WASHINGTON (AP) — They debated the economy, immigration and foreign policy, but it was an argument over golf handicaps that brought out some of the feistiest comments in Thursday's debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Answering a question about his fitness, Trump, who would be 82 at the end of a second term, bragged that he was in “very good shape” and had recently won two championships at one of his golf courses. "To do that, you have to be quite smart and you have to be able to hit the ball a long way,” Trump said.
Biden, he said, “can't hit a ball 50 yards.”
Biden then touted his his own golf abilities. "I got my handicap, when I was vice president, down to six,” Biden said. He again challenged Trump to a golf match, but only if Trump carried his bag of clubs himself.
“Think you can do it?” asked Biden, whose handicap is listed on the United State Golf Association’s website as 6.7, with the last update in July 2018. Trump’s handicap last updated in June 2021 is listed as 2.5. Biden would be 86 at the end of his second term.
Trump called Biden’s handicap claim “the biggest lie of all,” adding: “I’ve seen your swing. I know your swing.”
Trump then sought to shut down the golf discussion.
“Let’s not act like children,” Trump said.
“You are a child,” Biden retorted.
Both men have faced questions on the campaign trail about their physical and mental fitness to lead the nation.
In golf, a handicap is a measure of a player’s skill. The lower the handicap, the better the player is.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump listening to questions during a presidential debate with President Joe Biden, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
This combination of photos shows Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, and President Joe Biden during a presidential debate hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump gestures during a presidential debate with Joe Biden, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
PARIS (AP) — Voters across mainland France began casting ballots Sunday in the first round of exceptional parliamentary election that could put France’s government in the hands of nationalist, far-right parties for the first time since the Nazi era.
The outcome of the two-round election, which will wrap up July 7, could impact European financial markets, Western support for Ukraine and how France’s nuclear arsenal and global military force are managed.
Many French voters are frustrated about inflation and economic concerns, as well as President Emmanuel Macron’s leadership, which they see as arrogant and out-of-touch with their lives. Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration National Rally party has tapped and fueled that discontent, notably via online platforms like TikTok, and dominated all preelection opinion polls.
A new coalition on the left, the New Popular Front, is also posing a challenge to the pro-business Macron and his centrist alliance Together for the Republic.
There are 49.5 million registered voters who will choose 577 members of the National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament, during the two-round voting.
After a blitz campaign marred by rising hate speech, voting began early in France’s overseas territories, and polling stations opened in mainland France at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) Sunday. The first polling projections are expected at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT), when the final polling stations close, and early official results are expected later Sunday night.
In the restive French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, polls already closed at 5 p.m. local time due to an 8 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew that authorities on the archipelago have extended until July 8.
Nine people died during a two-week-long unrest in New Caledonia, where the Indigenous Kanak people have long sought to break free from France, which first took the Pacific territory in 1853. Violence flared on May 13 in response to attempts by Macron’s government to amend the French Constitution and change voting lists in New Caledonia, which Kanaks feared would further marginalize them.
Voters in France’s other overseas territories from Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana, French Polynesia and those voting in offices opened by embassies and consular posts across the Americas cast their ballots on Saturday.
Macron called the early election after his party was trounced in the European Parliament election earlier in June by the National Rally, which has historic ties to racism and antisemitism and is hostile toward France’s Muslim community. It was an audacious gamble that French voters who were complacent about the European Union election would be jolted into turning out for moderate forces in a national election to keep the far right out of power.
Instead, preelection polls suggest that the National Rally is gaining support and has a chance at winning a parliamentary majority. In that scenario, Macron would be expected to name 28-year-old National Rally President Jordan Bardella as prime minister in an awkward power-sharing system known as "cohabitation."
While Macron has said he won’t step down before his presidential term expires in 2027, cohabitation would weaken him at home and on the world stage.
The results of the first round will give a picture of overall voter sentiment, but not necessarily of the overall makeup of the next National Assembly. Predictions are extremely difficult because of the complicated voting system, and because parties will work between the two rounds to make alliances in some constituencies or pull out of others.
In the past such tactical maneuvers helped keep far-right candidates from power. But now support for Le Pen's party has spread deep and wide.
Bardella, who has no governing experience, says he would use the powers of prime minister to stop Macron from continuing to supply long-range weapons to Ukraine for the war with Russia. His party has historical ties to Russia.
The party has also questioned the right to citizenship for people born in France, and wants to curtail the rights of French citizens with dual nationality. Critics say this undermines fundamental human rights and is a threat to France's democratic ideals.
Meanwhile, huge public spending promises by the National Rally and especially the left-wing coalition have shaken markets and ignited worries about France's heavy debt, already criticized by EU watchdogs.
Follow AP's coverage of elections at https://apnews.com/hub/global-elections
A woman walks past campaign boards for the upcoming parliamentary elections in Paris, Thursday June 27, 2024. Voters will choose lawmakers for the National Assembly in two rounds on June 30 and July 7. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
People gather on the Republique Plaza during a rally in Paris, Thursday June 27, 2024. Anti-racism groups joined French unions and left-wing coalition in protests against the surging nationalist far right as French President Emmanuel Macron called snap elections following the defeat of his centrist alliance at European Union elections earlier this month. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
FILE - Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right National Front party, arrives at the Eurosatory Defense and security exhibition, Wednesday, June 19, 2024 in Villepinte, north of Paris. The perspective of a defeat in parliamentary elections mean he may have to share power with a prime minister from rival political party — that could possibly be far-right National Rally's president Jordan Bardella. Macron defeated twice the National Rally's leader Marine Le Pen in the presidential election, both in 2017 and 2022.( AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
FILE - French President Emmanuel Macron, right, meets French far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally) leader Marine Le Pen at the Elysee Palace on June 21, 2022 in Paris. The perspective of a defeat in parliamentary elections mean he may have to share power with a prime minister from rival political party — that could possibly be far-right National Rally's president Jordan Bardella. Macron defeated twice the National Rally's leader Marine Le Pen in the presidential election, both in 2017 and 2022. (Ludovic Marin/Pool photo via AP, File)
