'Sleepy Joe' vs 'fact-free Trump' - here's who won last night's US debate

Both former President Donald Trump and incumbent President Joe Biden began last night's debate with an opportunity. They could have made significant progress in returning to the White House with performances embodying the self-assured equanimity that has defined the city of Atlanta, where the debate took place.

Unfortunately, neither could move beyond the brash bravado and ad hominem attacks that plagued their past debates.

Instead, they demonstrated that they are too busy developing the much-needed strategies to address the core issues challenging the American public, instead conjuring up new ways to dismiss and demean their opposition.

It was, indeed, too tall of an order for contenders, two men who struggled to hide their disdain for one another and came across as just grumpier and older men compared to the last time we saw them on stage together.

What could have been

Conventional wisdom states that a successful presidential debate performance starts with analysing your audience. It's key to understand the differences between a campaign rally, which is for the committed, and communicating to convert the undecided but impressionable.

Unlike rallies where success is determined by a candidate's ability to energise attendees emotionally, a debate is an opportunity to directly engage the unsure and convince them that you have the wisdom, temperament, and policies to address their and the nation's challenges over the next four years. While the committed want to renew an emotional connection, the unsure need facts.

But conventional gets thrown out the window when one of the candidates delivers a disastrous performance like Joe Biden did last night. Trump played to his base by calling Biden "Brandon," referencing a derisive internet meme and holding out the possibility of protesting a "fraudulent" election.

Trump again revealed a penchant for inartfully crafting facts to be consistent with his elevated perception of himself. But none of that mattered last night.

Presidential debates are valuable because they present opportunities for candidates to contrast policy preferences in real time and counter the caricatures that precede their appearance on the debate stage.

President Biden failed on both fronts.

Deflection

On several occasions, Trump refused to answer questions about issues many perceived as salient and critical. He deflected questions about climate crisis, his constitutional duties regarding the January 6 riots, and his pledge for across-the-board mass deportation which could be highly inflationary.

Each time, Biden failed to use his response time to speak to the harms of Trump's policies and the danger of electing a candidate who holds democratic issues in such low regard that he refuses even to pretend to engage in debate questions about them.

Biden's silence was devastating because it confirmed to the undecided audience members that concerns about the environment, peaceful transition of power, and indiscriminate mass deportation are political non-issues that are also unworthy of their attention.

For those who care about such issues, these were moments of immense frustration because Biden was aiding Trump in minimising and demising core Democrat issues. Just as important, Biden's silence made it look like Trump was smarter and winning the mental chess game of deciding the focal point of the debate.

Biden's stare

Even without the above miscues, Biden's performance left much to be desired. The raspy voice left the audience feeling that Biden was unsure of many of his answers. The cough signalled to some that Trump's depiction of Biden as too old and physically, if not cognitively, in decline was correct.

The wide-eyed stares into the camera made him look catatonic. Each mispronunciation, misidentification, and verbal pause revealed a candidate whose advanced age makes him appear ill-equipped to respond to the intense pace of serving as president of the US during this period of rapid social and technological change.

I am guessing that many Democratic operatives will counter that it was only one performance and Trump's fact-free presentation doesn't constitute a long-term winning strategy. But you will not find anyone concluding that Biden's performance made them more confident about his chances of beating Trump in November.

Trump did little to address the concerns of the undecided that he is an egomaniacal and self-centred performer who is more concerned about his grievances than political solutions. Yet, he still decisively won the debate. Trump argued earlier this week that successful debating was more about "attitude" than anything else. I have to give it to him. He was right last night. Attitude was all he had and needed to best Joe Biden.

It looks like Trump being Trump is better than a Sleepy Joe.