporters on members of Congress and his own Vice President. Of course that would be their focus.

That message is clearly not resonating with voters that were not already dyed-in-the-wool voting Democrat, whether the candidate be Donald Trump or Mitt Romney.

Then we have bigger problems.

[Open Source Intelligence]

It's kind of ridiculous to me that an incumbent President running for reelection is focusing not on his term of office at all but instead his opponent that was President preceding him, but that seems to be the entire gameplan.

The incumbent President and his party (among many others) believe in their bones that his opponent and predecessor is an existential threat to American democracy who shouldn't even be eligible to run again. After all, he interrupted the peaceful transfer of power in an attempted self-coup, culminating in his incitement of violence by his supporters on members of Congress and his own Vice President. Of course that would be their focus.

That message is clearly not resonating with voters that were not already dyed-in-the-wool voting Democrat, whether the candidate be Donald Trump or Mitt Romney.

Then we have bigger problems.

Tough sh*t Henry Clay.

[All Along The Watchtower]

It's kind of ridiculous to me that an incumbent President running for reelection is focusing not on his term of office at all but instead his opponent that was President preceding him, but that seems to be the entire gameplan.

The incumbent President and his party (among many others) believe in their bones that his opponent and predecessor is an existential threat to American democracy who shouldn't even be eligible to run again. After all, he interrupted the peaceful transfer of power in an attempted self-coup, culminating in his incitement of violence by his supporters on members of Congress and his own Vice President. Of course that would be their focus.

That message is clearly not resonating with voters that were not already dyed-in-the-wool voting Democrat, whether the candidate be Donald Trump or Mitt Romney.

Then we have bigger problems.

Tough sh*t Henry Clay.

?

[DaleCooper]

This would help Biden.
The landmine will be Israel, trought.

I don't think enough people give a sh-t about Israel for that to be an issue. It's a total distraction and the politicos are falling for it. For the vast majority of voters, Biden's real problem is his age. If he was just 10 years younger this election would be a totally different story.

They should've demanded that Biden commit to one term in exchange for the drop-outs and endorsements in 2020 instead of the completely worthless affirmative action VP pick. That should be viewed as one of the biggest self-inflected wounds in the history of the Democratic Party if he loses.

[Open Source Intelligence]

It's kind of ridiculous to me that an incumbent President running for reelection is focusing not on his term of office at all but instead his opponent that was President preceding him, but that seems to be the entire gameplan.

The incumbent President and his party (among many others) believe in their bones that his opponent and predecessor is an existential threat to American democracy who shouldn't even be eligible to run again. After all, he interrupted the peaceful transfer of power in an attempted self-coup, culminating in his incitement of violence by his supporters on members of Congress and his own Vice President. Of course that would be their focus.

That message is clearly not resonating with voters that were not already dyed-in-the-wool voting Democrat, whether the candidate be Donald Trump or Mitt Romney.

Then we have bigger problems.

Tough sh*t Henry Clay.

?

1832 election. You can't pick the issues that the electorate cares about, nor can you control their response.

[All Along The Watchtower]

It's kind of ridiculous to me that an incumbent President running for reelection is focusing not on his term of office at all but instead his opponent that was President preceding him, but that seems to be the entire gameplan.

The incumbent President and his party (among many others) believe in their bones that his opponent and predecessor is an existential threat to American democracy who shouldn't even be eligible to run again. After all, he interrupted the peaceful transfer of power in an attempted self-coup, culminating in his incitement of violence by his supporters on members of Congress and his own Vice President. Of course that would be their focus.

That message is clearly not resonating with voters that were not already dyed-in-the-wool voting Democrat, whether the candidate be Donald Trump or Mitt Romney.

Then we have bigger problems.

Tough sh*t Henry Clay.

?

1832 election. You can't pick the issues that the electorate cares about, nor can you control their response.

Never claimed otherwise.

[Open Source Intelligence]

This would help Biden.
The landmine will be Israel, trought.

I don't think enough people give a sh-t about Israel for that to be an issue. It's a total distraction and the politicos are falling for it.

Nate Silver on his Substack did an analysis of Israel/Gaza and based on polling results about the issue estimated the number of people hard against the Biden stance on Gaza represent 0.5% of the voting electorate. However, I do think it says a lot about foreign policy and us leaving the post-Cold War world and entering whatever comes next (some esteemed publications have repeatedly talked about the liberal international order unravelling). Although much like the Democrats talking about democracy, if anyone talked about that running for President no one would care.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

It's gonna be class warfare about tax cuts for the rich, Biden already said he is gonna rescind the tax cuts. Those tax cuts not just gives Corporations tax cuts they give oil subsidy to oil states like TX, AK that's why it's a 303 map because the country is at war between climate change and oil subsidies

I think Biden already said this in the SOTU trickle down economics

That's why Biden path is exactly the same as Hillary, he has a chance in TX but remote

[Landslide Lyndon]

That message is clearly not resonating with voters that were not already dyed-in-the-wool voting Democrat, whether the candidate be Donald Trump or Mitt Romney.

