The first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle between President Joe Biden and former President Donald J. Trump on Thursday, June 27, hosted by CNN anchors Dana Bash and Jake Tapper in Atlanta, should be considered history-making.
Third-party candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West, Jill Stein and Chase Oliver needed to meet the criteria for sharing the debate stage with Biden and Trump.
Sen. John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard M. Nixon participated in the first televised presidential debate on Oct. 21, 1960, in Chicago.
Presidential debates are important for Americans because they allow the Democratic and Republican nominees to stand side by side and present their visions, personalities, and policies to the American people.
When Biden and Trump first walked onto the debate stage in Atlanta, American history was immediately made by both men in several areas:
First, this presidential debate is historic because it marked the first one not organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates. This bipartisan organization has managed debates for the White House since the 1988 presidential election. Second, the discussion made history as the earliest presidential debate ever held. All previous meetings of the Democratic and Republican nominees took place in September and October.
Third, it marked the first time a former President of the United States appeared in a debate as a convicted felon on any count, much less 34.
Fourth, no other current or former occupant of the White House has appeared at a presidential debate having been impeached twice by Congress, home having been raided by the FBI, accused of rape by at least twenty women, and facing 54 additional charges.
Fifth, President Biden is the first sitting occupant of the White House to have a child convicted of a crime while in office. Hunter Biden was recently convicted on three counts of firearm possession.
Lastly, Biden and Trump are the oldest presidential candidates to debate and seek to convince the American people to remain in or return to the White House. Biden turned 81 on November 20, and Trump turned 78 on June 14.
Before the election of both men, President Ronald Reagan was the oldest to sit in the Oval Office. Reagan was 69 when elected.
Regardless of your party affiliation, American Democracy is at stake in the next election. So, watch and listen closely to each candidate because only one of these men will return to the West front steps of the U.S. Capitol next January 20 and take the oath of office.
On May 17, 1957, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in a speech on the National Mall, declared to a racist America, “Give us the ballot!” America responded, and on August 6, 1965, Dr. Kind stood behind President Lyndon B. Johnson as he signed the Voting Rights Act into law.
Today, that same act has, in recent years, been weakened by the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress.
An educated voter is a smart one.
Regardless of who that man is, we will be significantly impacted, and America will never again be the same.
The next presidential debate on Sept. 10 should again be a must-watch television event for all District residents and Americans. After watching the two presidential debates and educating ourselves on where the candidates stand on the issues, we should vote on Nov. 5.