Two presidents will face off on the debate stage on Thursday evening in Atlanta, Georgia, where current President Joe Biden, a Democrat, will seek to destabilize the significant advantage his general election opponent, Republican former President Donald Trump, has built in recent months in a contest moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.
The historic debate, coming as the opening salvo of what will be a similarly monumental general election, since this is the first time in the television era and since the 19th century that two presidents will face each other on election day, is also the first time in many elections that a general election debate is not structured by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). The now essentially defunct CPD lost the confidence of both parties, and the two campaigns–the Trump and Biden teams–negotiated the terms of the debate themselves with CNN and agreed on the rules.
Candidates will have two minutes to respond to questions, and one minute for rebuttals, but their microphones will be cut during the time the other candidate is speaking. The 90-minute debate, which begins at 9:00 p.m. ET, will also feature two commercial breaks, and some are saying reportedly CNN–which is refusing the requests of an irate White House Correspondents Association to have reporters from the White House press pool present in the debate studio–will delay the broadcast for a minute or so. There is also no studio in person audience, and the candidates are barred from interacting with their staffs during the commercial breaks.
The fact this debate is happening so early in this presidential cycle–Trump has not even announced a running mate yet, and the Republican National Convention (RNC) is weeks away and the Democratic National Convention (DNC) is months away–is also significant. Trump has opened a clear and convincing national lead over Biden in most polling, and similarly leads Biden across most of the battleground states. Election analysts like Nate Silver give Trump a two-in-three chance of defeating Biden and reclaiming the White House on Nov. 5, something that has Biden and Democrats rattled enough that they rushed to agree to this debate and another one in the early fall as well as a vice presidential debate between Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris and whoever Trump picks as his running mate later in the summer.
Interestingly, technically speaking, neither man–Trump nor Biden–is actually officially the presidential nominee of their respective political parties yet. Trump will formally accept the GOP nomination for president at the RNC in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in a few weeks’ time in mid-July, and Biden is slated to do the same at the DNC in Chicago in late August. Democrats are actually planning to short-circuit their convention and formally nominate Biden earlier than that in a virtual manner, ostensibly because of Ohio ballot access rules that would prohibit the current president from appearing on the ballot there due to the DNC being past the state’s deadline for inclusion, but arguably more likely to avoid concerns from radical leftist protesters undercutting Democrat unity. Biden has been fending off a large and growing “Uncommitted” movement of Democrats and left-leaning voters determined to harm him electorally by denying him their support, and with a surge in encampments on college campuses in recent months protesting Biden’s handling of Israel’s war with Hamas, the concern about these people among Democrats has hit a fever pitch.
Trump, on the other hand, is fighting off unprecedented lawfare and legal attacks from several local Democrats and directly from Biden’s administration, having just been convicted in New York of dozens of felony charges brought by George Soros-funded Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Bragg’s office’s case was led by Matthew Colangelo, a number three official in the Justice Department who left his post there to take the lowly position in Bragg’s office and try this case against Trump. The same day that Colangelo left the Justice Department, Biden’s Attorney General, Merrick Garland, appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith, who has charged Trump with a number of alleged crimes in two separate cases. Garland could fire Smith today–or Biden could–but they choose to allow Smith to continue harassing Trump. That very same day that Smith was appointed and Colangelo left DOJ for Bragg’s office, Biden’s White House counsel hosted a man named Nathan Wade–who would become the lead prosecutor in Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney Fani Willis’s office in her case against Trump and incidentally also Willis’s lover–for extended meetings for hours inside the president’s home at the White House. This weaponization of government is almost certainly going to be a major topic in Thursday’s debate, and how Trump handles that will be extremely important.
In addition to all of those points, several major issues from lingering inflation to a raging border crisis to out-of-control migrant crime seeing many young Americans murdered or raped thanks to Biden’s open borders and lack of immigration law enforcement, as well as war and instability worldwide, are sure to dominate the discussion on Thursday evening. What’s more, expectations for Biden are extremely low, given his recent major memory and health issues, and if Biden simply stands up straight with no senior moments throughout the debate Democrats will almost certainly act like he won regardless of how poorly the president does on the issues. During the debate, and surely after it, both sides will seek to spin the outcome to their liking as well, and that broader messaging war will play out in person in Atlanta, as well as online and on television.
