06/28/24 06/28/24 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! pres. biden: dealing with everything we had to do with -- look, if we finally beat medicare. pres. trump: he is willing to kill the baby.

amy: the first presidential debate of 2020 four. president biden versus former president trump, march the first typesetting president debated a former one. we will play excerpts. >> had sex with a porn star on the night his wife was pregnant. what was he talking about? >> i did not have sex with a point star. amy: we will host a roundtable on the topics that were brought up, economy, reproductive rights, foreign policy. pres. trump: the only one who wants to keep going is hamas. israel is the one. you should let them finish the job. he doesn't want to do it. he has become like a palestinian but they don't like him because he is a bad palestinian. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in the gaza strip, at least 11

palestinians were killed and 40 others wounded today when israeli forces bombed al-mawasi, an area sheltering displaced families near gaza's southern city of rafah. separately, gaza's civil defense agency said three of its medics were killed and a dozen others wounded by israeli air strikes as they searched for survivors of israel's assault on the bureij refugee camp. the attack on medical workers came as israeli authorities continue to bar many palestinians from leaving gaza to seek medical treatment. this is kamela abu kwaik, mother to five-year-old fayez who urgently needs treatment for cancer after lumps spread throughout his body. on thursday, the boy was finally granted permission to leave gaza for treatment in egypt, but his parents were not allowed to travel with him. >> why is there suffering like this? are people's hearts blind? have they lost their feelings? is it ok for them to see a

suffering like this? do they not feel for these children? malnourishment, no capabilities, no treatments, no medication. there is no mill. there is nothing. do they want to kill us slowly? why? amy: the biden administration is defending the pace of its arms shipments to israel after prime minister benjamin netanyahu accused the u.s. of slow-rolling military assistance. this week the white house boasted that it had supplied israel with $6.5 billion in military aid since last october. the disclosure came as senior u.s. officials held talks with an israel delegation headed by israeli defense minister yoav gallant, who on wednesday told reporters in washington, d.c., israel was prepared to bomb lebanon "back to the stone age" unless hezbollah halts cross-border attacks. on wednesday, gallant was confronted by a peace activist with codepink after meeting with key members of congress on capitol hill. >> you are a war criminal. how dare you enter our city and

our country. you are a war criminal. you have literally killed thousands of palestinians carrying out the genocide. shame on you. shame on all of you for protecting a war criminal. amy: in more news from capitol hill, ahead of thursday's vote, congress is lung palestinian american lawmaker democrat rashida tlaib a michigan read into the congressional record the toll of palestinians killed during israel's assault on gaza -- more than 37,700 dead, 15,000 of them children. >> palestinians are not just numbers. behind these numbers are real people -- mothers, fathers, sons, daughters -- who have had their lives stolen from them. we should not be hiding it. these are innocent children. where is our shared humanity in

this chamber? there are so much anti-palestinian racism in this chamber that my colleagues don't even want to acknowledge that palestinians exist at all. not when they are alive and now not even when they are dead. it is disgusting. this is genocide denial. amy: president biden and former president trump took to the stage thursday night for the first debate of the 2024 election hosted by cnn in its headquarters in atlanta. trump repeatedly lied, reference misinformation as he blasted bidens immigrationies, inaccurately licking asylum seekers and immigrants to rising crime. trump falsely asserted democrats have advocated for abortion legislation allowing doctors to kill newborn babies. the cnn moderators failed to challenge or fact check trump during the debate. president biden was halting and disjointed, muffled his lines, often appeared to loose his

train of thought. we will play excerpts of the debate and get commentary for the rest of the broadcast after the headlines. the united states supreme court has rejected a bankruptcy settlement that would have protective members of the sackler family from lawsuits related to the opioid epidemic. justices found the settlement between purdue pharma and states , tribes, local governments violet u.s. bankruptcy law by exempting the sectors from future litigation. the supreme court's right wing super majority ruled in the 6-3 decision the securities and exchange commission cannot use administrative law judges to assign penalties to violators who must instead be granted a jury trial. it sets a precedent that curtails the power of the federal government to impose fines for violations across a range of agencies. in addition, justice sotomayor or call for the ruling -- called it a power grab that will have

momentous consequences. she wrote, "the constitutionality of hundreds of statutes may now be in peril and dozens of agencies could be stripped of their power to enforce laws enacted by congress." also justices voted 5-4 to block the environmental protection agency's good neighbor plan that allows the epa to regulate air pollution that drifts across state lines. in a statement, earth justice wrote -- in texas, the former uvalde schools police chief and another former officer have been indicted over their role in the botched response to the 2022 massacre at robb elementary school. pete arredondo, the former uvalde schools police chief, and adrian gonzales, a former officer, were charged thursday with multiple counts of felony child endangerment and abandonment.

