US President Joe Biden and Donald Trump will take the stage on Thursday night in a debate ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
An incumbent US president has never debated his predecessor, and the animosity between the two men will be evident on the CNN debate stage in Atlanta.
Trump never conceded the 2020 election to President Biden, and days after his supporters invaded the US Capitol, he defied precedent by declining to attend his opponent’s inauguration.
The two men are now vying for the president once more, and this debate will be the first time in this election cycle that millions of Americans will sit up and take notice.
The two men are now vying for the presidency again, and this debate will be the first time in this election cycle that millions of Americans will sit up and pay attention.
The stakes are enormous, and the intensity in the room will be heightened by both men’s attempts to persuade US voters that they deserve to be on the ballot in November.
Thursday’s debate will also be the first time Joe Biden and Donald Trump have appeared together since their debates four years ago.
The first meeting in 2020 was heated, marked by multiple interruptions and Biden’s irritated “Will you shut up, man?” command.
The two men did not shake hands at the start of the second debate that year, which had been postponed due to Trump’s COVID diagnosis.
This time, both men are out of practice. Neither has participated in a debate in nearly four years, with Trump skipping the Republican primary debates before becoming the party’s presumptive nominee earlier this year.
Presidents typically appear unprepared in their first re-election debate; one prevalent argument is that they are rusty or unused to being challenged after four years in the White House bubble.
In this situation, however, both candidates may face the task. Unlike previous debates, this one will take place in a cable television studio without a live audience to cheer or grumble.
The Biden campaign made the request, allegedly concerned following CNN’s boisterous Trump town hall debate last year.
The debate will also include muted microphones for candidates during their opponents’ allotted speaking time, which may prevent it from devolving into the mayhem that marked the first Trump-Biden debate in 2020. However, it is possible that this version will become less remembered.
