Macron first pieced together his centrist party in 2016 in his initial run for president.
He poached politicians from the old center-left Socialist and center-right Gaullist parties to lead a technocratically minded government that said it would tackle entrenched interest groups, reinvigorate the economy and slash unemployment. It is still a work in progress.
NATIONAL RALLY
The far-right, nationalist party was formerly known as the National Front. Its leader Marine Le Pen has tried to make the brand less toxic and more electable since taking over in 2011 from her father Jean-Marie, who was notorious for his racist and antisemitic comments.
Marine Le Pen has largely maintained the party’s hostility to immigrants but stopped campaigning for France to leave the European Union.
She’s brought more discipline to the movement, both in its language and attire in an effort to make it look and sound more like a government in waiting.
Opinion polls suggest the National Rally will win the biggest share of the vote in its best showing ever.
NEW POPULAR FRONT
This coalition of leftist parties has called for a cut in the official retirement age to 60 from 62, reversing the law pushed through by Macron that will raise it to 64, a higher minimum wage and the return of wealth taxes.
Whether it would actually do all this in office would depend partly on which of its heavyweights became prime minister.
The movement is a coalition ranging from the far-left - personified by radical firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon - to more traditional social-democrats including former President Francois Hollande.
THE REPUBLICANS
Inheritors of the center-right tradition established by de Gaulle and perpetuated by former Presidents Jacques Chirac and Georges Pompidou, the Republicans are now in turmoil.
When their leader Eric Ciotti defied his party colleagues and called for a tie-up with the National Rally, they fired him, only for Ciotti to insist he was staying on.
The party was trailing well behind its three main rivals in opinion polls, but could still play a decisive role if none can secure a majority in the assembly.
President Joe Biden's train-wreck debate with Republican opponent Donald Trump followed a series of decisions by his most senior advisers that critics now point to as wrong-headed, interviews with Democratic allies, donors and former and current aides show.
Trump, 78, repeated a series of well-worn, glaring falsehoods during the 90-minute debate on Thursday (Jun 27), including claims that he actually won the 2020 election.
Biden, 81, failed to refute them and his fumbling, halting performance has sparked calls from Democrats for him to end his quest for a second term and for "soul-searching" or resignations among top aides.
"My only request was make sure he's rested before the debate, but he was exhausted. He was unwell," said one person who said they appealed to Biden's top aides in the days before, to no avail. "What a bad decision to send him out looking sick and exhausted."
Others were even more pointed.
"It is my belief that he was over-coached, over-practiced. And I believe (senior aide) Anita Dunn ... put him in a venue that was conducive for Trump and not for him,” said John Morgan, a Florida-based attorney and major Biden fundraiser.
Morgan said Dunn and her husband, Bob Bauer, the president’s attorney who played Trump in pre-debate rehearsals, should "be fired forever and never let back anywhere near the campaign".
Biden's debate strategy was signed off on by campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon, who helped him win in 2020 and was appointed in January to boost an uneven reelection campaign. Dunn, a longtime Biden aide and former Barack Obama campaign strategist, backed that strategy.
Confidence going into the event was high. Trump was convicted of falsifying documents by a jury in New York on May 31, while Biden held back-to-back visits in Europe.
To the surprise of some Biden aides, his stubbornly low poll numbers began to inch up nationally in the weeks that followed.
Advisers set up a rigorous debate prep calendar, with Biden sequestered at Camp David for six days.
An inner circle, some close to Biden for decades, were involved: Ron Klain, his first White House chief of staff, Dunn, former White House counsel and Dunn's husband Bob Bauer and long-time adviser Mike Donilon, as well as about a dozen other policy and political experts.
Biden's campaign said on Friday that no staff shake-up was under consideration. Multiple aides, not just Dunn and Bauer, were involved in the preparation, said a campaign official, who also noted that Morgan was not there.
In an email to supporters on Saturday, O'Malley Dillon said internal polls and focus groups showed no change in voters' opinions in battleground states after the debate. She warned "overblown media narratives" may drive "temporary dips in the polls," but said she was confident Biden would win in November.
At Le Pen's Henin-Beaumont constituency in northern France, supporters waved French flags and sang the Marseillaise.
"The French have shown their willingness to turn the page on a contemptuous and corrosive power," Le Pen told the cheering crowd.
The RN's chances of winning power next week will depend on the political dealmaking made by its rivals over the coming days. In the past, centre-right and centre-left parties have teamed up to keep the RN from power, but that dynamic, known as the "republican front", is less certain than ever.
If no candidate reaches 50 per cent in the first round, the top two contenders automatically qualify for the second round, as well as all those with 12.5 per cent of registered voters. In the run-off, whoever wins the most votes takes the constituency.
The high turnout on Sunday suggests France is heading for a record number of three-way run-offs. These generally benefit the RN much more than two-way contests, experts say.
The horsetrading began almost immediately on Sunday night.
Macron called on voters to rally behind candidates who are "clearly republican and democratic", which, based on his recent declarations, would exclude candidates from the RN and the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party.
