Biden Reacts via Social Media to 1st Republican Debate

President Joe Biden speaks to reporters after taking a pilates class followed by a spin class with First Lady Jill Biden and members of their family in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., on Aug. 23, 2023. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

After the first 2024 Republican presidential primary debate aired on Fox News on the evening of Aug. 23, President Joe Biden took to social media.

The president responded to several candidates’ indications that they would still support former President Donald Trump as the party’s nominee if he were convicted.

“A bunch of Republicans on stage. One united, MAGA ideology,” President Biden wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Eight candidates qualified for the first debate: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

President Trump announced on Aug. 20 that he wouldn’t participate in this week’s debate, saying, “The public knows who I am.”

When asked whether they would support President Trump, Ms. Haley, Mr. Burgum, Mr. Scott, Mr. DeSantis, Mr. Ramaswamy, and Mr. Pence all indicated they would.

Mr. Christie said that the right must stop defending the former president’s conduct and that such behavior is “beneath the office of president of the United States.” His comments were met with boos from the crowd.

More jeers erupted after Mr. Hutchinson repeated his view that President Trump had disqualified himself from being president again because of his actions on Jan. 6, 2021.

President Biden’s campaign reportedly placed a large ad purchase on Fox News’ website before the Republican primary debate, using the event to promote his message.

Ahead of the first Republican debate, the Biden-Harris 2024 campaign and Democratic National Committee paid for billboards, a plane banner, and a mobile billboard truck highlighting President Joe Biden's accomplishments in Milwaukee on Aug. 23, 2023. Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for DNC

After the debate, President Biden also invited social media users to compare him with the GOP candidates.

“You know, my Dad used to say: Don’t compare me to the Almighty. Compare me to the alternative.” So, tonight, compare me to the alternative. And then donate,” he wrote on X.

President Biden also shared a video with the text “What she said,” alluding to Ms. Haley’s comment that President Trump increased the national debt by $8 trillion.

“You have Ron DeSantis, you’ve got Tim Scott, you’ve got Mike Pence; they all voted to raise the debt, and Donald Trump added $8 trillion to our debt,” she said during the debate. “And our kids are never going to forgive us for this.”

CNN fact-checkers, however, were quick to respond to Ms. Haley, pointing out that the increase in debt during any president’s tenure isn’t solely the fault of that president. A major portion of any president’s spending is the result of decisions made by their predecessors, such as the creation of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid decades ago, and of situations beyond a president’s control, most notably the COVID-19 pandemic.

President Biden also criticized Republican hopefuls for being climate change skeptics and supporters of Social Security cuts.

Meanwhile, the president and his economic strategy, Bidenomics, came under fire during the debate.

“Our country is in decline. This decline is not inevitable; it’s a choice,” Mr. DeSantis said during the debate. “We need to send Joe Biden back to his basement and reverse American decline.”

Republican candidates also criticized President Biden for his response to the Hawaii wildfires and his border policies and foreign policies.