ICYMI: Most memorable quotes from the debate
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President Biden's struggles got most of the headlines, but he did land a few jabs on former President Trump in a debate that was long on insults and short on cogent policy discussions. A review of some of Thursday night's most memorable zingers:
Trump: "I don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don't think he knows what he said either."
- In what many saw as the debate's signature exchange, Biden lost his train of thought when describing several of his accomplishments, ending with a curious statement: "We finally beat Medicare."
- Trump pounced, and followed up with this: "He did beat Medicare. He beat it to death, and he's destroying Medicare."
Biden: "You're the sucker. You're the loser."
- Biden hit Trump on a long-reported story — confirmed by Trump's former chief of staff, John Kelly — about Trump calling military veterans "suckers" and "losers." (Kelly also has quoted Trump as saying didn't want to be photographed with military amputees because "it doesn't look good for me."
- Biden's late son, Beau, was a veteran. The president made it personal with Trump.
- "My son was not a sucker or a loser," Biden said of Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015.
- Trump, as he has in the past, said Kelly's recollection is false.
Trump: "I will not block" mifepristone, the abortion pill.
- Trump committed to not banning abortion pills at the federal level.
- Republicans have struggled to find their messaging on reproductive rights ever since the conservative-led Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago. Trump said mifepristone should be regulated at the state level; he's said the same thing about abortion procedures.
Biden: "We saved Israel."
- Biden defended Trump's attacks on his foreign policy, particularly how the administration responded to Hamas' attack on Israel last year. Trump claimed the Hamas attack would have never happened if he were in office.
- Biden took credit for protecting Israel from drone and missile attacks earlier this year.
- Polls indicate many voters — particularly younger ones — disapprove of Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
Trump: "He could be a convicted felon."
- Trump again hinted that if wins in November, his Justice Department could prosecute Biden. For what, exactly, isn't clear.
- Trump has talked a lot about retribution against Biden and political foes on the campaign trail. He said Thursday night that his retribution would be "success," even as he threatened Biden with legal action.
- The barb from Trump came after Biden pointed out that Trump is the only man on the stage who is a convicted felon.
Biden: Trump has "the morals of an alley cat."
Trump: "I did not have sex with a porn star."
- One of Biden's most aggressive attacks was when he went after Trump for his convictions in New York that stemmed from a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
- Trump continues to deny he had sex with Daniels.
Biden: "You're a whiner."
- Biden followed Trump's waffling on whether he'd accept the results of the 2024 election by saying his continued refusal to accept the 2020 results show Trump is a "whiner."
- Trump said he'd accept the 2024 results of the election is "fair." That was the same thing he said before the 2020 election.