Follow along here on Breitbart News for live updates, and news and analysis throughout the evening as the nation embarks on this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
UPDATE 12:04 a.m. ET:
CNN’s flash poll of debate watchers on its network found that an astounding 67 percent–a solid two-thirds majority–said Trump won the debate tonight while only 33 percent said Biden won. These are terrible numbers for Biden and excellent numbers for Trump.
UPDATE 11:40 p.m. ET:
Harris continues to dodge questions from CNN’s Anderson Cooper about Biden’s poor performance. She refuses continually to answer whether Biden is like that all the time or not. This is a total and complete disaster for Democrats.
Right after, Biden’s biographer Evan Osnos appears and says Biden is “diminished” from where he was four years ago.
What’s more, Democrats calling for Biden to step aside as the nominee are not clearly prepared at this time to answer the question about whether they think Biden can continue to serve as president for the rest of the year if he is not well enough to stand as the nominee.
UPDATE 11:32 p.m. ET:
Vice President Kamala Harris is on CNN right now defending Biden, and dismissing concerns about his ability to do the job. She refuses to answer whether Biden should step aside and launches into a diatribe about Trump during the debate.
UPDATE 10:55 p.m. ET:
Trump’s senior campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita issued this joint statement declaring victory for Trump in the debate tonight:
“Tonight President Trump delivered the greatest debate performance and victory in history to the largest voter audience in history, making clear exactly how he will improve the lives of every American. Over and over President Trump highlighted common-sense plans to reduce inflation, bringing down the costs of groceries, housing, and gas, as well as his plans to bring back his successful first-term policies that kept our southern border secure and free from the wave of Biden Migrant Crimes currently sweeping our country. Joe Biden on the other hand showed exactly why he deserves to be fired. Despite taking a week-long vacation at Camp David to prepare for the debate, Biden was unable to defend his disastrous record on the economy and the border. Throughout the debate Biden lied, invented stories, and could not articulate a single plan to make things less expensive and keep our people safe, choosing instead to change the subject and dwell on the past. Even worse, Biden couldn’t explain why he took a week of vacation at Camp David while 50 ISIS terrorists ran loose in our country. President Trump is spot-on when he says that if Joe Biden is too incompetent to stand trial, then Biden is too incompetent to be President. Americans are struggling financially. The families of Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, Jocelyn Nungaray, and every other victim of Biden Migrant Crime are grieving. Our country is on fire at home and we stand on the brink of World War III because of Joe Biden’s incompetence. But we can turn it all around, and bring back the American Dream, starting on day one, by reelecting President Donald J. Trump.”
UPDATE 10:52 p.m. ET:
This debate could very seriously hurt vulnerable Democrat down-ticket candidates like Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Jon Tester (D-MT) among others:
UPDATE 10:49 p.m. ET:
MSNBC is no better for Biden right now, and apparently Vice President Kamala Harris is about to go on MSNBC:
UPDATE 10:47 p.m. ET:
Even Kate Bedingfield who was a top Biden White House official and worked on his 2020 campaign says it was a terrible performance for Biden this evening. “There are no two ways about it, that was not a good debate for Joe Biden,” she says.
“It was painful,” Van Jones, another leftist and former Obama official, says next.
Jones says Biden “had a test to meet tonight” and “he failed to do that.”
“That was not what we needed from Joe Biden tonight, it was painful,” Jones said.
UPDATE 10:44 p.m. ET:
The panic among Democrats is real:
David Axelrod says there is “a sense of shock” about how Biden did throughout this debate. “I think you’re going to hear discussions that I don’t know whether they’ll lead to anything, but you’re going to hear discussions about whether he should continue,” Axelrod said.
UPDATE 10:41 p.m. ET:
CNN’s John King with the first comment after the debate says this debate was extremely consequential and has Democrats in a massive and full panic considering approaching the White House to encourage Biden to step aside as the Democrat nominee. This is a five alarm fire for Democrats.
UPDATE 10:40 p.m. ET:
In his closing statement, Trump calls Biden a “complainer” like “most politicians.” He rips Biden on Afghanistan, Ukraine, Russia, Iran, Hamas, the economy, the border, and more. Trump says the country is “exploding,” and nobody has any confidence in Biden. Trump says the nation is “failing” but will not be failing anymore when he’s president again because he will make the nation great again. The debate has ended but the candidates stayed at their podiums. First Lady Dr. Jill Biden came out to fetch her husband and steer him off stage. He’s having trouble with a minor step down as his wife guides the president over to the moderators’ table.
