How the first Biden-Trump presidential debate tied to Michigan — and how it didn't
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump squared off in the first debate of the 2024 election cycle Thursday, as the nation barrels toward another contest between the two. Biden and Trump both attempted to go on the offensive about the other’s record as president, although the night was short on policy specifics.
Trump repeatedly hammered Biden’s handling of the U.S. southern border as well as his foreign policy stance. Biden went after Trump’s record on abortion access and tried to paint the former president as a threat to democracy. Both candidates said the other would be bad for the American economy.
At several points, CNN moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper had to reiterate what their initial question was focused on because each candidate would dwell on a previous statement the other made.
Biden also struggled, particularly in the early stages of the debate, with verbal stumbles. Trump seized on one such moment, saying, “I don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows either.”
Toward the end of the debate, Biden and Trump began arguing about golf.
It was 90 minutes short on mentions of Michigan, but issues that have played out in the state did come up Thursday.
Trump references journalist jailed in Russia, doesn't bring up Michigander Paul Whelan
In his criticism of Biden's foreign policy, Trump brought up Evan Gershkovich, an American journalist reporting for the Wall Street Journal who was arrested in Russia in March 2023 and has been detained ever since. Trump said he would have Gershkovich freed "very quickly."
He didn't bring up or reference Paul Whelan, a security executive who was arrested in Russia in Dec. 2018 and has been detained since. Whelan, a former Marine who lived in Novi, was accused of espionage and convicted in June 2020 during a closed-door trial and sentenced to 16 years of hard labor in a work camp.
EVs absent from climate debate
Biden's administration has embraced a transition to electrifying the automotive industry, setting goals for electric vehicle sales and the installation of charging stations used to power EVs.
Trump has been a frequent critic of Biden's EV stance — saying the cars are unpopular compared to their gasoline counterparts and that pushing EV sales will be bad for the automotive industry, despite major automakers all making plans of their own to expand EV sales within their fleets.
But they weren't mentioned Thursday night. One of the reasons Biden's administration has laid out goals for EV sales has to do with them producing fewer carbon emissions than gas-powered cars. When moderators asked about plans for the climate, Trump said his environmental advisors told him before the debate "I had the best environmental numbers ever." Biden blasted the statement and touted climate legislation he signed into law.
Trump says abortion should be decided in the states, Biden warns of national ban under Trump
Trump took credit for appointing three of the U.S. Supreme Court justices who ruled in July 2022 to overturn Roe v. Wade, which protected abortion access at the federal level for nearly 50 years. The ruling returned the issue of abortion access to the states — in Michigan, voters later that year approved a ballot measure enshrining reproductive freedom in the state’s constitution. But in other states, abortion access is more restricted.
Biden said if re-elected, he would restore Roe v. Wade, and said congressional Republicans would pass a "very conservative" national abortion ban if Trump were elected. "I'll veto it, he'll sign it," Biden said.
Like he did in Grand Rapids, Trump continues to go after Biden's border policy
Trump repeated a line he used in an April appearance in Grand Rapids, when he said that Biden's immigration policies have allowed "every state" to become a border state. While U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reported fewer enforcement encounters at the Southern border in recent months compared with a spike late last year, Trump lambasted the situation at the border throughout the debate, bringing immigration policies up in unrelated questions.
Biden noted that Republicans in Congress blocked a bipartisan border bill earlier this year, and said that Trump's opposition to the bill pressured conservatives in Congress to reject it.
Contact Arpan Lobo: [email protected].
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Presidential debate: How Biden-Trump tied to Michigan
