BETHLEHEM TWP., Pa. — Competing Northampton County watch parties rallied to their candidates Thursday evening as President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump faced off in their first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle.
For about 90 minutes, Trump and Biden traded jabs and attacks before a national audience as CNN moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash peppered them with questions about their fitness for office, the economy and their policies if elected to a second term.
Neither president dominated the debate. Trump repeatedly ignored questions and made misleading statements while Biden failed to dismiss concerns about his age by speaking in a rasping voice and lacking intensity.
However, locals didn't appear to lose faith in their preferred candidate.
About three dozen Republicans followed the debate from the Northampton County Republican Committee's headquarters off Willow Park Road. The lively crowd heckled Biden throughout the night and especially when he provided muddled answers.
Biden repeatedly stumbled over his words, and the room laughed when someone questioned if Biden had suffered a stroke on national television.
“He looks strong and presidential, especially in contrast to Biden," said committee member Scott Janney. "Trump just looks so much more together, so much healthier."
Meanwhile, a last-minute watch party by the Northampton County Democratic Committee attracted a half-dozen people to a classroom at Northampton Community College. The viewing had a less boisterous atmosphere, but that didn't stop those in attendance from reacting incredulously to some of Trump's more outrageous claims.
"What?" shrieked one Democrat as Trump answered a question over his climate change policy by arguing that he was responsible for lowering insulin prices for senior citizens.
Jason and Vanessa Boulette of Wind Gap agreed that Biden had a rough night, saying the 81-year-old appeared to be sick with a cold. However, they felt he rallied as the debate went on and appreciated that he ratcheted up his intensity while attacking Trump about his alleged crimes, including charges for trying to overturn the 2020 election and his conviction for paying hush money to a porn star over an affair.
"He was definitely not at his best," said Jason Boulette, a Wind Gap Borough councilman.
Outside the campus, national media outlets were less forgiving. CNN, Politico and Fox News reported that Democratic leaders outside the Biden campaign viewed the president's performance as a disaster, saying his muddled responses and flat tone failed to effectively counter Trump.
The couple also complained that Tapper and Bash allowed Trump to repeatedly ignore questions to level attacks on Biden, many of them unsubstantiated.
Vanessa Boulette said she wanted to hear what the candidates had to say about the rising cost of child care — Tapper said it has risen to about $11,000 per child annually. Trump refused to address the matter, instead focusing on the southern border and arguing that Biden should be rated as the worst president in American history. Biden spent most of his time responding to Trump's answers, though he briefly mentioned his support for a larger child care tax credit.
"That's a really important issue to me. My brother is a director for Head Start," she said, referring to the federal early childhood education program.
But if Trump wasn't addressing the moderators' questions, he was often speaking about an issue near and dear to his base. He blamed Biden for inflation and accused him of making the nation look weak on the international stage. Those messages resonated with Maria Montero, a former candidate for Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District.
"What it comes down to is that our country is at a precipitous state right now with the direction we're going. It's a really tough economy. Our border is like an open sieve. And we're in several different wars across the world. And I don't think that's the right direction for our country,” said Montero, of Easton.
Meanwhile, the Democratic viewers were more concerned over what Trump wouldn't say. Trump took no responsibility for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol Building, instead blaming then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for failing to accept his offer of 10,000 National Guardsmen. (Fact-checkers for the Associated Press and NBC News noted Pelosi had no control over the National Guard and that no evidence suggests she turned down such an offer.)
Later, Bash had to ask Trump three times if he would accept the outcome of the 2024 election if he lost. He eventually answered he would if it was a fair and legal election.
"What are the odds he thinks that if he loses?" asked one viewer in the darkened room.
