Debate stage confrontation illustration.
During the first presidential debate of 2024, President Joe Biden made a strong denouncement of his predecessor, Donald Trump, highlighting allegations of sexual abuse and an affair with an adult film star. Biden went as far as to say that Trump has the “morals of an alley cat”.
The comment came on the heels of an exchange in which Trump brought up recent federal gun charges against Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, attempting to divert the conversation away from his own legal troubles.
In an explicit criticism of Trump’s past, Biden declared, “The crimes that you are still charged — think of all the civil penalties you have,”. Following this, he brought up the millions of dollars Trump is required to pay in civil penalties due to two separate legal incidents.
Trump had previously been found liable by a jury for sexually abusing writer, E Jean Carroll, resulting in a $5 million payout to Carroll. Additionally, in response to a defamation lawsuit earlier this year, another jury determined Trump had defamed Carroll through his public statements, resulting in a further $83.3 million awarded to her.
The resurfaced controversy surrounding Trump’s alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels also played a role in the debate. Trump was found guilty in May of this year of 34 felony counts related to hush money payments, used to silence Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to suppress her allegations of their affair in 2006.
Throughout the debate, Biden continued to hone in on Trump’s alleged disregard for moral conduct. Coining a vivid metaphor, he likened Trump to an alley cat, alluding to the ex-president’s supposed lack of moral judgment and scruples. The assertion followed a string of allegations and court charges against Trump that have been lodged over the recent years.
Earlier in the night, Trump had attempted to shift the spotlight away from his own controversies by alluding to the notorious laptop incident of Biden’s son, Hunter. The laptop, which allegedly contains compromising material, was left at a Delaware computer repair shop and its contents have since been widely circulated in public, becoming a major talking point for right-wing opponents.
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