Aides told former President Joe Biden he would debate Donald Trump from "a position of strength." The June 2024 showdown didn't turn out that way.

By holding the first debate in the spring, YOU will be able to reach the widest audience possible,’ Biden’s advisers wrote.

W hat was meant to be Joe Biden 's defining moment in the 2024 campaign — an early debate to secure a second term by addressing concerns about his age and showing strength against Donald Trump — instead became a turning point that accelerated his political declin e and led to his political nemesis' comeback.