Presidential debate: I feel sorry US has to pick between Trump and Biden, says Bolaji Akinyemi

Bolaji Akinyemi, a former minister of foreign affairs, says neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump are fit to lead the United States of America.

US President Biden and Trump, his predecessor, are seeking a return to the White House in the country’s elections in November.

Biden sparred with Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, on Friday night in a debate hosted by CNN.

The president’s speech was at times slurred, throaty, and incoherent, while he stuttered on occasion, and his ripostes came across as weak.

At one point, as the candidates debated border closure and immigration, a gloating Trump said, “I really don’t understand what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either.”

Biden, 81, and Trump, 78, debated the Russia-Ukraine war, Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, the treatment of veterans, abortion, taxes, medicare, inflation, Afghanistan, and America’s standing in the world.

Throughout the debate, Trump repeatedly put Biden on the defensive.

After the debate, John King, CNN’s chief national correspondent, said the Democratic Party is looking to replace Biden as its presumptive nominee ahead of its national convention in August.

Speaking on Arise TV on Friday, Akinyemi said Democrats did Biden a disservice by agreeing to the debate in the first place, knowing the incumbent’s frail position.

“I feel sorry for Biden. You know Biden is a stammerer; he was taught how to speak, and that affects the way he speaks. The optics of his look were terrible; he looked lost, I admit,” the former minister said.

“Above all, I feel sorry for the United States that it has to be a choice between the two people.

“I believe that Biden could have done a better job of going after Trump. Trump avoided practically every question he was asked; he twisted everything back to this question of illegal immigrants.

“Even when Biden could have gone after him as being a friend of dictators, he didn’t.

“Biden thought he was in a university debating society, and that was terrible where you’re dealing with someone like Trump.

“What I don’t understand is why the aides of Biden agreed to have that debate. I understood that they were even the ones who asked for it.

“They did their principal a disservice by allowing that to happen; you cannot cure the looks of an old man. He looked old, and he looked lost.”

Akinyemi also criticised Trump’s performance, accusing the former president of tactically avoiding questions and throwing them back to Biden.

The former minister said Biden’s positions on policies were commendable but stressed that his poor delivery marred the outcome.