Political leaders from the centre-left and far-left all called on their third-placed candidates to drop out.
"Our guideline is simple and clear: Not a single more vote for the National Rally," France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said.
However, the centre-right Republican party, which split ahead of the vote with a small number of its lawmakers joining the RN, gave no guidance.
As of noon, turnout in mainland France stood at 25.90 per cent, an increase from the 18.43 per cent recorded in legislative elections in 2022.
The shape of the new parliament will become clear after the second round on Jul 7.
Voters in France's overseas territories had cast ballots earlier in the weekend.
Electors lined up to cast ballots in France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia, where tensions remain high following deadly riots there last month.
"It should be well attended, but I don't know if everyone will play along and come out to vote," said nurse Cassandre Cazaux.
Former president Nicolas Sarkozy, Greens party leader Marine Tondelier and former prime minister and Macron ally Edouard Philippe were among the first high-profile politicians to vote.
Philippe, the mayor of Le Havre in northern France who has made little effort to hide his ambitions for the presidency, was seen smiling and chatting to locals.
Macron's decision to call the snap vote plunged the country into political turmoil and sparked uncertainty in Europe's second-biggest economy.
The Paris stock exchange suffered its biggest monthly decline in two years in June, dropping by 6.4 per cent, according to figures released on Friday.
In an editorial, French daily Le Monde said it was time to mobilise against the far right.
"Yielding any power to it means nothing less than taking the risk of seeing everything that has been built and conquered over more than two and a half centuries gradually being undone," it said.
"We strongly denounce ... provocative military muscle-flexing against the DPRK," Pyongyang's foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency Sunday, referring to the North's official name.
"The US-Japan-ROK relations have taken on the full-fledged appearance of an Asian-version NATO," it said, warning of "fatal consequences".
"The DPRK will never overlook the moves of the US and its followers to strengthen the military bloc."
The latest joint drills involved Washington's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, Tokyo's guided-missile destroyer JS Atago, and Seoul's KF-16 fighter jet.
Pyongyang has always decried similar combined exercises as rehearsals for an invasion.
On Mar 31, 1968 President Lyndon Johnson made the shock announcement in the middle of the Vietnam War that he would not seek reelection.
The move turned that year's convention, also in Chicago, into a political crisis with protesters in the street and left-leaning delegates angry at the pro-war stance of party-picked candidate Hubert Humphrey.
Following the debacle, states more widely embraced the primary process and conventions have become well-oiled affairs, whose outcomes have been known in advance since they are determined by the primaries.
If a candidate must step down after being officially nominated at the convention, a party's formal governing body, either the Democratic National Committee or Republican National Committee, would nominate a new candidate in an extraordinary session.
WHO MIGHT FILL IN?
Vice President Harris would almost certainly be at the top of the list, but she has had her problems after a rocky start in the job and poor polling numbers. The US Constitution dictates that the vice president becomes president if the president dies or becomes incapacitated, but it does not weigh in on an inter-party process for choosing a nominee.
In addition to the vice president, others who had endorsed Biden in 2024 while harbouring their presidential aspirations for future cycles include California Governor Gavin Newsom, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
On Mar 31, 1968 President Lyndon Johnson made the shock announcement in the middle of the Vietnam War that he would not seek reelection.
The move turned that year's convention, also in Chicago, into a political crisis with protesters in the street and left-leaning delegates angry at the pro-war stance of party-picked candidate Hubert Humphrey.
Following the debacle, states more widely embraced the primary process and conventions have become well-oiled affairs, whose outcomes have been known in advance since they are determined by the primaries.
If a candidate must step down after being officially nominated at the convention, a party's formal governing body, either the Democratic National Committee or Republican National Committee, would nominate a new candidate in an extraordinary session.
WHO MIGHT FILL IN?
Vice President Harris would almost certainly be at the top of the list, but she has had her problems after a rocky start in the job and poor polling numbers. The US Constitution dictates that the vice president becomes president if the president dies or becomes incapacitated, but it does not weigh in on an inter-party process for choosing a nominee.
In addition to the vice president, others who had endorsed Biden in 2024 while harbouring their presidential aspirations for future cycles include California Governor Gavin Newsom, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
KUALA LUMPUR: Two Chinese nationals died on Saturday (Jun 29) after the tour bus they were in landed on its side while descending from Malaysia's Genting Highlands.
The accident happened at around 11am on Saturday.
The bus, which was on its way to Kuala Lumpur, skidded, hit a road divider and flipped on its side.
Bernama news agency reported that the 32-year-old bus driver did not have a driving licence. He had 27 previous traffic summonses for various offences, according to Bentong police chief Zaiham Mohd Kahar.
There were 21 people on board the bus - 18 Chinese nationals, the bus driver and two tour guides.
According to Zaiham, the two men who died at the scene were identified as Zhang Ping, 58, and Wang Shuhong, 49. Both suffered head injuries.