arredondo was fired three months after the mass shooting. 376 law enforcement officers responded to the mass shooting that day, but it took 77 minutes -- well over an hour -- for anyone to enter the classroom where the gunman was slaughtering children. 19 children were killed as well as two teachers. polls of open in iran were voters will select a new president one month after ebrahim raisi died in a helicopter crash. there are four candidates on the ballot, all of them men qualified to run by iran's guardian council. some polls suggest voter turnout could be at a record low, below 50%, with voters still reeling from a violent crackdown on widespread antigovernment protests in 2022. the european union has agreed to a long-term security agreement with ukraine to provide military, financial, diplomatic and humanitarian assistance. ukrainian president volodimir zelensky signed the agreement thursday during a visit to brussels where he met with european leaders charles michel and ursula von der leyen.

zelensky's trip came one day after the european union formally opened accession talks with ukraine and moldova. the process of joining the eu could take years or even decades. meanwhile, cnn is reporting the biden administration is preparing to lift a de facto ban on pentagon contractors deploying to ukraine that's been in place since russia's 2022 invasion. the policy shift would bring u.s. military personnel closer to a direct confrontation with russia while speeding the work of technicians who maintain and repair u.s.-provided weapons, including f-16 fighter jets. and the united states pacific fleet played host thursday as the world's largest maritime war games kicked off in honolulu, hawaii. the rim of the pacific, or rimpac, international maritime exercise brings together 25,000 military personnel from 29 countries, including australia, canada, south korea, japan, india, brazil, chile, mexico, and seven european nations. israel will also be participating. israel's inclusion has further angered peace activists who say there's a direct connection

between israel's assault on gaza and the exploitation of hawaiian lands by the u.s. military. rose elovitz is with jewish voice for peace hawaii. >> palestine is a weapons testing ground for israeli weapons that are exported throughout the world like japan, france, brazil, australia, and more. all of whom are active participants in this year's rimpac. hawaii is a testing ground for weapons and training. the bombs that are tested in the sacred valley are the same bombs dropped in gaza. white phosphorus responsible for choking and burning innocent palestinians to death is the same white phosphorus discharged in hawaii. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the first 20 24 presidential debate between president biden and former president trump was held thursday night in atlanta.

it marked the first time a sitting president debated a former one. it also marked the two oldest candidates ever to run for president with a combined age of 159. and it was more of an incoherent debacle than any substantive debate. president biden was halting and disjointed, hard to hear, often muffled his lines and appeared to lose his train of thought. meanwhile, trump repeatedly lied. his false claims not challenged by the cnn moderators jake tapper and dana bash. the debate covered a wide range of issues from the economy and tax policy to immigration, reproductive rights, foreign policy, and more. today, we'll play excerpts of the debate and get response from a roundtable of guests. let's begin at the beginning. cnn moderator jake tapper cited to show open the debate by citing high inflation and asking

president biden about the economy. looks what you say to voters who say they are worse off under your presidency than under president trump? pres. biden: we've got to take a look at what i was left when i became president, what mr. trump left me. we had an economy that was in freefall. the pandemic was so badly handled. many people were dying. all he said was it's not that serious, just inject a little bleach in your arm. you'll be all right. the economy collapsed. there were no jobs. the unemployment rate rose to 15%. it was terrible. and so, what we had to do is try to put things back together again. and that's exactly what we began to do. we created 15,000 new jobs. we brought out in a position where we have 800,000 new manufacturing jobs. but there's more to be done. there's more to be done. working-class people are still in trouble. i come from scranton, pennsylvania. i come of household where the kitchen table -- if things weren't able to be met during the month, was a problem. price of eggs, the price of gas, the price of housing, the price of a whole range of things. that's why i'm working so hard to make sure i deal with those

problems, and we're going to make sure that we have reduced the price of housing. we're going to make sure we build 2 million new units. we're going to make sure we cap rents, so corporate greed can't take over. the combination of what i was left with and corporate greed are the reason why we're in this problem right now. in addition to that, we're in a situation where if you had to take a look at all that was done at his administration, he didn't do much at all. by the time he left, there's -- things were in chaos, literally chaos. and so we put things back together. we created, as i said, those jobs. we made sure we had a situation where we now -- we brought down the price of prescription drugs, which is a major issue for many people, to $15 for -- for an insulin shot, as opposed to $400. no senior has to pay more than $200 for any drug, all the drugs they can include beginning next year. and the situation is making -- and we're going to make that available to everybody, to all americans. so we're working to bring down the price of -- around the kitchen table. and that's what we're going to get done. >> thank you. president trump?

