Author’s note: This is the analysis of one round of the 2024 Presidential debate between Biden and Trump. It is linked from a more comprehensive article.
Question: (To Trump) You’ve vowed to end your opponent’s climate initiatives. But, will you take any action as President to slow the climate crisis?
TRUMP: Well, let me just go back to what he said about the police, how close the police are to him. Almost every police group in the nation from every state is supporting Donald J. Trump, almost every police group. And what he has done to the black population is horrible, including the fact that for 10 years he called them super predators. We can’t, in the 1990s (ph), we can’t forget that. Super predators was his name. And he called it to them for 10, and they’ve taken great offense at it, and now they see it happening.
Police unions endorse candidates, not police associations, and as of the debate he’s garnered only three endorsements: the International Union of Police Associations, and unions in Florida and Michigan.
The super predators claim is irrelevant and a red herring
There is no record of Biden ever calling Blacks super predators, much less for ten years. Hillary Clinton used the phrase once.
But, when they see what I did for criminal justice reform and for the historically black colleges and universities, where I funded them and got them all funded, and the opportunity zones with Tim. As you know, Tim Scott was - incredible, he did a great job, a great Senator from South Carolina. He came to me with the idea and it was a great idea. It’s one of the most successful economic development acts ever in the country, opportunity zones. And the biggest beneficiary are blacks. And that’s why we have the best numbers with them in maybe ever, they’re saying ever, I read this morning, wherever, the best numbers, he has lost much of the black population because he has done a horrible job for black people. He has also done a horrible job for Hispanics.
Still irrelevant even to the rebuttal, which was about police support
The claim about criminal justice reform is misleading. The First Step Act was mostly an attempt to attract black voters, not reform the system, and the bill’s advocates now fear it freezes the system for future reforms.
The HBC claim is disputed. Trump takes credit for funding HBCs, but it was really a bipartisan effort that moved the bill through Congress for him to sign.
For once we give him credit for the opportunity zones
But, why do you see these millions of people pouring into our country and they’re going to take the jobs? And it’s already started. And you haven’t seen anything yet. It’s a disaster.
A repeat of his hyperbolic rhetoric about immigrants. Nothing new. Nothing learned.
This entire section is non-responsive. It's okay to take time to rebut your opponent’s comments, but he never addresses the issue.
BASH: 38 seconds left, President Trump. Will you take any action as President to slow the climate crisis?
TRUMP: So, I want absolutely immaculate clean water and I want absolutely clean air, and we had it. We had H2O. We had the best numbers ever. And we did – we were using all forms of energy, all forms, everything. And yet, during my four years, I had the best environmental numbers ever. And my top environmental people gave me that statistic just before I walked on the stage, actually.
Non-responsive. He never says what, if any action, he will take to slow the climate criss
Hyperbole: Best numbers ever
Red herring. He’s equivocating air and water with greenhouse gasses.
lie. US ranks 16th and 26th for air and water quality and studies have linked increases in particulate pollution to as many as 100,000 deaths.
Even the lie is misleading as it masks his administration’s efforts to roll back environmental regulations. According to the Brookings Institution the Trump administration:
replaced the Clean Power Plan,
redefined critical terms under the Endangered Species Act,
lifted oil and natural gas extraction b,
weakened the Coal Ash Rule, which regulates the disposal of toxic coal waste, and
revised Mercury and Air Toxic Standards
The Paris Accord was going to cost us a trillion dollars, and China nothing, and Russia nothing, and India nothing. It was a ripoff of the United States. And I ended it because I didn’t want to waste that money because they treat us horribly. We were the only ones – it was costing us money. Nobody else was paying into it. And it was a disaster.
This is called the two wrongs make a right fallacy
Trump is equivocating the cost of our commitments to the treaty and overall economic costs of retrofitting for climate change.
As to the treaty we never committed to pay 100 billion. As to nobody else paying, the collective contribution of the other signatories is more than three times what the US pledged.
The payments were a pledge, not legally binding.
As to the economic cost, Politifact rated a similar claim half-true. Yes, the costs will be high, but not when offset against economic growth in the green energy sector, and the increasing costs of cleaning up environmental disasters caused by global warming (such as more devastation from wildfires, tornadoes, and hurricanes)
China has, in fact, honored some of their commitment, rolling back the introduction of over 100 coal-fired plants.
But, everything that he said just now, I’ll give you an example. I heard him say before insulin, I’m the one that got the insulin down for the seniors. I took care of the seniors. What he is doing is destroying all of our medical programs because the migrants coming in. They want everybody. And look, I have the biggest heart on the stage. I guarantee you that. And I want to take care of people. But, we’re destroying our country. They’re taking over our schools, our hospitals, and they’re going to be taking over Social Security. He is destroying Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
The insulin claim is misleading as he’s taking credit for Biden’s insulin program. Trump had a voluntary cost-reduction program, but Biden capped the cost at $35.
More immigrants. Been there, done that.
Self-aggrandizement and ad hominem. “ I have the biggest heart on the stage. I guarantee you that,” implying Biden doesn’t have a big heart.
It’s also a documented lie. Trump is well-known for swindling, and cheating contractors and employees out of what’s owed them. He’s also well-known for retaliating against people who aren’t sufficiently loyal, even purging them from his administration.