The art of the debate: What the Biden and Trump face-off was missing | The Take

The first US presidential debate of 2024 left many watchers wondering about the state of debate and democracy in the United States. We hear debating lessons from students who still believe the skill is essential to keeping democracy alive.
In this episode:
-K.M. DiColandrea, (@dico_nyc) Founder and Executive Director, Brooklyn Debate League
-Jonathan Conyers, (@iamjonconyers) Debate Coach and former Student Debater
-Gabrielle Lewis, Student Debater
-Madison Wheeler, Student Debater
-Karl McGhie, Student Debater
-Long Jiang, Student Debater
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by David Enders and Ashish Malhotra with Fahrinisa Campana, Sonia Bhagat, Mohamed Zain Shafi Khan, Veronique Eshaya, and our host Malika Bilal.
The Take production team is Amy Walters, Ashish Malhotra, Catherine Nouhan, Chloe K. Li, David Enders, Duha Mosaad, Khaled Soltan, Manahil Naveed, Marcos Bartolomé, Sarí el-Khalili, Sonia Bhagat, Mohamed Zain Shafi Khan, Veronique Eshaya, and Tamara Khandaker.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.
Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

[@Riclmnopp]

The art of Debate: Step one: Don’t be a corpse.

[@daysjours]

lol 😂

[@sd-vx6bo]

step 2: don’t have dementia

[@wizmo57]

step 3. dont be a megalomaniac

[@Zythus07]

I prefer step one: don't be a clown

[@theotherwayofstopping4717]

What was missing was a coherent sitting president.

[@sheep.herder]

*lesson:* _politicians are selected_ *NOT* _elected!_

[@Constantinos-Cy]

Yessss😊

[@johnkesich8696]

What this debate was missing was a candidate worth voting for.

[@ThePoehladian]

Trump busted that mold. CATCH UP.

[@ThePoehladian]

​@@johnkesich8696The whole world including the USA behind Trump. Anything other than that is a fake n€w$ narrative.

[@d-munn]

This was not a debate. It was a Lewy bodies convention.

[@skywalker113.]

What we should really ask is, who is really running the United States, because It sure aint ole Joe. Scary times.

[@historyalwayslie]

“You are what you do, not what you say you'll do.” ― Carl Gustav Jung List* of the countries bombed and/or invaded by the U.S from 1950 to 2020: Korea 1950-53 El Salvador 1980s Bosnia 1994, 1995 Cambodia 1969-70 Congo 1964 Cuba 1959-1961 Afghanistan 1998, 2001- Guatemala 1954, 1960, 1967-69 Indonesia 1958 Laos 1964-73 Grenada 1983 Iraq 1991-2000s, 2015- Iran 1987 Korea 1950-53 Kuwait 1991 Lebanon 1983, 1984 Libya 1986, 2011- Nicaragua 1980s Pakistan 2003, 2006- Palestine 2010 Panama 1989 Peru 1965 Somalia 1993, 2007-08, 2010- Sudan 1998 Syria 2014- Vietnam 1961-73 Yemen 2002, 2009- Yugoslavia 1999 Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once remarked. "It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal," And U.S. has proven him right. Time and again, the U.S. has showed that it is not a reliable ally in global affairs. In 2021, the most recent year for which complete data is available, 48,830 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S., according to the CDC. ( Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ) USA. In 2021, 54% of all gun-related deaths in the U.S. were suicides (26,328), while 43% were murders (20,958), according to the CDC. In America, In 2022, there were 133,294 reported r@pe cases in the United States. Every 68 seconds another American is sexually assaulted. 1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed r@pe in her lifetime. Over 70 million adults in U.S. are obese (35 million men and 35 million women). 99 million are overweight (45 million women and 54 million men). NHANES 2016 statistics showed that about 39.6% of American adults were obese. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 19.7 million American adults (aged 12 and older) battled a substance use disorder in 2017. Almost 74% of adults suffering from a substance use disorder in 2017 struggled with an alcohol use disorder. 1 out of every 8 adults struggled with both alcohol and drug use disorders simultaneously. In 2017, 8.5 million American adults suffered from both a mental health disorder and a substance use disorder, or co-occurring disorders. Drug abuse and addiction cost American society more than $740 billion annually in lost workplace productivity, healthcare expenses, and crime-related costs “Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners.” ― Vladimir Lenin

[@DaveSCameron]

Too long and I cba reading it all, the world knows what America is and what it has done but the current push for genders, no borders etc. will be it’s downfall.

