The Mess in Atlanta

Well, that was ugly.

For 90 minutes on Thursday night, the presidential debate careened between former President Donald J. Trump’s often misleading attacks and President Biden’s shaky attempts to respond.

Sure, they clashed over abortion rights, tariffs and immigration, with Trump often distorting his record and Biden struggling to explain his own. They disagreed over America’s role in the world and slammed each other’s economic policies.

But mostly, they fought about each other.

They hurled insults and invective in strikingly personal terms, calling the other the worst president in U.S. history. Each said the other would start World War III. They accused each other of seeking retribution against their political opponents.

Glimmers of hope for substantive exchanges quickly died. Take the moment when Trump, 78, was asked if he was capable at his age of serving another term. That turned into a spat over the two contenders’ golf games.

Both Biden and Trump are deeply unpopular, and voters have for months been telling pollsters that they did not want this rematch even as they sent the candidates to the top of the ticket.

Watching the debate last night, as each cast the other as the reason that he is running again, it seemed clear that the two Americans who most want this rematch were standing onstage.