UPDATE 10:35 p.m. ET:
After the second commercial break, the candidates begin with their closing statements. Biden coughs as he begins his, then mumbles through his answer and falsely claims Trump “increased your taxes” and “wants to increase your taxes more by putting a ten percent tariff on everything that comes into the United States of America.” Biden continues struggling through his next couple sentences, and falsely takes credit for lowering the price of insulin which as Trump made clear earlier in the debate is something Trump did not Biden.
UPDATE 10:30 p.m. ET:
Bash comes back to Trump and tries to ask him if he will accept the results of the election and he gives an answer about how Biden screwed up with Russia and Ukraine, and then Bash asks again and Trump says he will if it’s a free and fair election. Then Biden in response starts rambling about how Trump is a “whiner.”
UPDATE 10:27 p.m. ET:
Trump and Biden argue about their golf games, and Biden claims he had a 6 handicap when he was vice president–something that is very hard to believe. Then Trump ends the back-and-forth by telling Biden: “Let’s not act like children.”
Bash then asks Trump if he’ll accept the results of the election, and if he condemns political violence. Trump handles the question with ease and Biden is staring off to the side of the studio lost in thought clearly not taking in what Trump is very coherently saying.
UPDATE 10:21 p.m. ET:
Now, Trump is laying out how he will secure the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich who is currently being held by Russia’s Putin, arguing how Putin is “laughing at this guy” as he gestures to Biden.
UPDATE 10:18 p.m. ET:
Biden remaining as the Democrat candidate may severely damage Democrats down-ticket too:
UPDATE 10:17 p.m. ET:
More calls for Biden to go away:
UPDATE 10:16 p.m. ET:
Pressure is building intensely on Biden to step aside as the presumptive Democratic nominee and hand the nomination to someone else:
UPDATE 10:15 p.m. ET:
Now, Biden is feebly yelling at the screen while his microphone is off as Trump is making the case that Biden is the worst president in the history of the country.
UPDATE 10:11 p.m. ET:
Now, Biden just celebrated the millions of “illegal aliens”–yes he used that word–he let into America, and then tried to argue it’s GOOD for the economy. Seriously.
UPDATE 10:09 p.m. ET:
Trump is now lighting up Biden for being the worst liar in American political history, then he shifts to how Biden is destroying Social Security with his open borders policies.
UPDATE 10:07 p.m. ET:
It’s almost impossible to keep up with Biden’s lies–he’s on quite a roll and it’s very difficult to understand his mumbling and rambling–but this is a heck of a whopper from a few minutes ago:
Biden’s son did NOT die in Iraq. Why he would lie about that is anyone’s guess. But pretty unbelievable nonetheless.
UPDATE 10:04 p.m. ET:
Biden in his answer a few minutes ago told a blatant lie, which was he claimed unemployment was 50 percent when he took office. It was around 6 percent, actually.
Now, Biden is struggling and his voice is cracking as he mumbles through his answer on climate change. Now, Biden’s mouth is hanging open as he stares at Trump blankly while Trump rips the Paris Climate Accords.
UPDATE 9:59 p.m. ET:
In response, Trump is ripping Biden for hurting the black community with his inflationary economic policies and his immigration policies leading to migrants taking jobs from black and Hispanic Americans.
UPDATE 9:57 p.m. ET:
Back from the first commercial break, now Biden is again struggling through an answer on what he did for the black community. Biden’s rambling and nonsensical answers are hard to understand. Viewers everywhere must be struggling to understand him.
UPDATE 9:51 p.m. ET:
Biden now attacks the tens of millions of people nationwide who will vote for Trump, saying they will be voting against democracy. Then he devolves into pushing the Charlottesville hoax again. Trump is ripping Biden in response, noting correctly that the Charlottesville story is “debunked” and now he’s lighting up Biden for being a failed president.
UPDATE 9:48 p.m. ET:
Trump is now saying that Biden may be a “convicted felon” when he leaves office and notes that his son Hunter Biden is actually a “convicted felon,” and now Biden is responding to Trump saying it’s “outrageous” that Trump would say he would go after anyone else and accuses Trump of “having sex with a porn star.”