[@vigneshramalingam2323]

Trump cooked Biden

[@Owl-of-Minerva]

😂 Nope Biden did it to himself. Trump was weak af

[@reubenmcmurray4377]

Both were pathetic

[@Owl-of-Minerva]

@@reubenmcmurray4377 yup

[@graceomalley4]

@@Owl-of-Minervawell said Biden cooked Biden

[@ssb1056]

Trump was just as incoherent in his garbled lies and utter imbecility. It takes a brute to believe Trump is presidential

[@fullcircle.organics]

What it was missing is a candidate we wanted to vote for. The state of US politics is a joke.

[@toddb9313]

It had a crook and a senile senior citizen, it was missing a lot, 2 whole minds, morals, non-war criminals etc..

[@MichaelKingsfordGray]

Biden is certainly a crook!

[@ThePoehladian]

The whole world including the USA behind Trump. Anything other than that is a fake n€w$ narrative.✨️✨️✨️

[@chiefyeez6489]

go trump. .you can don't it. .

[@8REAL88]

It Was Missing a Live Audience..🤣🤣🤦🏽🤦🏽

[@Dobby4life-y7z]

Omg let's elect a 12 year old asap

[@CarolM-z4m]

Or Ivanka

[@bernadettefedgar9253]

Can not belive these are the choice for the people of America it is a embarrassment its like one flew over the coucous nest people are dying all over the world cos of them and they are arguing about golf

[@MondoArtista.]

It's not that everyone had training, it's just that everyone is rich... rich people always find a way...

[@lancecahill5486]

By performing poorly, Biden practically endorsed Trump for president.

[@graceomalley4]

Absolutely 🥲

[@wanwanmahmud6601]

Very humiliating for both sides.

[@lancecahill5486]

Nope. Only on Biden’ side. People in his own party are calling him to quit the race.

[@_Nooman]

🐷 VS 🐷

[@JohnGeary-e9e]

Lesson 2. Don’t vote it only encourages them.

[@TheJonHolstein]

Very little in debate class actually matters for an audience that has not taken debate class. You have to understand the general audience, and debate theory completely misses thar point. They are only accidentally right in a couple of areas. That on the other hand doesn't mean that the Biden/Trump debate was more in line with what speaks to a general audience, it was horrible. But it is pointless to listen to people that believe in debate theory that is only grounded in debate theory, not in what the general audience actually care about.

[@ThePoehladian]

The whole world including the USA behind Trump.✨️ Anything other than that is a fake n€w$ narrative.✨️✨️

[@eancurtis9333]

Why does this sound like a bad NPR show ?

[@MohammedZamir-u1s]

Stop the Genocide in Gazza.

[@ANdriCanada]

Gaza free of terrorism forever!!!

[@rafaellacerda8123]

Vai Corinthians 🇧🇷🤟

[@procrastinateXrok]

All they know is talk. They need real experience

[@ThePoehladian]

Western big media is 100% fake news, only the minority of leftoids watch and repeat that dribble, but that's how slow they are. Most of the people of the US are awake (not woke) or awakening. There are alot of layers to the veil. The world at large is having a similar experience.

[@ThePoehladian]

✨️✨️The whole world including the USA behind Trump.✨️ Anything other than that is a fake n€w$ narrative.

[@adolfodias1681]

Better schools better education , end of endoctrination ! Voice to the people in the way tha we can finaly reach DEMOCRACY = PEOPLES POWER

[@fotiostriantas4673]

There was no art. It was a comedy 😂 By the way debate is undemocratic concept connected to rhetorics rejected by ancient Greeks as demagogic , unpolitical and definitely undemocratic.

[@buixote]

Art of debate has nothing to do with Dementia. I wish thre Press would stop trying to distract from the main problem.

[@MohammedZamir-u1s]

Free plasten.

