TEHRAN - The fierce controversy surrounding the first televised debate between incumbent US President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump remains in the limelight days after they locked horns over domestic and global issues.

Trump and Biden missed no opportunity to smear each other at the debate in Atlanta, Georgia, by trading terrible insults ahead of the November presidential election. 
 

Real shame 

The Republican and Democratic nominees exposed the scandals involving each other and their families. 

Biden brought Trump’s alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels to light. 

“The crimes that you are still charged with — think of all the civil penalties you have. How many millions of dollars do you owe in civil penalties for molesting a woman in public? For doing a whole range of things? Of having sex with a porn star...while wife was pregnant?” Biden said. 

He added that Trump has the “morals of an alley cat.”

Trump has been on trial stemming from a hush-money payment to Daniels. He faces charges of falsifying business records to conceal the payment.

The film star has claimed she and Trump had sex in 2006.  Daniels has also said she accepted $130,000 from Trump’s former lawyer before the 2016 election in exchange for her silence about the encounter.

In May, a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to the matter. 

Biden’s scathing comments came after Trump attacked  his son, Hunter, over criminal cases he has been embroiled in. 

A jury recently found Biden’s son guilty of three counts. These include lying on a federal background check form, giving a false statement and possessing a gun while using drugs.

“When he talks about a convicted felon, his son is a convicted felon. At a very high level. His son is convicted, going to be convicted probably numerous other times, should have been convicted before but his Justice Department let the statute of limitations lapse,” Trump said.

He called Biden a criminal and challenged the US justice system. “This man, you’re lucky. You’re lucky. I did nothing wrong. We have a system that was rigged and disgusting. I did nothing wrong.”

The United States claims to be the world’s leading democracy and boasts about the superiority of its justice system. 

But Thursday’s presidential debate clearly showed that the leaders of this so-called democratic system have no scruples about violating ethical principles. 

Disregard for humanity 

Besides personal attacks, Trump and Biden threw a spotlight on Washington’s utter disregard for loss of human life as they clashed over Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. The war has claimed the lives of nearly 38,000 Palestinians since October 7.

The Biden administration has thrown its political and military weight behind Israel since the war erupted.  The White House, however, has made critical remarks about Israel’s brutal onslaught as it seeks to appease growing domestic opposition to Washington’s unwavering support for the regime of Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Israel’s barbarism in Gaza, however, has not satisfied Trump. 

During the debate, Trump called Biden “a very bad Palestinian” who doesn’t want to help Israel “finish the job”. He, in fact, meant Biden has not provided Israel with sufficient weapons to defeat Hamas. This is an Israeli dream which has remained elusive. Israeli military officials have admitted that the regime won’t be able to eliminate Hamas. 

“He doesn’t want to do it. 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. 

Both Republicans and Democrats have the blood of Palestinians on their hands due to their unequivocal support for Israel. 

But Trump’s comments have brought a bitter irony to the fore. 

Racist politicians 

Ayah Ziyadeh, director of American Muslims for Palestine, told Al Jazeera that the “bad Palestinian” comment “spotlights America’s racist nature. 

She added that one candidate is “blatantly racist. Wants to deport all of us. And said that President Biden isn’t, essentially, being genocidal enough and that he should let Israel finish off its war on Gaza. And the current president has been consciously and willingly, politically and financially, backing an evident genocide in Gaza. There is no lesser than two evils here”.

Generational divide  

Over the past months, people in the US have held rallies calling on their government to stop supporting Israel and end the Gaza war. 

Protesters have described President Biden as “Genocide Joe” over his complicity in the Israeli massacre of Palestinians. Arab American voters and the young who can play a key role in helping Biden win reelection marked their ballots uncommitted in Democratic primaries, particularly on Super Tuesday. 

Such moves along with the college campus protests have highlighted a generational divide in Washington’s policy towards Israel.

The comments made by Trump in the first presidential debate  and Biden’s support for Israel clearly show that they are detached from reality.
 
Power struggle 

In addition to turning a blind eye to the pain and suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, the statements of Trump and Biden over the Ukraine war, Washington’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and other domestic and global issues made it clear that what matters to Republicans and Democrats is clinging to power. 

The age of the two nominees was another matter of concern which seems to have tarnished the image of the United States. 

American media outlets are exerting pressure on Biden to drop out of the presential race due to his weak performance in the debate.

The tip of the iceberg 

Thursday’s presidential debate has not only highlighted the true colors of American politicians but also humiliated and disgraced the US which sees itself as the core of democratic values. 
But it was just the tip of the iceberg. 

During the previous election, which saw Biden beat Trump, they were engaged in name-calling. The January 2021 riot at the US Capitol where Trump’s supporters stormed Congress in a bid to thwart the certification of Biden's election victory also brought shame on the United States.   

In the 2016 presidential campaigns Trump’s comments about Washington’s support for terror groups further disgraced the US. 

In August 2016, he accused then president Barack Obama of creating the ISIS terror group, also known as ISIL/IS or Daesh. 

“ISIS is honoring President Obama. He is the founder of ISIS. He is the founder of ISIS, OK? He’s the founder. He founded ISIS. And I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton.”

The comments made by American politicians during presidential campaigns have exposed the US crimes against the backdrop of its warmongering policy and military adventurism. They have also taken the lid off America’s complicity in the atrocities perpetrated by Washington’s allies.  

Nonetheless, Thursday’s debate uncovered widespread corruption in the US and the drastic fall of ethical norms in the country.