The other Chinese passengers, along with the bus driver and the two guides, were taken to hospital.
Resorts World Genting said in a Facebook post that the tour bus was owned by a third-party operator, and that the tourists were from Yunnan, China.
The accident has sparked calls for the local transport industry to tighten safety measures.
“This tragedy once again highlighted the importance of road safety which has become a major safety issue in the country,” said Dr Lee Lam Thye, founder and chairman of Alliance for a Safe Community.
“The question that needs to be asked is whether all parties and stakeholders will work together to prevent more tragedies and subsequently to achieve zero accidents," he told Bernama.
President Joe Biden exits after delivering remarks at the opening ceremony of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center, in New York, on Friday. (Photo: New York Times)
NEW YORK - United States President Joe Biden's stumbling performance in the debate against former President Donald Trump has some Democrats raising the possibility of nominating an alternative candidate and mulling over a roster of names.
High on the list is, of course, Vice President Kamala Harris, whose status as Biden's running mate might make her an easy candidate for delegates to turn to during a difficult moment. But a crop of Democratic governors and other figures are often mentioned, too.
A candidate switch would most likely require Biden to step out of the race, something his campaign says he has no intention of doing. And the risks are real. Some of the highest-profile potential stand-ins listed below have never endured the vetting and road test of a presidential race. There is a long list of candidates who looked great on paper and withered on the campaign trail.
"It's not as easy as it sounds," said Barbara Boxer, a former senator from California. "Being vetted for president is like no other vetting. We don’t know how these people would do."
Here are a few of the contenders being discussed:
Kamala Harris
Harris, a former prosecutor and senator of California, has at times struggled to define her role at Biden's side. Initially charged with addressing polarising and intractable issues like illegal migration and voting rights, she has been viewed by Democratic donors and supporters of Biden as a potential political liability. Though those concerns have eased, she has been weighed down by low approval ratings that are barely higher than the president’s.
Still, Harris has for months stumped for the president as one of his main campaign surrogates. She has recently become the White House’s lead voice as a defender of abortion rights. In March, she met with abortion providers at a clinic in St Paul, Minnesota, in what is believed to be the first visit by a president or vice president to an abortion clinic. And Harris, the nation's first Black vice president, has worked to shore up Biden's vulnerabilities with Black and young voters.
Vice President Kamala Harris departs the Gerald R Ford International Airport after a campaign event in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Feb 22, 2024. (Photo: New York Times)
Democrats have long worried about how she might fare against Trump, though Harris has in recent months sharpened her attacks against the former president — particularly on abortion — to demonstrate she could hold her own against him.
Gavin Newsom
Gov Gavin Newsom of California, the former mayor of San Francisco who also previously served two terms as lieutenant governor, has become one of Biden's main surrogates during this campaign.
He was almost first out of the box defending Biden's performance in Atlanta. He brings some clear benefits: He is an accomplished campaigner from a big state who has used his platform in Sacramento — and appearances on national television — to make the case against Trump and for the Democratic Party. He has not shown any reservations about Biden but has waited on the sidelines in case Biden somehow did not end up on the ticket and, in any event, openly considered running in 2028.
But — California. For one thing, Newsom would be saddled with explaining the problems California has had over the past decade: homelessness, high taxes, escalating housing costs. He will probably never be able to escape his decision in 2021 to hold a high-priced dinner with lobbyists at the high-end restaurant the French Laundry.
All that said, should Biden decide to end his run, Newsom could benefit from the shortened campaign: It would offer less time for opponents to explore and amplify some of those potential shortcomings.
Gretchen Whitmer
Gov Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan has risen quickly as a national star of the Democratic Party, helped in part by Trump's antagonising her as “that woman from Michigan.” A two-term governor, Whitmer led a 2022 campaign that gave Democrats in the battleground state a trifecta — exercising full control of the legislature and state government — for the first time in 40 years.
She has used that mandate to enact a laundry list of progressive policies. Her national profile also soared during the pandemic, when she was vilified by right-wing media and Republican officials for her lockdown measures. And Whitmer is a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, a top leadership position in the national party.
For all these reasons and more, she is near the top of nearly every Democrat’s list of strong candidates for 2028, and she has recently nodded to her post-Biden presidential ambitions. Most important, she comes from a swing state that likes her: She won re-election with more than 54% of the vote in 2022.
JB Pritzker
Gov JB Pritzker of Illinois, the billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, has stood out as a Biden surrogate for his knife-twisting insults against Trump. When the former president was convicted in his New York criminal trial, Pritzker broke from the carefully worded talking points of most Democrats and hammered the former president as a felon, a racist, a homophobe and a grifter.
Gov JB Pritzker of Illinois at his office in Chicago on Sept 21, 2023. (Photo: New York Times)
That fiery demeanour and his caustic attacks against Trump have earned Pritzker applause as he is stumped for Biden across the Midwest. He also has a significant progressive record as a two-term governor, scoring notable victories on abortion rights and gun control, and he has shifted the state Democratic Party far from its traditionally centre-left politics.
