There are no parallels for the first debate of the 2024 US presidential election cycle.
From the moment Joe Biden walked across the stage, stiff-backed and straight-armed, disaster unfolded for the sitting president.
The bar Biden had to clear as he squared off against former president Donald Trump was always unfairly high. The election had already been framed as one largely about age, rather than, as Biden himself has argued, an existential fight for American democracy.
