THE DEBATE

 source: Le Monde

EDITORIAL

translation: GoogleTranslate/doxa-louise

Trump-Biden face-to-face: a worrysome debate for American democracy

Editorial. From the rough clash between Donald Trump and Joe Biden on Tuesday evening, we will especially remember the threat that the president persists in letting hang over the validity of the November 3 ballot. A danger for democracy.

Editorial Le Monde. Five weeks before the American presidential election, the first televised debate between Republican President Donald Trump and former Democratic Vice-President Joe Biden confirmed, on Tuesday, September 29, all the concerns that have appeared for four years with respect to democracy in the States-United.

The most striking moments of this chaotic and brutal confrontation between the two septuagenarian candidates will not have been the exasperated exclamations of Joe Biden towards a president who kept interrupting him and whom he called a "clown". ”, nor the personal attacks of the latter on business done abroad by one of his opponent's sons. What we will remember above all from this debate is the warning proferred at the end by Donald Trump for the November 3 ballot: “This is not going to end well. "

Once again, Mr. Trump has cast doubt on the validity of the presidential election and postal votes, many expected due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Again, he refused to pledge not to claim victory and to call on his supporters for calm if the outcome was not clearly established after the vote; Joe Biden, in contrast,  pledged to respect the verdict, whatever that may be.

The presidential ambiguity over the conduct of the election is just as disturbing as his refusal to expressly condemn the violence of white supremacists, when urged to do so by the journalist leading the debate - not without difficulty. Mr. Trump limited himself to asking a far-right group, the Proud Boys, to “stand back” , while urging them to “stand by” .

Flippancy

Such a denial of good citizenship on the part of a President of the United States leaves one speechless. On the formal aspect, the aggressiveness and indiscipline of Donald Trump during this verbal boxing  match of 90 minutes will not have surprised those who have been following him since his first electoral campaign: he led the debate as he tweets, with invective , self-aggrandizement and gratuitous accusations, without the slightest scruple. Democrats pretend to take offense, but the president's electoral base appreciates his combativeness. It is to this electorate that he addressed himself, in order to re-mobilize them, in the face of polls which give him as loser at this stage. Joe Biden expected this and had set himself a strategy of remaining calm, without being taken down by the breaking waves: he stuck to it.

In essence, on the other hand, the casualness of the president on the electoral process, alongside the attacks he carried out against public services and the freedoms he took with the institutions during his first term, should give food for thought. Four years of Trumpism have largely contributed to weakening one of the greatest democracies in the world. It's a lesson for all others.

Also eagerly awaited abroad, this Trump-Biden face-to-face was like the year 2020, trying for the whole world but particularly difficult politically in the United States: it began with a disastrous impeachment trial of the president and continued with urban violence reflecting, in the midst of a pandemic, a growing polarization of society. Two more debates are scheduled between now and November 3. In view of the sad spectacle offered by the first, several American commentators wondered about the advisability of stopping there. We are in fact entitled to wonder what either reason or democracy can gain from more.

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