pres. trump: we had the greatest economy in the history of our country. we have never done so well. every -- everybody was amazed by it. other countries were copying us. we got hit with covid. and when we did, we spent the money necessary so we wouldn't end up in a great depression, the likes of which we had in 1929. by the time we finished -- so we did a great job. we got a lot of credit for the economy, a lot of credit for the military, and no wars and so many other things. everything was rocking good. but the thing we never got the credit for, and we should have, is getting us out of that covid mess. he created mandates -- that was a disaster for our country. but other than that, we had -- we had given them back a -- a country where the stock market actually was higher than pre-covid. and nobody thought that was even possible. the only jobs he created are for illegal immigrants and bounce-back jobs, they're bounced back from the covid. he has not done a good job. he has done a poor job. and inflation's killing our country. it is absolutely killing us.

amy: those are the opening remarks by former president trump in the presidential debate last night. for more we're joined by norman solomon, executive director of the institute for public accuracy and the co-founder of rootsaction.org, which sponsors the step aside joe campaign. his most recent book "war made , invisible: how america hides the human toll of its military machine." joining us from san francisco area. and joining us from washington, d.c., is chris layman. he's the d.c. bureau chief for the nation. chris, have just finished your piece for the nation. summarizing the debate. your overall response? >> the overall response is, for once, pretty much in line with most americans. joe biden really failed to rise to this moment. it is important to remember this is a moment the biden campaign

aggressively helped shape. they wanted this debate early in the cycle so they could do something to jolt biden's laggard approval numbers. the failure of cnn to fact-check trump's many lies was part of the deal the biden campaign negotiated. they did not want that kind of real-time scrutiny either. it is a classic instance of be careful what you wish for. biden, despite a week of solid preparation, was flustered. he was unable to talk incomplete thoughts. already notorious line "we finally beat medicare" which gave trump ammunition to klie and exerts come in his

view, a downward pull on benefits like medicare. i expected nothing of grace, but it was so much worse than what i was preparing myself for. amy: norman solomon, as you viewed this, and then the commentary afterwards on the corporate networks -- i don't think i have seen anything like the uniformity of opinion where you had the democrats and those sympathetic to them -- not talking about fox. msnbc and cnn saying their phones were blowing up with democratic donors, down by letters, people running down the ballot from the presidential ballot. deeply concerned about biden's health and what happened during this debate. you had fox continually quoting msnbc, cnn saying, don't believe

us, listen to the commentators on these liberal networks going after biden right now saying he should step aside. this is something you have been talking about, though you certainly have not been a supporter of president trump. can you respond to what happened last night? >> what happened last night was a tremendous disaster for efforts to defeat donald trump. what happened was a complete catastrophe that was self-inflicted by biden. we should be super clear about this. joe biden showed without any doubt last night that he is clearly impaired. he is in no way up to the job of defeating donald trump. and in the history of presidential debates, no performance has ever come near being as disastrous as what biden turned in. it was a gift to the extreme

right wing. it was an enormous present that had a bow on it and then was unwrapped and handed over to the neofascist republican party. what i think we have to look at now is the response from the democratic party establishment. we had in the spp roomi, governor of california newsomn sing democrats are united fully behind president biden. that is preposterous. it would be a suicide politically for democrat party to proceed that way. i think what we need to look at now is the imperative of a grassroots uprising from liberals, from progressives, from so-called moderates who don't want a return to four horrific years of donald trump that show all signs of being far worse than their previous four years with trump.

