– If we had a real president, who was respected by Putin, he would never have invaded Ukraine, Trump said in the live duel.
The whole world is exploding under Biden, Trump continued.
US election 2024
The USA connoisseur: This is how the candidates want to attack each other
Trump and Biden collide tonight – this is at stake
– Just as Israel had never been invaded by Hamas. Why? Because Iran was broke when I was president. They had no money for Hamas.
He went on to accuse Biden of giving money to Ukraine.
– We would never spend that much.
Start nuclear war
Trump has no idea what he’s talking about, countered Biden.
– We give weapons, not money. And our NATO allies have created as much funding as we have. That is why we are strong.
– Does he want to start the nuclear war that he talks about? Then let Putin go in and take Ukraine and then continue with Poland and other places.
The deep divisions in migration policy also became a red-hot iron in the debate.
– When he was president, he separated children from their mothers. Put them in cages, so the families were separated, Biden said, emphasizing that he had passed tougher laws.
– Now there are 40 percent fewer than come across the border illegally.
“Letting in terrorists”
Trump accused Biden of letting terrorists and murderers into the country.
– He decided to open up the border for people coming from prison, people from mental hospitals, terrorists.
– We had the safest border in history. Now we have the worst border in history.
Exaggerations and lies, countered Biden.
Much is at stake in the fateful televised debate. For the first time, a sitting president and an ex-president collide in front of millions of viewers.
They both refrained from shaking hands before the debate began on the theme of soaring prices and rising living costs.
Blame each other
Not unexpectedly, the rivals blamed inflation on each other’s presidencies.
– The economy collapsed. We needed to put everything back together, Biden said in his first reply.
– When he left, it was chaos, Biden continued.
Trump countered that he ran the best economy in US history, despite the pandemic.
– We left them with a country where the stock market was higher than before covid.
– The only jobs he created were for illegal immigrants, Trump continued.
The televised debate is held earlier in the election campaign than usual, even before the party convention where the rivals are to be formally chosen by their parties as presidential candidates.
The two last met in debate in 2020.