A moment of the presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.Julio Cortez / AP
The first electoral debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden turned into a chaotic and virulent spectacle, shocking in the most powerful country in the world.
It sparked from the first moment in which the two men fighting for the White House stepped foot on stage.
A Trump in his most aggressive version, insubordinate to speaking turns and the rules of decorum, launched himself in a whirlwind against a Biden who tried to play the presidential role, but also went down to the mud to stop the president.
He called him a "liar", called him a "clown" and told him to shut up.
If this head-to-head serves as a taste of the strategy for November 3, it is clear that the president is still relying on the 2016 tactic to win.
Trump and Biden fought on the Case Western Reserve university campus, in Cleveland (Ohio), in strange conditions, like everything that is happening in this campaign marked by the pandemic.
There were no handshakes and hardly any public, although there were protests against the president in the streets.
It was difficult to predict what could come out of this first duel.
Trump faced a professional politician, with half a century of experience behind him but not very skilled in debates, before a
first class
showman
, unpredictable and contrary to the rules of decorum.
When they saw each other for the first time live and direct, the box of thunder was opened.
About the pandemic, about the wave of protests against racism, the economy, health or the very integrity of the elections.
There was no matter in which the discussion did not end in flames, that did not give rise to some thick word.
Before minute five, Trump had already called Biden a "socialist."
By the time he turned 10, he had already referred to Senator Elizabeth Warren as "Pocahontas" and had confronted the moderator, Chris Wallace, a star of the conservative Fox network, who was trying to keep him within the limits of his exposure time.
Biden, 77, is not particularly good at these sets, as was proven during the Democratic primary, and Trump, 74, finds his natural habitat in confrontation and television cameras.
The Republican's rants, that electricity that he is capable of maintaining during hour-and-a-half rallies, contrasted tonight with the brittle voice of the Democratic candidate, always less energetic, but he endured the guy and even stopped the president's feet on several occasions.
He looked like that skinny student who draws strength from within and stands up to a high school bully: "Are you going to shut up, man?"
"There is no one who says a word with this clown, sorry, with this person," he said in one of the interruptions.
"Everyone knows that he is a liar," he replied when Trump accused him of wanting to eliminate the private health insurance system, something that, in effect, is false.
The candidate who struggles to stay in office is usually the one who receives the attacks in a debate and focuses on polishing his management, but the Trump era has also liquidated this convention.
The New York tycoon, haunted by criticism for his management of the health crisis, went on the attack and accused the Democrat of having yielded to "the radical left" of his party.
In general, the Obama-era vice president tried to stay cool in the face of Trump's cuts and provocations, laughed derisively and managed to finish his messages.
The United States came face-to-face agitated: on Sunday,
The New York Times
had published an explosive and highly coveted information, the tax data of the Republican of more than 20 years, which paints the portrait of a businessman who bills money in spades, but he suffers losses and barely pays taxes thanks to tax stunts.
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