Trump, in response, says he did not have sex with a porn star, then lays out how Biden’s weaponization against him has not worked because “the public knows it’s a scam” because Biden “cannot win fair and square.”
UPDATE 9:44 p.m. ET:
Biden’s response on January 6 was completely unintelligible, then Trump now is lecturing Biden on how he ought to be “ashamed of yourself” for ruining many people’s lives who were at the protest. Trump is now ripping the January 6 Select Committee for deleting its evidence, and then Biden comes back at Trump with a clearly rehearsed line saying Trump is a “convicted felon.”
UPDATE 9:42 p.m. ET:
The National Border Patrol Council makes clear that the group has never and will never endorse Biden:
Meanwhile, the CNN anchors try to change the conversation to January 6 and Trump hammers Biden in response by laying out how the border was secure, the economy was strong, and America was energy independent that day. In a follow-up comment, Trump then notes he told people to be peaceful and patriotic in their protests. He also lays out how Nancy Pelosi turned down National Guard. Trump is also talking about the video of Pelosi coming out from that day in which she admits she is responsible for there not being National Guard there.
UPDATE 9:39 p.m. ET:
The Associated Press put this wild statement out there about the first half of the debate–the part about Biden is obviously true, but the part about Trump is not:
This is a terrible night for Joe Biden. In no universe can anyone argue he is doing well on this debate stage.
UPDATE 9:33 p.m. ET:
Biden is now looking down, and mumbling through his next answer and not clearly articulating anything. Biden just keeps throwing out words that do not make much sense. Eventually Bash cuts Biden off with “thank you” and ends the painful commentary from the sitting president. She turns back to Trump and asks if he thinks Putin’s views are acceptable and he says they are not.
UPDATE 9:30 p.m. ET:
The conversation is now moving to Ukraine and Russia, and Trump is ripping Biden for allowing it to happen–and arguing that Biden’s failures in Afghanistan led to Vladimir Putin’s opening to invade Ukraine.
UPDATE 9:28 p.m. ET:
Biden is now trotting out the “suckers and losers” hoax against Trump, in a very poorly delivered line. By the way, here’s video of Trump’s dagger on Biden:
Trump is now running through a bunch of the hoaxes the left has attacked Trump with. Trump calls on Biden to apologize, and Biden refuses to do so in a very poorly delivered answer.
UPDATE 9:26 p.m. ET:
Biden is getting absolutely roasted for this terrible performance:
Meanwhile, Trump is ripping Biden for “BIDEN MIGRANT CRIME” live on stage and the current president is looming there helpless and seemingly unable to defend himself. This is a bloodbath debate for Biden so far.
UPDATE 9:24 p.m. ET:
As Biden’s answer on immigration made zero sense, and the moderators turned to Trump to respond, looking like the cat who ate the canary Trump says he did not understand what Biden said. Then Trump live fact-checks Biden’s lie that the Border Patrol union endorsed him–that’s not true they endorsed Trump–then in response Biden mumbles and makes zero sense again.
UPDATE 9:21 p.m. ET:
Biden is now mumbling on about “MAGA Republicans” as the CNN anchors seem to let the two candidates go back and forth a bit. Then, Tapper turns the conversation to the border and Biden is mumbling about a “bipartisan agreement” in Congress.
UPDATE 9:19 p.m. ET:
As Biden continues to struggle, Trump keeps running up the score. He’s laying out how Biden’s open borders are hurting women because rapes and murders by illegal aliens are happening. Trump is crushing Biden on abortion, deftly handling CNN’s questions, and the CNN anchors are trying to get Biden back on track. Biden keeps fumbling his answers and losing his train of thought mid-sentence while mumbling badly.
UPDATE 9:15 p.m. ET:
Biden’s first major freeze-up on stage set Trump up for a massive slam dunk against Biden on Medicare and Social Security and Medicaid. Biden came off terribly, and his frailty is coming through vividly right now. Biden is in serious trouble on this stage right now.
UPDATE 9:10 p.m. ET:
Trump is laying out now why he wants bigger tax cuts than he had before, arguing that the tax cuts he did before generated massive economic growth.
UPDATE 9:08 p.m. ET:
Biden’s pupils seem enlarged as well:
Trump is now ripping Biden for economic failures, and laying out his vision on tariffs and then also responding to Biden on Afghanistan.
