Biden, Trump set to face off in high-stakes presidential debate

The debate between President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump this week will be the highest-stakes moment of their political rematch, plunging two presidents into an extraordinarily early confrontation before a divided and angry nation.

For Mr Biden, the debate in Atlanta offers an opportunity to remind voters of the chaos of his predecessor's leadership and criminal convictions, and to warn of an even darker future should Trump win a second term. For Trump, it is a chance to make his case that America has grown more expensive, weaker and more dangerous under his successor.

But the face-off on June 27 (June 28 in Singapore) also poses significant risks for the two men - both are the oldest candidates to compete in a presidential race who have been locked in a contentious rivalry defined by mutual hatred for more than four years. That animosity heightens the evening's unpredictability.

A notable misstep a physical stumble, a mental lapse or a barrage of too-personal insults - could reverberate for months because of the unusually long period until their second debate in September.

"This is a big inflection point," said Mr Karl Rove, a leading Republican strategist who guided former president George W. Bush's two successful presidential runs. "Can Biden be consistently cogent, causing people to say, 'Well, maybe the old guy is up to it?" And is Trump going to be sufficiently restrained that people say, 'You know what? It really is about us, not about him?" The presidential debate will be the earliest in the nation's history and notably different from those familiar to many Americans.

Hosted by CNN instead of a nonpartisan commission, it will be simulcast on more than five networks, without a live audience and without opening statements. Each candidate will have two minutes to answer questions, followed by one-minute rebuttals and responses to the rebuttals, and their microphones will be muted when it is not their turn to speak.