what is necessary is something called democracy. lower case d. were people all across this country, calling upon anybody they have elected with a "d" after their name, a senator, representative, demanding they get real about where we are right now. where we are right now is that unless very quickly we have god joe biden no longer at the top of this ticket or the ticket of the democratic party, it is a goldplated invitation to a victory -- not only for trump, but an entire extreme right-wing agenda. so i think we have to now organize swiftly the crisis of the moment is extreme. and that calls upon us to end this pattern of democrats in

congress, serving as enablers for a president who absolutely is impaired and unable to get the job done to stop a fascist weighed in this country. amy: i want to go to biden and trump right now a clip of president biden. >> i want to give you no opportunity to respond to the question about the national debt. pres. biden: pres. biden: he had the largest national debt of any president in a four-your period, number one. number two, he -- that $2 trillion tax cut benefited the very wealthy. i -- what i'm going to do is fix the tax system. for example, we have a thousand trillionaires in america -- i mean, billionaires in america. and what's happening? they're in a situation where they, in fact, pay 8.2% in taxes. if they just paid 24% or 25%, either one of those numbers, they'd raised $500 million -- billion dollars, i should say,

in a 10-year period. we'd be able to right wipe out his debt. we'd be able to help make sure that all those things we need to do -- childcare, elder care, making sure that we continue to strengthen our healthcare system, making sure that we're able to make every single solitary person eligible for what i've been able to do with the -- with -- with -- with the covid. excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with -- look, if -- we finally beat medicare. amy: "we finally beat medicare," norm solomon. what you had last night in the commentary after the debate is people reading the rules for what it would mean for delegates to be freed up at the democratic convention. again, this was not on fox. this seemed to be the uniform, very little dissent on -- and the concern of democratic

senators and congressmembers who you never hear stepping out of line now. explain what that would look like. what would this mean? what are the rules? >> to solve this problem, we would need an immediate and drastic change for implanting backbones into the democrats in the house and the senate. it would be an extraordinary effort that would be necessary -- most importantly -- to get biden to finally agree that he is not up to the job. and to say he is voluntarily going to be a one term president. that is the clearest bypass to getting biden out-of-the-way so we have a chance to get an actual strong candidate in there to save the country and the world from trump. if biden isn't willing to do that -- i have to say he is been

surrounded by sycophants and flunkies, not only in the white house and the democratic national committee, but in congress -- if biden is not willing to do that, then we need to have an enormous uprising. as usual, it would start with and depend on organizing at the grassroots and insisting that power comes from the base of the democratic party, comes from people rather than elites deciding to do x, y, z. what that would look like, ultimately, the democratic national committee would have to take this process in hand. i have to say, this is tremendously frustrating for many people, including me. i must two years ago at rootsaction, we launched a dump the joe campaign after he then went ahead and filed formally as a candidate. we just changed the name to step aside joe. more than year ago when we were putting ads in the hill newspaper, yellow page ads

telling members of congress it is time to step up, they have been entirely silent. this would be a real change. it would be a virtual 180 that would be required. unless biden steps aside -- time is short. unless biden is willing to step down and say he is a one term president on purpose, didn't have to light a huge fire under these elected democrats and the dnc who are mostly, frankly, democratic party hacks, and say this is completely unacceptable. get this guy out of there. we have got to stop trump. amy: norman solomon is with the institute for public accuracy and the co-founder of rootsaction.org, which sponsors the step aside joe campaign. chris lehmann is the d.c. bureau chief for the nation. just out the piece unless dies first presidential debate. we will continue this discussion looking at biden trump and trump spring of the economic record and inflation, addressing

immigration improved -- reproductive rights as well as foreign policies. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "the gambler" by kenny rogers. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. during thursday night's debate, former president trump slammed president biden for causing inflation, allowing migrants to take "black jobs." >> president biden, while black and employment dropped to a record low under your presidency, black families still earn far less than white families. black mothers are still three times more likely to die for pregnancy related causes. and black americans are imprisoned at five times the rate of white americans. what do you say to black voters who are disappointed that you haven't made more progress? pres. biden: they acknowledge he made a lot of progress, number one. the facts of the matter is more small black businesses that have been started in any time in

history. number two, the wages of black -- black unemployment is the lowest level it has been in a long, long time. number three, we find them -- they're trying to provide housing for black americans and dealing with segregation that exists among these corporate -- these corporate operations that collude to keep people out of their houses. and in addition to that, we find that the impact of, on the -- the choice that black families have to make relative to childcare is incredibly difficult. when we did the first major piece of legislation in the past, i was able to reduce black childcare costs. i cut them in half, in half. we've got to make sure we provide for childcare costs. we've got to make sure -- because when you provide that childcare protections, you increase economic growth because more people can be in the -- in the job market. so there's more to be done,