[@منيرهمحمد-خ6ت]

احنا اخواتكم ندائي إلي كل مسلم قال عزوجل (قُلْ إِنَّ رَبِّي يَبْسُطُ الرِّزْقَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَقْدِرُ لَهُ وَمَا أَنْفَقْتُمْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ فَهُوَ يُخْلِفُهُ وَهُوَ خَيْرُ الرَّازِقِينَ) وقال النبى ﷺ(ما نقص مال من صدقة ) رواه مسلم وقال ﷺ ( أنفق يابن آدم ينفق الله عليك) متفق عليه وقال ﷺ:( مَا مِنْ يَوْمٍ يُصبِحُ العِبادُفِيهِ إِلَّا مَلَكَانِ يَنْزِلانِ، فَيَقُولُ أَحَدُهُمَا: اللَّهُمَّ أَعْطِ مُنْفِقًا خَلَفًا، وَيَقُولُ الآخَرُ: اللَّهُمَّ أَعْطِ مُمْسِكًا تَلَفًا سِالُتتكِ بّالُلُُه 💔الُجْلُيَلُ الُجْبّارَ انَ تْنَقًذَنَا قًبّلُ انَ نَمٌوَتْ مٌنَ شِدِتْ الُجْوَع انَتٌْخيَكِ انَيَ دٌِخلُةِ ْعلُى الُلُُه تْمٌ ْعلُيَكِ انَيَ فَيَ وَجُْهك انَـيَ اخـتْكِ انَـيَ اتْرَجْـاكِ اتْـوَسِـلُ الُـيَـكِ انَـقًـذَنَا لُـوَجُْـه الُـلُُـه. يَــشِــُهدِ الُــلُــُه يَاٌخـيَ انَ مٌنَ الُــصّــبّاحُ حُـتْا الُـانَ يَــحُــرَمٌ ْعـــلُيَـنَـا الاكل غير الماء ( (اخواني اني اقسم بالله العلي العظيم على كتاب الله انني بنت يتيمه من اليمن ومعي اخوان صغار اقسم بالله على كتاب الله ان اخوتي ماعاد يقدرو ينطقو بكلمة من شدت الجوع وصاحب البيت يريد الإجار او بيخرجناإلئ الشارع و اني اسالك بالله وانشدك بمحمد رسول الله يااخي لوانت مسلم وتحب الخير واتساعدني ولو1000ريال يمني ان تتواصل معي اوتراسلني وتساب علئ هذا رقمي00967734674430 وتطلب اسم بطاقتي وترسلي ولاتتاخر وايعوضك الله بكل خير فيااخي انت رجال إذاشفت اسرتك جاوعين تعمل المستحيل من اجل تامن لهم الاكب ولكن انابنت عيني بصيره ويدي قصيره ليس لي اب مثلك يسمح دمعتي ويحميني من الذل والاهانة😢 واخواني سغار شوف كيف حالتهم وساعدناوانقذناقبل أن يطردونا في الشارع نتبهدل او نموت من الجوع انااقسم بالله ألذي رفع سبع سموات بلاعمدوبسط الارض ومهداني لااكذب عليك بحرف من هذا الرساله واني ماطلبتك إلئ من ضيق ومن قسوت الضروف والحال الذي آحنافيه واناوأسرتي نسالك بالله لولك مقدره علئ مساعدتنا لاتتاخر عليناوجزاك .ألله خير آلجزا.،.:-"-":!-'/:""-/"/"😢🎉😢😢😊😢🎉😓😢🎉😢🎉😢🎉😢😢😢😢😢😢kxjxjzhdbzbbxbzbzbzbh

[@earlphillips7847]

Trump And Biden debate we’re about two egotistical old men and not about improving the. Lives of Americans.

[@DaveSCameron]

Pop over to the Cambridge University debating events to see what a debate looks like at its purest. 🇬🇧

[@samsunnahar9175]

I HATE BOTH CRIMINALS ALTHOUGH I AM SUPPORTER OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

[@IamValentina66]

The art of the debate or the complete lack of. Just saying.

[@earlphillips7847]

There Is no place In the USA. That is naturally beautifull As Jamaica.

[@unknown-hi5cf]

Never watched a second. Glad I never wasted my time like everyone else.

[@ricjun3001]

This is an art of debate but washing dirty linens in public 😂😂😂

[@debrajohnson6544]

Interview RFK Jr. He is amazing!

