Australia and the World Past and Present

We have witnessed the first debate of the 2024 Presidential race for the White House.

I suspect most viewers were watching to see what kind of outrageous claims Trump could come up with or whether Biden would lose his train of thought.

Biden started off in typical Democrat fashion by saying that there was a need to confront ‘corporate greed’ in America.

Trump speaks in superlatives.

His entire modus operandi can be summed up like this: Trump is the best. His opponent is the worst. His Presidency was the greatest ever. His opponent’s Presidency was the worst in the history of the nation.

Trump likes to say that he is the ‘no war’ President – that he didn’t start any wars while he was in office. Trump is more of an isolationist than an internationalist. This dovetails with his motto ‘America First’.

Trump does come up with some phrases that make you smile. Witness this pearl. He claims that during his Presidency ‘everything was rocking good’.

Trump hit the illegal immigration issue hard, mentioning it as many times as he could it the course of the debate.

The optics weren’t great for Biden. He often looked down at his lectern and seemed lost in thought.

Biden’s performance wasn’t totally devoid of fight. He attacked Trump’s tax cuts claiming that they were a ‘reward for the wealthy’.

Trump had placed tariffs upon imports in to the US. There was a 30-50% tariff on solar panels and a 25% tariff on steel. He has also put forward the idea of slapping a 10% tariff on most products if he wins a second term. Biden argued that this would be a bad thing for Americian consumers and that they would end up paying more at the supermarket checkout.

On the other hand, Trump asserted that the US had been losing ground to other countries economically and that they taking advantage of the US.

Trump wants to see himself as the ‘Business President’. His background is more commercial than political. Biden on the other hand is the quintessential politician, having spend decades on Capitol Hill.

Trump regards himself as the master of the Art of the Deal.

It is interesting that the businessman Trump is more of a protectionist while Biden argues more strongly for international free trade.

Biden may have a point that consumers may pay more because of Trump’s tariff, but I suspect that many Americans will see this argument as supportive of foreign interests while they view Trump as sticking up for American rights. Biden argues more upon universal principles than he does on parochial self-interest.

Trump reduced the corporate tax rate from 39% to 21%. The two candidate’s views on this are polar opposites. Biden views the cuts as feeding corporate greed while Trump argues that they spur on the creation of new companies and new jobs or at least the expansion of investment in existing companies.

Trump’s language is extreme. He describes the US under Biden as a ‘third world nation’. He talks the country down. When you listen to Trump you get the sense that we are living in the end-of-days with Armageddon just around the corner. Conversely, he seems to suggest that the day after he is elected President the rain will stop, the clouds will part and the sun will shine a halo upon America’s new saviour – again.

There were moments when Biden seemed lost. At one time he faltered and after a while spurted out the nonsensical ‘we finally beat Medicare’.

Biden attacks Trump for wanting to cut Medicare. Trump attacks Biden for destroying Medicare. But his reason is different. He claims that there are so many illegal immigrants entering the US and joining the program that the system has become unsustainable.

As always in American elections, the abortion issue came up. In recent times, the Supreme Court has overturned Roe versus Wade. During his Presidency, Trump appointed 3 new judges to the Court. They were relatively conservative appointees as one might expect from a Republican President and the change in the composition of the court seems to have had an impact upon decisions such as Roe versus Wade. Different states are now making different laws in regards to abortion.

Trump had this to say “He [meaning Biden] is willing to rip the baby out of the womb…and kill the baby.”

Trump continued the end-of-days theme returning to illegal immigration. “We are living in a rats nest. We don’t have borders anymore, every state is a border. He [Biden] has killed so many people at our border by allowing these people to come in.”

In relation to Ukraine Trump said “I think he [Biden] encouraged Putin to go in.”

Around $175 billion of has been spent by the US on the war in Ukraine. Trump proclaims that he got other NATO members to contribute more money to NATO and, effectively, to their own defense. This plays into Trump’s theme of getting a good deal for the US while getting others to pay. Biden stresses the importance of standing by allies. Supporting Ukraine is forward defense for Biden.

Some events in US history are known by their date. January 6, 2021 has become infamous for the storming of the Capitol. Trump outdid himself in trying to say that one of the targets of this terrible attack on American democracy was in fact responsible for it! He tried to blame senior Democrat, Nancy Pelosi for the incident. He said that he offered her 10,000 National Guard troops to secure the Capitol and that she had rejected the offer. Not only that, Trump claimed that Pelosi accepted blame for January 26. This is pure fantasy.

The debate continued with claims and counter-claims of illegal actions. Biden called Trump a convicted felon, which in fact he now is. He was found guilty of 34 felony counts shortly before the debate. Trump responded saying “this man [Biden] is a criminal” but without any evidence. Trump claims that the Department of Justice has been weaponised and is targeting him as a political opponent of the President.

Biden brought up the Charlottesville, Virginia incident of a few years ago when protesters wearing swastikas could be seen chanting anti-Semitic phrases. In response to the event, Trump had said ‘there are fine people on both sides.’

Trump’s Presidency was notable for its high rotation of top cabinet officials. Most lasted a very short time, were summarily dismissed and were quickly replaced. It was an never-ending revolving door. Such a system is not good for any President as it just leads to a chaotic administration.

Biden pointed out that most of Trump’s cabinet appointees had not endorsed him this time round.

Biden continued to ramble.

There was more farce when discussion turned to the environment with Trump saying “I want absolutely immaculate water. We had H2O.”

While Biden described the Paris Climate Accord as an essential move to combat climate change, Trump framed it as an economic rip off for the country. Again, he suggested that other nations were not paying their fair share and were playing Americans for suckers.

On social security, Biden outlined his way of keeping the system solvent. In essence, his approach was to tax the wealthy more. He had a go at the figures. He had a better sense of the figures than Trump, who didn’t even bother, but ultimately Biden’s numbers were incoherent.

The two candidates are operating according to totally different methodologies.

Biden puts forward arguments, critiques and rebuts. Trump doesn’t bother with any of that. He is more comfortable attacking the person than the issue. He figures that people aren’t really interested in statistics. Trump will throw up four or five attacks at a time. He doesn’t really care how his opponent engages with these points because the next time he speaks he will throw out another four or five fresh attacks. The result is that Trump looks in command while Biden is often on the back foot.

These two candidates are old by Presidential standards. Biden would be 86 at the end of another term. Trump is only three years younger but seems less affected by his age. Biden’s age and its impact on his ability to do the job has become an issue in a way that it hasn’t for his rival.

These two men are so different. They differ in their beliefs but also in the way that they conduct themselves. Biden is one of the most experienced politicians in the nation. He is well-versed in international issues and is an internationalist. He trusts multinational forums such as NATO and the UN. Trump is much more isolationist and is combative – even with military allies. Biden seeks to persuade when he talks. Trumps is most at home when he is combative and attacking others. He seems to delight in firing his own appointees. He doesn’t tolerate other people challenging his authority. He is very happy to act as a disruptor in American politics. Biden talks about uniting the country. Trump is much more interested in divisive speech. He seems to benefit much more from it. This will be a consequential election. One thing is for sure – Biden and Trump offer starkly different futures for the US.