considerably more to be done, but we've done a great deal so far and i'm not letting up and they know it. >> you have 49 seconds left. what do you say to black voters who are disappointed with the progress so far? pres. biden: i say, i don't blame them for being disappointed. inflation is still hurting them badly. for example, i provided for the idea that any black family, first time home buyer should get a $10,000 tax credit to be able to buy their first home so they can get started. i made sure that we're in a situation where all those black families and those black individuals who provided had to take out student loans that were ballooning, that if they were engaged in nursing and anything having to do with volunteerism, if they paid their bills for 10 years on their student debt, all the rest was forgiven after 10 years. millions have benefited from that and we're going to do a whole lot more for black families. >> thank you. president trump? pres. trump: and he caused the inflation. he's blaming inflation. and he's right, it's been very

bad. he caused the inflation and it's killing black families and hispanic families and just about everybody. it's killing people. they can't buy groceries anymore. they can't. you look at the cost of food where it's doubled and tripled and quadrupled. they can't live. they're not living anymore. he caused this inflation. i gave him a country with no, essentially no inflation. it was perfect. it was so good. all he had to do is leave it alone. he destroyed it with his green news scam and all of the other -- all this money that's being thrown out the window. he caused inflation. as sure as you're sitting there, the fact is that his big kill on the black people is the millions of people that he's allowed to come in through the border. they're taking black jobs now and it could be 18. it could be 19 and even 20 million people. they're taking black jobs and they're taking hispanic jobs and you haven't seen it yet, but you're going to see something that's going to be the worst in our history.

amy: former and president biden debating last night in atlanta, georgia, as seen in debate that was moderated by jake tapper and dana bash. we are joined by dean baker, senior economist at the center for economic and policy research. he is the author of "rigged: how globalization and rules of the modern economy were structured to make the rich richer." he is joining us from oregon. and in our new york studios, darrick hamilton, founding director of the institute on race, power and political economy at the new school and also a henry cohen professor of economics and urban policy. we welcome you both. darrick hamilton, let's begin with you. >> clearly, trump is a more effective messenger. if you look at substance of policies, his policies are dramatically framed in a fascist notion of relative status. whether he is looking at black

americans versus white americans or driving a message to black americans. he presents a zero-sum scarcity framework, a threat of another group coming and taking your jobs as opposed to an economy that flourishes. where there is plenty, where there is investments in the unproductive capacities, which spills into democracy. on the others, the bravado, the messaging of basically here is what my administration come all these great things we did, that is problematic when peoples lived experience is clearly are feeling that. a more effective message would be one where here are the trajectories and directions in which we are going. we are affirmatively thinking about race when we do our inflation reduction act. we are affirmatively thinking about race when we consider a cancellation of student loans -- student loan debt. that would be a more effective message. the last thing i'll say really

quick, beyond either one of the candidates, how we got some of the interventions we got during the pandemic like moratoriums on foreclosures, moratoriums on evictions, like sending checks directly to the american people was through political movement, was through agitation. i want to be in a place where we are not reliant on any of these candidates but we have momentum, paradigm change for new economy that is productive and inclusive for all of us. amy: dean baker, if you can share your thoughts on last nights debate? i think "the new york times" put the number of lies at several dozens i president trump. what do you think was the message of trump and biden? >> the biden message unfortunately was very muddled. he does have a lot to boast about. the unemployment rate.

the lowest for black, black teens, and hispanics. workers at the bottom -- 12% real wage growth since the pandemic. this was good. also important point, the inflation was caused by the pandemic. the inflation in germany and france, roughly the same. trump likes to say biden's plan was awful, but pretty it impressive if you look at inflation all over the world. as far as what trump did, when he left office, unemployment was around 6%. jobs were not bouncing back. 140,000 jobs created a month his last three months. took us 5.5 years to get back the jobs we lost with that rate of job growth. the other things he was saying,

close to incoherent. he said it confidently. the economy -- a decent economy. it grew under obama. that is good. it is hard to boast about that. yes, to my view, very painful and unfortunate president biden wasn't able to stand up and take credit for what our impressive accomplishments and point out trump was line. amy: sang for example he created 15,000 jobs rather than 15 million. he was his own worst enemy. i'm going to come back to the economy but i want to go to the issue of reproductive rights right now and abortion. president trump takes credit for the supreme court's decision to overturn roe v. wade, which returned the issue of abortion to the states. during last nights's debate, dana bash noted the federal

government still regulates access to abortion pills which are used in about two thirds of all abortions. this was president trump''s response to whether he would block abortion medication if reelected. pres. trump: i put supreme court justices on the court and he -- they happened to vote and killing roe v. wade and move it back to the states. this is something everybody wanted was up 10 years or so they talked about how many weeks and how many this and getting into other things. but every legal scholar, throughout the world, the most respected, wanted it brought back to the states. i did that. now the states are working it out. if you look at ohio, it was a decision that was -- it was -- it was an end result that was a little bit more liberal than you would have thought. kansas, i would say the same thing. texas is different. florida is different. but they're all making their own decisions right now. and right now, the states control it. that's the vote of the people. like ronald reagan, i believe in the exceptions. i am a person that believes.