UPDATE 9:07 p.m. ET:
Trump begins his answer by noting that “we had the greatest economic in the history of the world,” and Trump lays out how he got the country “out of the COVID mess.” Trump sounds like he’s in command.
“Inflation is killing our country,” Trump said.
Biden, in rebuttal, argues that only Trump thinks the economy was the greatest in the history of the world under Trump.
UPDATE 9:05 p.m. ET:
Biden blames Trump for the economic failures of his administration, but more interestingly Biden seems to be losing his voice and keeps coughing and his voice sounds faint.
UPDATE 9:03 p.m. ET:
The candidates were just introduced and Biden seemed to mumble a bit on his way to the stage. Tapper immediately begins with the first question, which is about the economy and inflation. The question goes to Biden.
UPDATE 9:02 p.m. ET:
Tapper and Bash are laying out the rules of the debate before they introduce the candidates.
UPDATE 9:00 p.m. ET:
The debate is beginning now, and Tapper and Bash are introducing the program.
UPDATE 8:50 p.m. ET:
Joe Biden is jacked up, ladies and gentlemen. No, seriously, the president himself is admitting he’s drinking “performance enhancers” (obviously he’s kidding, and just leaning into the taunting by Trump’s team on this front):
UPDATE 8:48 p.m. ET:
Trump said his future vice presidential candidate will be at the debate–and no surprise here, but all of the reported finalists for the job will be in the spin room after the debate:
UPDATE 8:37 p.m. ET:
One of Trump’s most underrated qualities is his sense of humor, and yours truly was on with Dr. Sebastian Gorka earlier in the day to preview the debate and made this exact point. It’s worth watching the full clip here on Rumble.
UPDATE 8:30 p.m. ET:
David Axelrod is saying that Biden is in serious trouble entering this debate:
UPDATE 8:27 p.m. ET:
The stakes are extremely high for Biden in this evening’s debate:
UPDATE 8:22 p.m. ET:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and Biden surrogate, is calling on Biden and Trump to actually shake hands during the debate when CNN’s Erin Burnett asks him if the two of them should. It remains to be seen what either or both of them will do.
UPDATE 8:21 p.m. ET:
In the spirit of debates, it’s worth noting that Florida’s Republican candidate for Congress in the fifth congressional district Mara Macie–who’s endorsed by the official Republican Party of Saint Johns County against incumbent establishment big government career politician Rep. John Rutherford (R-FL)–is calling on Rutherford to debate her. From what Breitbart News has heard around the district, Rutherford is afraid to do so and continues shying away from any debates. In fact, at a recent party gathering in the other county–Duval–in the district, a speaker directly called on Rutherford to debate and the Duval County GOP chairman, Breitbart News is told, intervened to try to save him embarrassment. But Rutherford slinked back nervously in his seat, an eyewitness said.
Rutherford, it’s worth noting, is one of the most corrupt career politicians in Washington and has faced Ethics Committee investigations into his stock trades–and regularly helps the Democrats pass their spending agenda from his perch on the Appropriations Committee. Watch parties like the one Macie is going to are happening everywhere across America, and she’s far more representative of the people in the district. That race comes up on Aug. 20, and in the deep-red district it would be a shock to the system if she unseats Rutherford.
UPDATE 8:15 p.m. ET:
Trump’s iconic spokesman Steven Cheung posted this image of Trump arriving in Atlanta with the comment “He’s ready.”
UPDATE 8:13 p.m. ET:
As the CNN panel continues to note that Biden has major problems with his own base as late as July in an election year, it’s worth noting who Biden is bringing to the spin room as campaign surrogates–mostly radically hard left progressives:
Trump’s Super PAC MAGA Inc. has been hammering Biden for bringing these radicals to the spin room, noting many of them support defunding police and other wild views:
UPDATE 8:09 p.m. ET:
The pre-debate CNN panel is not going well for Biden. Scott Jennings, a Republican, is arguing that Trump is expanding the map to make states like Virginia and Minnesota battlegrounds, while former Obama adviser David Axelrod is arguing that the Trump legal battles are only helping Trump and even suggesting jokingly that Trump should go rob a gas station to get a polling bump.
UPDATE 8:07 p.m. ET:
Biden’s campaign announced it is raking in the dough ahead of the debate:
This is a good reminder to the right that the Democrats are playing for keeps in this election and just because Trump is leading right now does not mean Trump supporters should take anything for granted.
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