Another obvious advantage for Pritzker is his enormous wealth. Estimated at around $3.5 billion, Pritzker’s fortune makes him America’s wealthiest elected official, and he is not shy about using those funds on his political ambitions. Campaign records show he spent a total of $350 million on his two campaigns for governor.
Josh Shapiro
Gov Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, the former attorney general of the state, is known as a measured leader who has emphasised bipartisanship and largely focused on nonideological issues during his term in office.
Shapiro, who won the governor’s mansion in 2022, had a job approval rating of 64% in a recent survey, with just 19% of registered voters in the key battleground state saying they disapproved. In contrast, 41% of those surveyed said they would vote for Biden in November.
Shapiro often talks about his Jewish faith and has plunged into a fierce divide in the Democratic Party over pro-Palestinian student protests, passionately defending his support for Israel and denouncing some of the recent demonstrations as antisemitic.
But this is the most important thing to know about Shapiro: He is the governor of Pennsylvania. And if there is such a thing as a must-win state for any Democratic challenger to Trump, Pennsylvania would be it. Shapiro defeated his Republican opponent in 2022, Doug Mastriano, with 56% of the vote, a figure that is sure to be top of mind for Democratic delegates making this kind of decision.
Gov Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania at his office at the state Capitol in Harrisburg on May 6, 2024. (Photo: New York Times)
Other possibilities
This list is not exhaustive; the kind of chaos that could be unspooled at the Democrats' convention in Chicago if Biden withdraws allows for all kinds of possibilities. Among the conventional ones: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Sens Cory Booker of New Jersey and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. All three have run for president before and are familiar to Democratic voters.
Gov Andy Beshear of Kentucky, who won re-election in 2023, has also gained national attention for his unlikely success as a Democrat in a red state where Biden is deeply unpopular. Beshear defeated his Republican opponent, Daniel Cameron, by 5 points, even as other Democratic candidates in statewide races lost by overwhelming margins.
And finally, two people who have already lived in the White House: Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama. Former President Barack Obama, while still polling high among registered voters, is barred by constitutional term limits from running for a third term.
Former US President Barack Obama, right, and former first lady Michelle Obama acknowledge guests during the unveiling of their portraits at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, on Feb 12, 2018. (Photo: Reuters)
BULUNGAN, NORTH KALIMANTAN: In the middle of North Kalimantan’s lush forest, a helicopter touched down on May 30, bearing a special guest as it blew dust into the eyes of nearby security personnel.
Dressed in a green and blue batik shirt, business tycoon and younger brother of incoming president Prabowo Subianto, Mr Hashim Djojohadikusumo, landed in Bulungan regency with big plans.
Visiting the site of the planned Kayan Cascade, Mr Hashimexpressed interest in investing in the project that could be Southeast Asia’s largest hydropower station after its planned completion date in 2035.
It aims to have a capacity of 9,000 megawatts by relying on the water of the Kayan river, one of Kalimantan’s biggest rivers.
“This project will not only provide a clean and sustainable energy source but will also encourage local economic growth and provide major benefits to the surrounding community,” Mr Hashim said to reporters on his visit.
"I've been interested in investing in renewable, green energy for a while," he added.
"This clean, green energy project is what the world is after. I hope all parties will support this very strategic project."
Once completed, the hydropower plant is slated to provide electricity not only to people in North Kalimantan but also to Indonesia’s planned new capital, Nusantara, in eastern Kalimantan, some 430km away.
PT Kayan Hydro Energy, the company behind the project, is looking for investors for the US$17.8 billion initiative, following withdrawals from international partners, China Power and Sumitomo.
Chinese state-owned enterpriseChina Power’s withdrawal was due to pandemic-related restrictions, while the termination of Japanese trading company Sumimoto’s relationship with PT Kayan Hydro Energy was announced in May.
US presidential debate: Biden has a bad night, spurring talk of new Democrat candidate
US President Joe Biden had a rough start of the night, speaking with a hoarse voice and offering lacklustre delivery.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden’s unsure and halting performance in the first presidential debate of 2024 has stirred speculation that the Democratic Party may have to find a replacement, who will have barely four months to beat Donald Trump in the November election.
It was clear from the outset that Mr Biden, 81, had two adversaries to overcome at the June 27 debate: his Republican rival, and the perception that he is too old for the strenuous job of helming the country.
Shuffling onto the debate stage like an aged man who needed a cane, Mr Biden had a rough start to the night, speaking with a hoarse voice – his aides said he had been nursing a cold – and offering lacklustre delivery.
Within the first 10 minutes, he had lost his train of thought while answering a question. To his supporters’ dismay, he could not articulate his position well, even on a topic like abortion, thought to be a winning issue for the Democrats.
Inflation, jobs, immigration, and the Ukraine and Gaza wars dominated the discussion. But neither candidate presented policies that could help sway undecided voters.
