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The Take

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

The Take

Al Jazeera

Daily News, News Commentary, News, Politics

4.7748 Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2024

⏱️ 20 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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. 

Debate audio courtesy of “CNN Presidential Debate".

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.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on TwitterInstagram, FacebookThreads and YouTube

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Al Jazeera Podcasts.

0:07.0

Today, it's a debate that almost didn't happen.

0:15.9

And judging by the reaction to it, maybe it shouldn't have.

0:20.2

The CNN debate, Biden v. Trump, is over.

0:23.0

That's 90 minutes of my life, I'll never get back.

0:25.7

Both of these men should be using performance-enhancing drugs.

0:32.9

As two elected U.S. presidents traded insults between stumbles and lies,

0:38.5

we hear from students working to preserve debate and its role in democracy.

0:46.1

I'm Malika Bilal, and this is The Take.

0:58.6

This is the CNN presidential debate.

1:00.8

He can't hit a ball 50 yards.

1:02.2

He challenged me through a golf match.

1:03.9

He can't hit a ball 50 yards.

1:05.8

I think I'm in very good shape. That's former U.S. President Donald Trump during the CNN presidential debate on Thursday

1:10.4

with his successor, current president, Joe Biden.

1:14.0

And it led to an exchange about which of them is better at golf.

1:17.7

By the way, I told you before, I'm happy to play golf if you carry your own bag.

1:22.4

Think you can do it?

1:24.0

That's the biggest lie that he's a six handicap of all.

1:27.2

I was eight handicapped.

1:28.7

Yeah.

1:48.0

Eight? Never. I have, you know, how many? I've seen your swing. I know you swing. Let's not act like children. President Trump, we're going to do. Let's not act like children. You are a child. To a specific concern that voters have about you. At high school debate tournaments in Brooklyn, New York, though, where the contestants are actually children, arguments have a very different tone.

...

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