Everybody was saying the same s**t back in 2022: nobody cares about democracy and abortion, Democrats should talk more bout the economy, etc.
Look how that turned out.

[MR DARK BRANDON]

Honestly, I am shocked that we are getting debates. Reading between the lines, I glean the following from this news:

1. Team Biden knows they’re losing. They need something to shift the tenor of the race. If Biden was gliding on autopilot to a win, there would be no need to do this. Clearly, Trump on Trial is not enough.

I’m sorry but Biden committing to debates means he’s losing yet Trump begging and pleading for more debates just reeks of confidence?

[wbrocks67]

I think what this shows is exactly how risk-averse Biden's campaign is.  Having fewer, earlier debates is fundamentally about limiting Biden's exposure to unscripted moments.  A candidate who is down in the polls should want to debate more, not less.

Then Trump must feel he is losing because that's what he wants. Not wanting to debate more comes from a place of strength, so Biden's campaign must feel okay about their position.

[xavier110]

Honestly, I am shocked that we are getting debates. Reading between the lines, I glean the following from this news:

1. Team Biden knows they’re losing. They need something to shift the tenor of the race. If Biden was gliding on autopilot to a win, there would be no need to do this. Clearly, Trump on Trial is not enough.

I’m sorry but Biden committing to debates means he’s losing yet Trump begging and pleading for more debates just reeks of confidence?

Yes. Both can coexist. Susie Wiles I think is on record basically saying that having Biden out there will remind voters why they do not trust him, find him feeble, weak and ineffectual, etc. Of course viewed through that lens, Trump should be desperate to debate him.

There are definitely pluses for both sides, largely driven by how voters dislike each candidate and that this is an opportunity to expose their flaws. A lot of downside for Trump if he seems stupid and unpresidential or slower than Biden after calling him senile, a lot of downside for Biden if he can’t string sentences together while Trump is fluent and fast…

[MR DARK BRANDON]

Honestly, I am shocked that we are getting debates. Reading between the lines, I glean the following from this news:

1. Team Biden knows they’re losing. They need something to shift the tenor of the race. If Biden was gliding on autopilot to a win, there would be no need to do this. Clearly, Trump on Trial is not enough.

I’m sorry but Biden committing to debates means he’s losing yet Trump begging and pleading for more debates just reeks of confidence?

Yes. Both can coexist. Susie Wiles I think is on record basically saying that having Biden out there will remind voters why they do not trust him, find him feeble, weak and ineffectual, etc. Of course viewed through that lens, Trump should be desperate to debate him.

There are definitely pluses for both sides, largely driven by how voters dislike each candidate and that this is an opportunity to expose their flaws. A lot of downside for Trump if he seems stupid and unpresidential or slower than Biden after calling him senile, a lot of downside for Biden if he can’t string sentences together while Trump is fluent and fast…

If Trump’s campaign was super confident about victory they wouldn’t feel the need to do this or be “desperate” to debate him months earlier then planned.

[Arizona Iced Tea]

Unforced error for Biden to push for the mic rule. He won the first debate in 2020 due to Trump being unable to shut up.

[emailking]

I don't think about really got anything out of that debate though. I remember a lot of memes about 3 men talking at once. It was just kind of wtf, although it did produce the Proud Boys quote, not that we realized the significance at the time.

[Woody]

I have full confidence in Biden. Sure, he isn't his 2012 self, but Trump has always sucked at debates...

Trump during the 2016 primaries was a classic, the highlights from when he was taking on the entire field never gets old. There is also an argument to be made that he won both debates in 2020.

[holtridge]

Kristen Welker needs to be the moderator.

[Woody]

That message is clearly not resonating with voters that were not already dyed-in-the-wool voting Democrat, whether the candidate be Donald Trump or Mitt Romney.

Everybody was saying the same s**t back in 2022: nobody cares about democracy and abortion, Democrats should talk more bout the economy, etc.
Look how that turned out.

Democrats lost that election!

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

I have full confidence in Biden. Sure, he isn't his 2012 self, but Trump has always sucked at debates...

Trump during the 2016 primaries was a classic, when he was taking on the entire field. There is also an argument to be made that he won both debates in 2020.

Lol no he didn't he caught COVID after the first debate and lied about it and they fired Chris Wallace Fox news saying that cost Trump the debate

Trump is not a classic giving tax cuts to rich

Biden told Trump to tell Proud Boys to stand down and he refused that cost Trump after the Debate