When the moderator asked the most predictable question of the night, namely how he would convince voters that his age was not a concern, Mr Biden’s tame response was to point out that Trump, 78, was only a few years younger than him but “a lot less competent”.
Trump, true to form, boasted about acing cognitive tests while challenging Mr Biden to take one.
The quality of discourse dipped as the debate went on, with each candidate calling the other the “worst president in history”. At one point, the two men argued about their golfing skills.
This televised debate was the first of only two in which both candidates have agreed to participate in this election cycle.
In a break with past practice going back to 1988, 2024’s debates are not organised by the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates. American TV news network CNN hosted the June 27 debate live, while the second is tentatively scheduled for September, slated to be organised by ABC News.
Most fact-checkers pointed out that Trump’s responses were sweeping and full of inaccuracies. He repeatedly ducked moderators’ questions to regurgitate his criticisms of Mr Biden.
But those lapses are unlikely to hurt Trump, who went into the debate with a lead of at least two points in national opinion polls. After the debate, during which Mr Biden trailed off in the middle of sentences, the former president is likely to widen his lead.
Trump, the first former US president to be convicted, is also outraising Mr Biden in campaign funds despite being found guilty of 34 criminal charges by a New York jury in May. He is due to face more criminal trials, including two cases relating to his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
“I don’t think there was an absolutely clear winner,” Dr John Fortier, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on elections, told The Straits Times.
“President Biden had something of a mixed performance. He made some effective points about abortion and democracy, which much of his base wanted to see, but I’m not sure that he made the case why his presidency would do well.
“Trump was not perfect himself, but he was a little more controlled than he had been in past debates,” he said, adding that the rules calling for muting microphones at the end of questioning may have benefited him a bit.
“He was still combative, still Trump. While he had some stumbles, too, he did have a couple of messages – that ‘things aren’t going well on immigration and the economy, that things were better under me’. There was a relative simplicity to his message.”
Mr Biden’s own party men appeared less forgiving. “We’d like to see him win the election. But after tonight, anxieties have soared. Considering that the opponent is a candidate as flawed as Trump, this should have been easier,” a Democratic Party official told ST, though requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
It is not the first time that Mr Biden is facing questions about his candidacy. Even before the start of the party primaries in January, several prominent figures within the party, including Obama strategist David Axelrod, had called for Mr Biden to step aside.
In a live discussion at the conclusion of the debate, Mr Axelrod again raised the ante.
“There are going to be discussions about whether President Biden should continue,” he said.
The prospect of replacing Mr Biden as the Democratic Party’s nominee after the state party primaries has no direct contemporary precedence.
However, ahead of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, then President Lyndon B. Johnson withdrew from the race for a second term ahead of the Wisconsin primary election to avoid the embarrassment of an incumbent losing a party primary.
Vice-President Hubert Humphrey emerged subsequently as the Democratic presidential nominee – despite not running in several state primary elections in that election cycle – and went on to lose the 1968 presidential election to Mr Richard Nixon of the Republican Party.
That Democratic National Convention, though, was held amid contention over American military involvement in the Vietnam War, along with swirling civil unrest, partly from the assassinations of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr and Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in the space of two months earlier that year.
In a banner report in the aftermath of the Biden-Trump debate on June 27, news website Politico quoted an unnamed Democratic donor and Biden supporter as saying it was time for the President to end his campaign.
Dr Fortier disagreed, calling it “a very severe step at a very late time in the process”.
“First of all, the decision is Biden’s, it’s not the party’s,” he said.
“He has the delegates, he has the votes, there’s no way to force him out. It’s all up to him and essentially, he’d have to hand it over to Kamala Harris.
“And I don’t think it would be easy to present the change to the American people very well. So I think for all those reasons, it’s not gonna happen.”
In the face of welling criticism, California Governor Gavin Newsom was among those who pushed back. “You don’t turn your back because of one performance,” he said in an MSNBC interview.
Republicans, meanwhile, were giddy about Biden's lacklustre performance. But Trump co-campaign chief dismissed chatter about whether Democrats would try to nominate someone other than Biden.
"There's so many political experts on X, so we'll hear a lot from them, I'm sure, in the next few days because they've all run so many campaigns," LaCivita said sarcastically.
"But the only way that happens is if Joe Biden voluntarily steps down, and he's not going to do that."
Thursday's debate may be imprinted on voters' minds for the foreseeable future with Biden and Trump not scheduled to meet on the debate stage again for another 75 days.
LaCavita said Trump would be at the next debate "with bells on". Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz confirmed that Biden would also attend the rematch.
But privately, Biden advisers suggested that the campaign was never going to be won or lost in one rally, conversation or debate. They pointed to plans to maintain an aggressive schedule in the weeks and months ahead.
On Friday, Biden was scheduled to campaign in North Carolina while Harris was in Nevada.
Still, Biden supporters struggled to find any hope in the immediate aftermath of the debate.
"That was the worst performance in the history of televised presidential debates," Tim Miller, a former Republican strategist turned ardent Biden supporter, said in the spin room, shaking his head in disbelief.
