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A terrible storm, this is what summed up the first presidential debate organized on Tuesday, September 29 between the two main presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Joe Biden. During the previous days, Donald Trump’s campaign team had multiplied war metaphors, even evoking a “Destruction” of the former Democratic vice-president, regularly portrayed as undermined by age.
The outgoing president has stuck to this course, continuously interrupting his opponent, mocking his answers, openly displaying his contempt, including on his university career (Joe Biden has not gone through the major institutions of the country). “There is nothing intelligent about you”, “you were the bottom of your class”, assured Donald Trump. The objective was clear: to push him off his hinges by counting on one of the bloodletting that punctuates his long career which would make him appear to his disadvantage.
Periodically, Joe Biden has been on the verge of giving in. ” Shut up “, “It’s hard to say a word with this clown, excuse me, with this person”, “Keep yapping, boy”, “liar” : on many occasions, the formulas of arguments of tipsy drinkers escaped him under the influence of the exasperation, also contributing to lower the debate.
However, the former vice president resisted, clinging to obviously carefully crafted formulas, such as when he described an America “Poor”, “given over to violence” and “Even more divided” at the end of Donald Trump’s term. He overcame his traditional hesitations and some stammering, even managing to regularly list proposals and projects without paying attention to the incessant spikes of his opponent.
Joe Biden even ended up finding an effective solution to this undermining work: that of paying no attention to the outgoing president to speak directly to the camera in front of him, in order to speak directly to his fellow citizens, in particular to express empathy for the victims of the pandemic. This resistance allowed him to appear at the end of the fist as his winner, because of the tactics adopted by his opponent.
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