and frankly, i think it's important to believe in the exceptions. some people, you have to follow your heart, some people don't believe in that. but i believe in the exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother. i think it's very important. some people don't. follow your heart. but you have to get elected also and -- because that has to do with other things. you've got to get elected. the problem they have is they're radical because they will take the life of a child in the eighth month, the ninth month, and even after birth -- after birth. if you look at the former governor of virginia, he was willing to do this. he said, we'll put the baby aside and we'll determine what we do with the baby. meaning, we'll kill the baby. what happened is we brought it back to the states and the country is now coming together on this issue. it's been a great thing. >> thank you. president biden? pres. biden: it's been a terrible thing, what you've done. the fact is that the vast majority of constitutional scholars supported roe when it was decided, supported roe. and that was -- that's -- this idea that they were all against it is just ridiculous. and this is the guy who says the states should be able to have

it. we're in a state where in six weeks, you don't even know whether you're pregnant or not, but you cannot see the doctor or have your -- and have him decide on what your circumstances are, whether you need help. the idea that states are able to do this is a little like saying, we're going to turn civil rights back to the states. let each state have a different rule. look, there's so many young women who have been -- including a young woman who just was murdered and he -- he went to the funeral. the idea that she was murdered by a -- by --by an immigrant coming in, and they talk about that. but here's the deal. there is a lot of young women who are being raped by their -- by their in-laws, by their -- by their spouses, brothers and sisters, by -- just -- it's just -- it's just ridiculous. and they can do nothing about it. and they tried to arrest them when they cross state lines. amy: that is president biden and former president trump. we're joined by michele goodwin, professor of constitutional law and global health policy at georgetown university and

founding director of the center for biotechnology and global health policy, author of "policing the womb: invisible women and the criminalization of motherhood." professor goodwin, your assessment of this discussion of reproductive rights? >> what it exposes is the chaos we are in in the united states and the supreme court dismantling roe v. wade and the protection of a woman's right to be able to terminate a pregnancy . at that time, there was no need to lean into exception in cases of rape, in cases of incest, or in cases where a woman might die. but that is where we are, including at the supreme court just yesterday, with the decision that was not full but rather something that was technical. we see donald trump pivoting at the end, noting this is an

election season so he has modified his position, basically sending a signal to others in his party not to go to hard-line . that is to say, an americans support reproductive freedom. americans want access to contraception, to being able to terminate pregnancy. after the dobbs decision about women leaving out, having to good one state to another to terminate her pregnancy. americans know their girls going into elementary school and middle school as mothers after the dobbs decision. americans have heard stories about women in texas and tennessee who wanted their pregnancies but found their gestating pregnancies where there was no fetal development or fetal development but fetuses with no brain, no skull, gestating deceased fetuses. and in states where those pregnancies could not be

terminated, americans have heard about idaho where doctors have had pregnant women on helicopters in order to get them out of the state in urgent situations that their lives could be spared. as a result of what donald trump has boasted about. as he was running for president, he said he wanted to punish women who wanted to have abortions. what we heard last night is he talked about exceptions and that is important to him. on the other hand, what we have heard consistently from the biden administration is that roe v. wade should be codified and that is something that joe biden would support. there is legislation in congress to do that. there are a couple of different bills. the strongest support is the women's health protection act, and that is one his administration would support. he has also supported the impala act and these urgent health situations that pregnant women find themselves in.

that has been debated before the supreme court. the supreme court ruled just yesterday that this is a question that should go back to the states and as such the supreme court did not dismantle the emergency medical treatment in labor act, where patients are struggling through the pregnancies, this federal law should apply. and indeed, it should because federal law always preempts -- in idaho, lawmakers have said there abortion ban is broad enough to cover to say there law should deny pregnant people who are in crisis situations, there abortion law would not allow them to be spared. amy: professor goodwin, could you respond to president trump talking about those who are pro-abortion wanting to kill newborn babies? but also president biden then

