Biden and Trump Exchange World War 3 Accusations at US Presidential Debate

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump exchanged World War 3 accusations during the first US presidential debate ahead of the November election on Thursday evening.

After Trump accused Biden of “driving us” to a third world war, Biden responded by saying a Trump election win would see Vladimir Putin’s Russia overrun Ukraine. “Right now, we’re needed, we’re needed to protect the world,” Biden said after referencing Article 5 of the NATO treaty.

With around a dozen mentions in an hour and a half, Russian President Vladimir Putin was repeatedly referenced by Biden and Trump as they vied to show who was tougher on foreign policy.

“If we had a real president, the president that…was respected by Putin, he would have never invaded Ukraine,” Trump said of Biden, kicking off a series of clashes between the two candidates over the wars in Ukraine and in Gaza.

“Go ahead, let Putin go in and control Ukraine, and then move on to Poland and other places. See what happens then. He has no idea what the hell he’s talking about,” Biden said of Trump.

How to end the war in Ukraine, the debate over US support for NATO and whether European nations are contributing enough to the effort against Russia’s invasion dominated discussion on the conflict.

For his part, Putin has previously expressed indifference towards the election’s outcome. “Basically, we don’t care [who wins],” Putin said earlier this month when asked by Reuters whether he believed the outcome of the US election would make a difference for Moscow.

“For us, we do not think the end result holds much significance. We will work with any president the American people elect,” he said.

On Israel’s war in Gaza, Biden touted his ceasefire plan and declared that no one in the world had been a greater supporter of Israel than the United States. “We saved Israel,” he said.

Trump repeated claims that “Israel would have never been invaded in a million years by Hamas” militants had he been president.

“He’s become like a Palestinian. But they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian. He’s a weak one,” Trump said of Biden.

Biden’s poor performance and Trump’s falsehoods dominate US presidential debate

Biden’s uneven performance, particularly early in the debate, crystallized the concerns of many Americans that, at 81, he is too old to serve as president. It sparked a fresh round of calls for the Democrat to consider stepping aside as the party’s nominee amid fears of a return of Trump to the White House, the Associated Press reports.

For 90 minutes, more often than not, Joe Biden was on the ropes, the BBC says. Particularly early in the evening, some of his answers were nonsensical. He ended one answer by saying, “We finally beat Medicare.” This was an odd reference to the government-run healthcare program for the elderly.

Biden’s own former communications director Kate Bedingfield was on CNN immediately after the debate, and she was clear: “There’s no two ways about it, that was not a good debate for Joe Biden.” She said his biggest issue was to prove he had the energy and the stamina, and he didn’t do that.

Prominent political analyst Amy Walter told Reuters the debate “only served to remind voters of Biden’s weaknesses, especially his health and stamina.”

She continued, “To be sure, Trump did not ‘win’ this debate as much as Biden lost it. Trump lobbed multiple falsehoods and lies. He failed to make a positive case for his second term, spending more time litigating Biden’s failures. But, Trump is leading in the polls and doesn’t need a ‘rest’ in the way Biden does.”

“I don’t think that this debate will sway undecided voters, especially those who say they dislike both candidates,” she added. “If you came into this debate thinking both men were unsatisfactory choices, their debate performances did not disabuse you of this opinion.”