The first presidential debate of this year in the United States has been the most-watched television program in the country so far in 2024, but it also shows a decrease in citizens' interest in electoral politics. Nielsen estimates that it had an audience of 51 million Americans.
Very good, yes, but far fewer than the 73 million who watched the first debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden four years ago, not to mention the historic 84 million who witnessed the first debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton eight years ago.
Perhaps part of the explanation lies in the unattractiveness of the lineup. At a historical moment of the lowest popularity of heterosexual white men, the American parties are preparing to nominate (again) two who are that but, moreover, very old, at least for politicians.
At 78, Trump enters the stage with his usual repulsive appearance – a sort of wardrobe in a poorly cut suit, with a garish tie and a tangle of fluff on his head – but at least with the poise and energy that derive from his evident bad temper. Biden, by contrast, at 82, is an elegant man: slender, in an impeccable suit and a beautiful steel-blue tie with a masterfully executed knot; it's a pity that his gait is slow – spastic – that despite the obvious musical cue accompanying his entrance, he mutters greetings without realizing his microphone is on, and his gaze shows that lost look I recognize from others – my grandmother, my father, my mother-in-law – whose end was near. Extremely elegant and endearing but an old man.
For example: he struggles to distinguish between thousands, millions, billions, and trillions, between decades and centuries, between doctors and the state, between contemporary politicians and the Founding Fathers of his country. He loses the thread of his speech. Not in every intervention but in more than one and, crucially, in the last one: his closing message is that of a man who is not at the height of his faculties, who not only fails to inspire but also fails to connect. The most serious issue is the least noticeable: the tie that goes askew, the sigh before each intervention, the little coughs, the throat clearing, the hoarseness, the hesitations, the faint voice. And that slightly lost look, not entirely sure of what it sees, of being where it is.
He is, of course, what is known in Yiddish as a mensch, a moral and honorable guy, with the right values: one who believes in the welfare state and progressive fiscal policy, in individual freedoms and human rights, in multilateralism and dissent. Only he lacks luster. Only he sounds weak, seems fragile, smells stale.
Joe Biden is a Democrat. He shares the problems that democracy faces today.
BY NICOLÁS ALVARADO
CONTRIBUTOR
IG AND THREADS: @NICOLASALVARADOLECTOR