talking about you've got to be able to have a response to immigrants raping women and women being raped by their sisters? >> the first is there is this republican talking point which is not new. it is something that he has picked up. this was starting before his administration. this kind of messaging. this messaging is that abortions are dangerous, abortions kill the people that have abortions. we know that is not true. you're 14 times more likely caring a pregnancy to term then by having an abortion most of the supreme court acknowledged that in 2016. on this point about abortion after birth, it has been a narrative that has been pushed by hardliners. it does not exist. someone killing a baby after that baby is born, that would be prosecuted. we have no examples of that whatsoever. if we did, we would all know

about it. it would be promoted by republicans. we would know the name of the case, the doctors, the name of the individual who sought that abortion after birth. it is not true. but what it does expose is this lose baked way in which science and health it's and up -- ends up getting distorted. americans have swallowed those soundbites. it is important we are clear there is no such thing as abortion after birth. there is birth and if a child is born and then murdered by someone prosecutors -- on the other hand, what we heard from president biden about individuals being raped, including being raped by relatives, that does exist. people can be raped and harmed by loved ones, by a brother, a father, uncle. there are cases of that. right after the dobbs decision,

we heard about a little girl leaving ohio to get to indiana in order to terminate pregnancy that was not by relative but a close family friend. president biden's messaging did get distracted. and that is to speak from what has been his very firm position of his administration and the messaging of his administration use everything within their ministry to powers in order to protect reproductive health rights and justice for all people. last not, the messaging got a bit marbled. amy: michelle goodman, thank you for being with us professor of , constitutional law and global health policy at georgetown university, author of "policing the womb." when we come back, we will look at immigration and foreign policy in this first presidential debate. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "hurt" covered by johnny cash. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the first 2024 presidential debate between president biden and former president trump held thursday night marking the first

time a sitting president debated of former one. one of the major issues was abortion. we will start with president trump. immigration, sorry. we will start with president trump. pres. trump: i said, close the border. we had the safest border in history. the final couple of months of my presidency, we we had, according to border patrol, who is great -- and, by the way, who endorsed me for president. but i won't say that. but they endorsed me for president. brandon, just speak to him. but look, we had the safest border in history. now we have the worst border in history. there's never been anything like it. and people are dying all over the place, including the people that are coming up in caravans. >> thank you, president trump. president biden? pres. biden: the only terrorist who has done anything crossing the border is one who came along and killed three under his administration, killed -- an al qaeda person in his administration, killed three american soldiers -- killed three american soldiers. that's the only terrorist that's there. i'm not saying no terrorist ever got through.

but the idea they're emptying their prisons, we're welcoming these people, that's simply not true. there's no data to support what he said. once again, he's exaggerating. he's lying. amy: for more we're joined by silky shah the executive , director of detention watch network and the author of the book "unbuild walls: why immigrant justice needs abolition." her new piece for the nation is headlined "with his immigration policy, biden capitulates to the right's racist agenda." she is joining us from washington state. silky, if you can respond to both trump and biden talking about immigration last night? >> yes. i think it was a really, really rough night for those who are fighting for immigrant rights, immigrant justice. biden -- well, trump repeatedly was stoking a moral panic on immigration and biden had very little in response.

it was really terrifying to see. trump some point, he was critiquing the clinton administration freezing the term "super predators" in reflection on black youth and community's and the 1990's but repeatedly trump called immigrants really horrible things. murderers and rapists and constantly saying that across the world people are emptying prisons and sending people to the u.s. and stoking a moral panic. and rather than responding with moral leadership, biden fell into the trap and was responding in ways -- some point he even said there should be a total ban at the border, that he was going to push total ban and is sort of corrected himself and said a total initiative at the border. it was entirely in every single way -- trump kept bringing back

immigration and stoking this crime panic and pushing this. biden had little in response. instead, fell into the trap and kept reinforcing the idea that immigration is a public safety issue and immigrants should be met with law enforcement at the border instead of aid and not really debunking this idea it is a public safety issue and showing more leadership in some way. amy: and trump's comments come every state is a border now? >> i think that was terrifying to hear. what we see across the country is that states are pushing anti-immigrant legislation. we saw this four years ago with the arizona passing sb1070, the show me the papers law, and now we see it under avid in texas with operation lone star and other laws using the criminal legal system. this is a whole conversation that kept time back as i did the

criminal legal system should be used to target immigrants. trump sang every state is a border now is signaling to all those states, they should pass their own immigration laws that use the criminal legal system to target immigrants, detain, incarcerate, have them have long sentences in prison before being deported. that is what i was hearing being signaled with that. amy: and the false trope about immigrant crime rates and what it really is compared to the general population? of course you have trump repeating this over and over again but the inexplicable response to abortion that president biden gave immediately talking about an immigrant raping a woman? >> absolutely. in so many ways, the politicians repeatedly use it to gain political points, to do