ATLANTA: President Joe Biden delivered a shaky, halting performance while his Republican rival Donald Trump battered him with a series of often false attacks at their debate on Thursday (Jun 27), as the two oldest presidential candidates ever exchanged personal insults ahead of the November election.
The two men traded barbs on abortion, immigration, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, their handling of the economy and even their golf games as they each sought to shake up what opinion polls show has been a virtually tied race for months.
Biden's allies tried to put a brave face on the evening, and two White House officials said Biden had a cold.
But the president's poor performance rattled his fellow Democrats and will likely deepen voter concerns that the 81-year-old is too old to serve another four-year term.
One top Biden donor, who did not want to be identified while criticising the president, called his performance "disqualifying" and said he expected a fresh round of calls for him to step aside ahead of the party's national convention in August.
Vice President Kamala Harris, appearing on CNN after the debate, acknowledged what she called Biden's "slow start" but argued that voters should judge him and Trump based on their years in office.
"I'm not going to spend all night with you talking about the last 90 minutes when I've been watching the last three-and-a-half years of performance," she told CNN host Anderson Cooper.
Moments later, Biden noted that almost all of Trump's former cabinet members, including former Vice President Mike Pence, have not endorsed his campaign.
"They know him well, they served with him," he said. "Why are they not endorsing him?"
Trump, meanwhile, unleashed a barrage of criticisms, many of which were well-worn falsehoods he has long repeated, including claims that migrants have carried out a crime wave, that Democrats support infanticide and that he actually won the 2020 election.
The two rivals did not shake hands as they took their positions at podiums just feet apart in a studio with no live audience.
PHOTOS: REUTERS, EPA-EFE
ATLANTA - US President Joe Biden stumbled through early exchanges in June 27’s (June 28 morning in Singapore) presidential debate, a performance that risks exacerbating concerns about his age and intensifying Democratic worries about their candidate’s ability to defeat Republican Donald Trump in November’s election.
Mr Biden paused notably and appeared to freeze during one answer on abortion and tripped up in other responses, misstating numbers such as the amount of jobs created under his administration and the caps for out-of-pocket drug costs he implemented.
The shaky performance threatens to undercut Mr Biden’s campaign, fueling Republican attacks that at 81, the oldest president in US history, is not fit to serve another four year term. Trump capitalised on Mr Biden’s missteps, swiping at his opponent during an exchange on immigration.
“I really don’t know what he said on this, and I don’t think he knows what he said either,” Trump said.
Mr Biden is fighting a cold, according to people familiar with the matter.
Trump’s performance was not without missteps of his own. Asked about Americans struggling with opioid addiction, the former president talked about immigration and Russia’s detention of a Wall Street Journal reporter. He falsely claimed credit for a cap on Medicare insulin prices, claimed Jan 6 rioters were invited into the Capitol by police, and was forced to claim he never had sex with a porn star – a central element of his hush money trial. He also repeatedly and awkwardly sidestepped questions about if he would respect the results of the election.
Later in the debate when asked about age concerns, Mr Biden retorted: “This guy’s three years younger and a lot less competent.”
“Look at the record. Look at what I’ve done,” he added.
But Mr Biden meandered through a scripted swipe on Trump’s previous exaggerated claims about his height and weight, and fell into an extended and muddled discussion of his golf handicap.
The candidates opened their first presidential debate sparring over the economy, with each blaming the other for the rising cost of groceries and housing.
Voters have rated the economy as one of the defining issues of the campaign. Polls show voters skeptical of Mr Biden’s record despite solid job growth and investments in manufacturing and infrastructure as historically high inflation has wreaked havoc on US households.
“We had an economy that was in freefall. The pandemic was so badly handled,” Mr Biden said, pointing the finger at the former president’s record. “What we had to do was try to put things back together again, and that’s exactly what we began to do.”
Trump defended his tax cuts, set to expire next year, saying they paved the way for a stock market boom.
“I gave you the largest tax cut in history. I also gave you the largest regulation cut in history,” Trump said.
The dollar pushed higher against major peers as the candidates traded barbs, with the Mexican peso and Japanese yen among global currencies weakening. Bloomberg’s gauge of the greenback climbed to fresh highs for the year.
“Currencies are reacting to the US presidential debate,” said Commonwealth Bank of Australia strategist Carol Kong. “Judging by the reactions so far, markets think President Trump is ‘winning’ the debate. But its still early to make the conclusion.”
During the exchange on the economy, Mr Biden said 15,000 jobs were created during his presidency, instead of 15 million, that some seniors now have a US$200 (S$272) annual cap on out-of-pocket drug prices, instead of US$2,000, and incorrectly said some wealthy Americans were trillionaires.
“He’s not equipped to be president. You know it and I know it,” Trump said during the debate.
The candidates opened their first presidential debate sparring over the economy, with each blaming the other for the rising cost of groceries and housing. PHOTO: REUTERS
Legal Woes
Midway through the debate, Mr Biden began to hit Trump over his legal troubles, an unprecedented situation in a US election. Trump is the first former president convicted of a felony and faces three more criminal indictments.
