Immediately following Thursday’s first 2024 presidential debate, Wyoming Republican U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman said President Joe Biden’s performance was so bad that first lady Jill Biden is guilty of “elder abuse” for “rolling President Biden out on stage to engage in a battle of wits while unarmed.”
The debate between Biden and former President Donald Trump had plenty of political and personal fireworks and even a mention of former Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney. But for Wyoming’s congressional delegation, there’s no debate about who clearly won the night.
“Americans saw for themselves that Joe Biden is weak and not up to the job,” U.S. Sen. John Barrasso told Cowboy State Daily immediately after the debate. “The contrast is clear. President Trump offers real solutions to get our economy off life support and bring real relief by lowering prices for Wyoming families. He is ready to get our country back on track.”
U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis told Cowboy State Daily the difference between Biden and Trump is clear after the debate.
“I am gravely concerned for what another Biden term would mean for the Cowboy State,” Lummis said. “In tonight’s debate, President Trump showed how he would move our country forward and improve people’s lives. Meanwhile, President Biden promised to continue business as usual — including his attacks on domestic energy production to appease radical climate extremists.”
U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman expressed a similar sentiment to Cowboy State Daily.
“We’ve seen Biden mumble and misstep his way through three-and-a-half years of this presidency and no amount of lies or distortion of facts will distract voters from sending him permanently back to Delaware on Nov. 5,” Hageman said. “Joe Biden has failed … for over 50 years. It is time to put him out to pasture so that we can reclaim our country.”
Many people on social media expressed shock about how weak and raspy Biden’s voice sounded. He walked on stage with frailty, frequently stumbled over his words and appeared to lose his train of thought on numerous occasions.
After the debate, mainstream political pundits instantly proclaimed the debate as a win for Trump and criticized Biden’s performance. Many Democratic supporters also spoke openly about finding a new candidate to challenge Trump.
“What Jill Biden and the Biden campaign did to Joe Biden tonight — rolling him out on stage to engage in a battle of wits while unarmed — is elder abuse, plain and simple,” Hageman said in a press release after the debate. “No one who saw him in the 2020 debates would recognize him as the same man, because he is a ghost of his former self.”
There was an ample amount of mudslinging and jabs thrown between the two Thursday night. Trump made the indirect reference to Cheney during the debate, calling her a “horrible Republican.”
He also issued many of his classic catchphrases throughout the night such as, “Russia, Russia, Russia” and “billions and billions.”
How Bad Was It?
The crux of Trump’s arguments was that America has become an embarrassment to the world under Biden. Biden disagreed, calling Trump’s leadership a “debacle” and that America is in a strong place that any other world leader would be glad to be president of.
Trump called the United States a “third-world country,” a “rat’s nest” and “uncivilized country” headed for World War III under Biden because of his handling of the economy and southern border. He claims he’d rather not run for president and is only doing so because America can’t take another Biden term.
“What this man has done is absolutely criminal,” Trump said.
Biden responded, calling Trump a “loser,” “whiner” and a “sucker.”
Inflation
Biden blames the state of the economy on what he took over from Trump, originally saying he inherited a rate of 9% inflation. Later in the debate he acknowledged there was almost no inflation, but that was because the economy “was flat on its back.”
“By the time he left things were in chaos,” Biden said.
He touted his creation of 15 million new jobs and $40 billion in new investment in the economy and mentioned how Trump was voted the worst president of all time in a February survey of 154 historical scholars.
Trump disagreed and said it was the greatest economy in the world when he was president. He also said the only jobs Biden created were for illegal immigrants, and called his presidency “the worst administration in history.”
Barrasso agrees with Trump.
“Joe Biden offers up more of the same failed policies that made him the president of high prices and open borders,” he said. “Americans will reject his failures on Election Day.”
Hageman feels similarly.
“Are you better off now than you were four years ago? We all know the answer is a resounding no,” Hageman said. “Under Joe Biden, inflation is up over 20%, gas prices are up, energy prices are up, housing costs are up, 11 million-plus illegals have entered at our wide open southern border — which has allowed drug and human trafficking to run rampant in our communities, multiple wars have broken out around the world, and Joe Biden’s weaponized government has gone after parents attending school board meetings and Catholics attending mass, while suppressing our free speech in the process.”
Trump also took credit for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and blamed the Biden administration for imposing mandates. He also claimed more people have died under his administration.
Trump plans to offer more tariffs on foreign countries and tax cuts if reelected as president. He believes this will help spur growth in America.
Felonies
When Biden made mention to Trump being a convicted felon, Trump shot back mentioning how Biden’s son is as well.
Trump said he’s confident that his felony will be overturned and that Biden himself could face felonies for his actions while in office.
He also said he was only indicted because he’s Biden’s opponent.
Jan. 6
Biden said a vote for Trump is a vote against democracy because of his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
“This guy has no sense of American democracy,” he said.
When asked about the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, Trump initially dodged the question and criticized Biden’s policies. When pressed again, Trump mentioned how he offered former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi 10,000 National Guard troops before the event.
Biden wasn’t impressed and said Trump should still be fully blamed for Jan. 6.
“He didn’t do a damn thing and these people should be held in jail,” Biden said of the Jan. 6 participants.
Trump shot back and called the Jan. 6 participants “patriots” who have been mistreated in jail.
He also said he will only accept the results of the 2024 election if it’s fair and legal.
Biden said he doubts Trump will accept the results and for around the third time in the evening called him a whiner.
Abortion
Trump took credit for overturning Roe v. Wade but said he supports the Supreme Court’s recent decision to continue to allow abortions when the life of the mother is at risk and access to abortion medications.
Biden said Trump’s appointments to the court that led to the overturn was “a terrible thing” and that the idea abortion should be a decision of the individual states is equivalent to allowing them to overturn civil rights.
Ukraine And Israel
Trump claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin would never have invaded Ukraine and Hamas never attacked Israel if he was president.
He wasn’t very interested in talking about the terms of the Ukraine War, but focused on its root causes, which he blames on Biden. Trump claims that if elected, he will have the war resolved before he even takes office, along with getting a Wall Street Journal reporter freed from a Russian prison.
Biden countered that Trump gave Putin a green light “to do whatever you want” with Ukraine.