everything they can to win elections. this is what we're seeing. this is what we have seen time and again, especially in the 1990's where we saw the rise in mass incarceration. it is remarkable. a few years ago we had of people on the street call into defund the police, really understanding the inherent racism of our criminal legal system, mass incarceration, racist policing, and millions of people on the street calling for the end to mass deportation and family separations we see. now we are at this place where both candidates are repeatedly using a moral panic and pushing more state power and systemic repression at the border and in communities across the country. i says planning to build -- ice planning to build detention centers. amy: silky shah, thank you for being with us. it was also the lack of fact pecking by the moderators when this repeated trope of immigrants commit crimes when

the fact is in the general population, the crime rate is much higher than in the immigrant population. silky shah is the executive director of detention watch network, and author of "unbuild walls: why immigrant justice needs abolition." we're going to turn to foreign policy now. pres. biden: everyone from the united nations to the security council straight through to the g7 to the israelis and netanyahu himself have endorsed the plan i put forward, endorsed the plan i put forward, which has three stages to it. the first stage is to treat the hostages for a ceasefire. second phase is a ceasefire with additional conditions. the third phase is know the end of the war. the only one who wants the war to continue is hamas, number one. they're the only ones standing down. we're still pushing hard from -- to get them to accept. in the meantime, what's happened in israel? we're finally -- the only thing

i've denied israel was 2000 pound bombs. they don't work very well in populated areas. they kill a lot of innocent people. we are providing israel with all the weapons they need and when they need them. pres. trump: as far as israel and hamas, israel is the 1 -- he said the only one that wants to keep going is hamas and israel is the one. you should let them go and finish the job. he doesn't want to do it. he has become like a palestinian. but they don't like him because he is a very bad palestinian. he is a weak one. amy: president trump and president biden debating gaza. norman solomon is still with us, executive director of the institute for public accuracy and cofounder of rootsaction.org stuff his most recent book, "war made invisible." your response? >> these two candidates are extremely led to wrists. one of them, donald trump, is a proponent and express her of fascistic politics.

in terms of gaza, we have a president who has enabled and participated in mass murder and genocide, continuing to shift all sorts of weapons and ammunition to israel while it slaughters civilians every single day, refuses to engage in diplomacy, and yet that wasn't being debated at all. they were arguing about how well they would assist israel in suppressing the rights of palestinians and killing them every day. that is where we are. i think as we are very clear about the reality of these militarists who are willing to slaughter civilians every day come at the same time we are facing now a fork in the road. if donald trump is elected president, then the left progressives, even a lot of liberals, will be on the defensive for four years. the space to organize will be virtually disappearing except to try to mitigate the damage that

will be done by the administration. under a biden or or democratic administration, we have huge problems, terrible foreign policy, but we have more space to organize a we're not just back on our heels. we can organize for real progressive change. amy: chris lehmann, your final thoughts as you watch this debate, stayed up to the not writing your piece for the nation? >> i would echo virtually everything your other guests have said. i think norman underlined an important point which is the urgent need to mobilize in a democratic way to change the democratic ticket. it is a constant refrain, and it is true, among biden supporters the soul of the nation and the fate of our democracy are both

on the ballot in this cycle. what is paradoxical is we see it in the case of the gaza war, which is vastly unpopular with the general public. there is a refusal to heed democratic voices within the biden administration. and within a larger democratic party. it is important to remember the reason democrats nominated joe biden in 2020 was that barack obama basically went behind the scenes to persuade all of his other primary rivals to fold their hands and cut deals with biden to make in the front runner. and that was at a moment when bernie sanders was leading in the polls and actually was well ahead of trump in the polls. so this was a very deliberate decision taken by the party establishment in 2020.

and it is like groundhog day. we're back in the situation where the democrats have tried to galvanize mass support behind a candidate who is manifestly not up to the job and there is a failure to just acknowledge what americans saw and heard loud and clear last night. amy: darrick hamilton,, you just have 20 seconds? >> what is lost and sat in the messaging from this debate is some of the unprecedented interventions that happened in the pandemic, as dramatic as that was, especially in contrast to the great recession where we invested directly in the american people. we should be building upon that. amy: darrick hamilton, the institute on race, power and political economy at the new school, chris layman and norman

solomon and shall goodwin, silky shah, and dean baker. democracy now! is currently accepting applications for a director of development. check our website at democracynow.org.