“The only person on this stage who is a convicted felon is the man I’m looking at right now,” Biden said, accusing his rival of having the “morals of an alley cat”.
“The crimes you are still charged with. Think of all the civil penalties you have. How many billions of dollars do you owe in civil penalties for molesting a woman in public... for having sex with a porn star on the night, while your wife was pregnant? What are you talking about? You have the morals of an alley cat,” said Mr Biden.
Trump was found guilty by a Manhattan jury for falsifying business records to conceal a hush-money payment to an adult film star and awaits sentencing.
Mr Biden directly cited Trump’s hush-money payment to the actress, Stormy Daniels, accusing the former president of “having sex with a porn star while your wife was pregnant.”
“I didn’t have sex with a porn star,” Trump replied.
Trump also hit back at Mr Biden for bringing up his conviction by noting that the president’s son, Hunter Biden, is also guilty of a felony, in his case for illegally obtaining a firearm while addicted to drugs. Trump went on to say without providing any evidence that Mr Biden himself would face prosecution.
Abortion Restrictions
Later in the debate, the two sparred over abortion, with Mr Biden calling Trump’s role in the wave of restrictions over the procedure a “terrible thing.” Trump appointed three of the Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe versus Wade’s federal abortion protections.
Trump said the court’s ruling had just left the issue of abortion up to voters in the states.
“He was standing with his four-star general, and he told me you said, I don’t want to go in there because they’re a bunch of losers and suckers. My son was not a loser. Was not a sucker. You’re the sucker. You’re the loser,” Mr Biden said, referencing his late son Beau Biden who died of cancer and served in the military.
Trump fired back, denying the quote and saying Mr Biden should apologise to him.
Mr Biden scoffed at that, saying he’s “done more for veterans than any president has in American history.”
Trump described Mr Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan as the “most embarrassing moment in the history of our country” and said it encouraged Russia to invade Ukraine.
He laid the blame for the Ukraine war at Mr Biden’s feet, insisting that the invasion never would have happened “if we had a leader.”
“This is a war that never should have started. If we had a leader in this war... He’s given US$200 billion now or more to Ukraine, he’s given $200 billion. That’s a lot of money. I don’t think there’s ever been anything like it,” Trump said.
During a discussion of Israel’s war against Hamas, Mr Biden walked a tightrope. The president sought to both stress his support for Israel in the wake of the deadly Oct 7 attack by Hamas, designated a terrorist group by the US and European Union, and his push for more restraint in Israeli military operations in Gaza.
Israel’s campaign there to root out Hamas has sparked a humanitarian crisis and divided Democrats, unleashing criticism over Mr Biden’s handling of the war from young voters and progressives, key parts of the party’s electoral coalition.
Hamas cannot be allowed to continue, Mr Biden said.
Trump said Israel should be allowed to “finish the job.” He also struck a more isolationist note on foreign policy, urging Biden to demand that NATO allies in Europe contribute more for defense.
“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.
Mr Biden responded: “I’ve never heard so much foolishness.” AFP, BLOOMBERG
The debate will offer voters a rare side-by-side look at the two oldest candidates ever to seek the US presidency.
PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM C-SPAN/YOUTUBE
ATLANTA - Democratic President Joe Biden and his Republican rival Donald Trump take the stage on June 27 night (June 28 morning in Singapore) for a debate that will offer voters a rare side-by-side look at the two oldest candidates ever to seek the US presidency.
Mr Biden, 81, and Trump, 78, will be under pressure to display their command of issues and avoid verbal stumbles as they seek a breakout moment in a race that opinion polls show has been deadlocked for months.
The 90-minute televised debate, the first between a sitting president and a former one, will air at 9pm ET (9am June 28 in Singapore) on CNN and takes place far earlier than normal - more than four months before the Nov 5 Election Day.
It comes at a moment of profound polarisation and deep-seated anxiety among voters about the state of American politics. Two-thirds of voters said in a May Reuters/Ipsos poll that they were concerned violence could follow the election, nearly four years after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol.
Trump will take the stage as a felon who still faces a trio of criminal cases, including to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The former president, who continues to falsely claim that his defeat was the result of fraud and has suggested he will punish his political enemies if returned to power, will need to convince undecided voters that he does not pose a mortal threat to democracy, as Biden asserts.
Mr Biden arrived in Atlanta on June 27 afternoon under intense pressure to deliver a forceful performance after months of Republican assertions his faculties have dulled with age.
Ahead of the debate, the Biden campaign released a video featuring former Trump aides saying they would not support him this time. "Take it from the people who know Donald Trump best - he is unfit to be president," Mr Biden said on X.
Biden advisers say he will emphasise Trump's role in threatening abortion access, portray him as a danger to democratic norms and remind voters of Trump's often chaotic 2017-2021 term in office.