[@MKREZACartoon]

Dear Aljazeera, we will be happy if you provide your service in Hindi also 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳

[@zhaowei3025]

Since 90 percent of subscribers are Panjeet 😂

[@qasimtoufeeq1679]

​@@zhaowei3025shoo... Bad hasbara bot

[@mohamedsalinaina445]

Tanks Al Jazeera great News 📰

[@AnikSign]

Debate just like Dog and Cat fight, shame on America

[@angeloselarja]

It was a muppet show

[@keaton2272]

Both are killers

[@martinhumble]

European standards

[@MrAzman66]

Debate on who's should work more for israel

[@JoeRamblazKuruptedData]

Old Farts!

[@MajidaKaddari]

🇵🇸✌️🇵🇸✌️🇵🇸✌️🇵🇸✌️❤

[@greger589]

Welcome to Disneyland

[@marvincardines6364]

trump,

[@JoeRamblazKuruptedData]

😂

[@MKREZACartoon]

Please In reply, will you provide your services in Hindi also?

[@MKREZACartoon]

Because Indians like your news 🗞️📰

[@Iktsf]

Dear brothers and sisters, a humble effort at mine

[@Owl-of-Minerva]

🛸👽?

[@ahmedomarabdallah2052]

😮😁

[@ritchievernon8099]

The Democrats need to nominate Hakeem Jeffries to be our next president

[@Riclmnopp]

It’s too late now to do so in some states.

[@lancecahill5486]

No Democrat can beat Trump.

[@ritchievernon8099]

@@lancecahill5486 Hakeem Jeffries can he's one of the smartest people on the planet and it happens to be the minority house speaker

[@ritchievernon8099]

Hakeem Jeffries can more than run the country plus he can bring Republicans and Democrats together that has been his desire all along since becoming minority house speaker! 🙏

[@ritchievernon8099]

Hakeem Jeffries in a debate with Trump would be no contest he would wipe the floor with Trump 😠

[@waris123ish]

and you are convicted with 34 criminal charges and you are g uilty of 34 times,you dont have right contest elections and you should surrender to authorities and you must face accountabl e of war crime agsinst humanI ty and genicide of palestine Uk raine and Arakan Burma ..m

[@muhammedazam1978]

This debate is same like A film

[@scottfennell6568]

Trump 2024

[@waris123ish]

and you are convicted with 34 criminal charges and you are g uilty of 34 times,you dont have right contest elections and you should surrender to authorities and you must face accountabl e of war crime agsinst humanI ty and genicide of palestine Uk raine and Arakan Burma ..m

[@raulduke6105]

Two qualified candidates?!?!

[@jeffreyreynolds4732]

What?! It Costs Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars to Become a Masterdebator?!

[@pixipatricia4304]

This was insane. A liar just got away with it!

[@yorubapryor5884]

"Let's not act like children," said the childish past POTUS. Our POTUS debates need to be graded. When I was in high school, I won the debate for (and) against abortion. This last debate was no thing to be graded unless you can strip away the lies. If you can, then Biden won. If not, Trump was more poised during his lies. American people = Dumb. Who won? Gore vs. Bush was one of the last debates. American people = Yay, American oil profits for...oh, not us?

[@lancecahill5486]

Who lost the debate? The one who is being urged to drop out of the race by people in his own party.

[@eurodiaz3712]

Stop supporting Al Jazeera. That should be first off

[@tschoong3897]

How useful was this debate? Or any other debate?

[@lancecahill5486]

Very useful. It was the first time that the American people saw Joe Biden without his teleprompter and notecards. His handlers could no longer hide his cognitive decline.

[@ISLAMIC_WRITER3]

Who will win Please tell

[@lancecahill5486]

Trump will win the election in November.

[@historyalwayslie]

Do we need weapons to fight wars ? Or do we need wars to create markets for weapons? In 2022, the military spending worldwide amounted to 2.24 trillion U.S. dollars, As 9,000 people die from conflict-driven hunger every day. A child dies from hunger every 10 seconds. Stop War, Stand for Peace. The World have Enough for All of us. “Only the dead have seen the end of war.” ― Plato ----

[@ssb1056]

It was missing so much! A joke really

[@hasnainbinsulaimaan2359]

Trump next ✌