Highlights and curveballs from past US presidential debates: What to expect in the Harris vs. Trump showdown
US Presidential Election 2024: Presidential debates have a history of creating defining moments, both triumphant and disastrous, for candidates. These unscripted live television events can highlight a candidate's relatability or expose their lack of preparedness, with past debates featuring instances that swayed entire election campaigns. Will the upcoming debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in Philadelphia on Tuesday follow this trend?
«Being live television events, without a script, without any way of knowing how they are going to evolve — anything can happen,» said Alan Schroeder, author of «Presidential Debates: 50 years of High-Risk TV.»
One of the most recent impactful moments came from the June debate in Atlanta between President Joe Biden and Trump, which might go down as one of the most consequential political face-offs in history. Biden, at 81 years old, began the debate with a series of stumbles, including misstating figures and seeming to lose his train of thought during his response on handling COVID-19.
«The, uh — excuse me, with the COVID, um, dealing with, everything we had to do with, uh… if… Look… we finally beat Medicare,» Biden said, concluding his response. He meant to say his administration had successfully taken on “big pharma,” some of the nation's top prescription drug companies.
Initially, Biden blamed a cold for his performance, later suggesting he had overprepared and pointing to jetlag from recent travel. A Biden campaign spokesperson quickly