Mr Joe Biden arrived in Atlanta on June 27 afternoon. PHOTO: REUTERS
Trump will focus on the high levels of inflation and record numbers of migrants who have entered the country illegally under Biden's watch, and will also question his world leadership at a time of war in Gaza and Ukraine, Trump advisers said.
Trump, whose plane landed in Georgia about 3½ hours before the debate, posted on social media what appeared to be advice from a former member of his administration about how to respond to attacks on his environmental record. The notes from former Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler urged Trump to say he will lower carbon dioxide emissions and encourage domestic energy production.
A campaign spokesman said the post was not a mistake. "The Biden team has been previewing their attacks -- albeit moronic attacks -- all week," spokesman Stephen Cheung said.
Donald Trump's plane landed in Georgia about 3½ hours before the debate. PHOTO: REUTERS
Disliked duo
While national polls show a tied race, Mr Biden has trailed Trump in polls of most battleground states and recently saw his financial edge erased after Trump was criminally convicted over trying to cover up hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
"Biden needs a change in the status quo, and this debate is his best opportunity yet to do it," said Mr Jacob Rubashkin, an elections analyst at the nonpartisan website Inside Elections.
Neither Mr Biden nor Trump is popular and many Americans remain deeply ambivalent about their choices. About a fifth of voters say they have not picked a candidate, are leaning towards a third-party candidate or may sit the election out, the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.
"They're horrible candidates," said Ms Kathy Elder, a 59-year-old sales manager who voted for Trump in 2016 before switching to Mr Biden in 2020.
Ms Elder said she cringes whenever they speak – for different reasons.
When it comes to Mr Biden, she said, "Can he speed this up and actually talk?" As for Trump, she said, "What the hell is going to come out of his mouth?"
Mr Biden and Trump have made little effort to disguise their mutual dislike. During their first debate in 2020, Trump aggressively talked over Mr Biden in a performance that turned off many voters.
CNN will attempt to avoid cross-talk by muting the candidates' microphones when it is not their turn. The debate will take place without an audience, and neither candidate is allowed to bring notes or props, though they will have a pen and paper.
Trump's niece Mary Trump, who has been critical of her uncle, will join Mr Biden's campaign in its media spin room following the debate, a campaign official said.
The second and final debate in this year's campaign is scheduled for September. REUTERS
China’s ruling Communist Party elite will meet from July 15 to 18 for the long-awaited third plenary session, a gathering expected to shed light on the development direction of the world’s second-largest economy amid intense external challenges.
It is expected to be a defining moment of President Xi Jinping’s third five-year term as the party’s leader, and to cover a wide range of goals, from the economy to social development and state building.
The decision was announced at a meeting of the Politburo, the party’s 24-man decision-making body, on Thursday, signalling a consensus among the party’s upper echelon on how best to cope with China’s economic challenges given the ferocity of international competition and internal difficulties.
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Defence ministers from China and US meet on sidelines of Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore
Defence ministers from China and US meet on sidelines of Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore
The session, also known as a plenum, traditionally sets the economic strategy for the next five to 10 years and is often seen as the most important of the seven party gatherings held over the Central Committee’s five-year cycle.
The meeting will be attended by more than 370 full and alternate members of the new Central Committee.
It is also expected to endorse a wide-ranging communique that will be dissected by officials at all levels as they try to come up with ways to reach the goals set out in the document.
Over the past four decades, the third plenums have typically been held in October or November. It is the first time since 1984 that the party has not convened one in the year following the twice-a-decade party congress. The last congress was held in the autumn of 2022, the year Xi began his third term as party general secretary.
In the past, third plenums were the key opportunity to send early policy signals to the party and the public of what the party’s priorities would be for the next five to 10 years.
Beijing offered no explanation for the delay in its April 30 statement but China has been grappling with a series of formidable challenges, including a sluggish economic recovery, intense geopolitical headwinds and ongoing personnel changes in leadership.
The gathering next month will be held just months before China celebrates the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic.
It will also be before the end of the year and therefore meet the stipulation in the party’s constitution that it hold at least one plenum a year.
Last year was the 45th anniversary of paramount leader Deng Xiaoping’s reform and opening up, and the 10th anniversary of Xi’s own series of reforms – milestones that came and went without the plenum.
In addition to signalling economic policy, the third plenary session is also the usual forum to show party solidarity and offer updates on investigations into sacked high-level officials.
Beijing has said little about what prompted the removal last year of former foreign minister Qin Gang and former defence minister Li Shangfu – both of whom are members of the Central Committee.
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‘Two sessions’: China’s economic and diplomatic challenges | Talking Post with Yonden Lhatoo
‘Two sessions’: China’s economic and diplomatic challenges | Talking Post with Yonden Lhatoo
Qin, China’s shortest-serving foreign minister, disappeared in June last year before being stripped of his remaining titles in the government. Li, China’s shortest-serving defence minister, has not been seen since August and has also lost all his titles.
The formal expulsion of officials from the elite body requires a formal resolution during the plenum.
