Trump and Biden face off in debate labeled ‘worst in history’
WASHINGTON DC, USA (North Press) – On Tuesday, President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden faced off in the first presidential debate of 2020 in Cleveland, just five weeks out from Election Day.
On October 11, 2019, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced that it would host four debates. Three of the four presidential debates will be between incumbent president Donald Trump, Democratic nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden, and any other participants that qualify.
There are three presidential debates on the agenda: 29 September in Cleveland, Ohio, 15 October in Miami, Florida, 22 October in Nashville, Tennessee, and Vice-President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris will also go head-to-head on 7 October in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The debate’s moderator, Chris Wallace of “Fox News Sunday,” selected six topics for Tuesday, with each segment expected to get approximately 15 minutes: Trump’s and Biden’s records, the Supreme Court, COVID-19, the economy, race and violence in U.S. cities, and the integrity of the election — the final topic, as Trump has stated that he wouldn’t commit to a peaceful transfer of power.
Trump and Biden got two minutes each to respond to the question initially before the back-and-forth begins.
Instead, Trump delivered a performance that amounted to shouting his Twitter feed at Biden while Mr. Biden was speaking.
He yelled about entanglements involving Mr. Biden’s son Hunter, accused him of being in league with ANTIFA and socialists, and said the federal government’s top scientists were wrong to be cautious about a coronavirus vaccine.
Trump frequently interrupted both Biden and Wallace, taking swipes at Biden’s son, going over his allotted time, and ignoring other rules.
President Trump refused to categorically denounce white supremacists on Tuesday night, diverting a question about right-wing extremist violence in Charlottesville, Va., and Portland, Ore., into an attack on “left-wing” protesters.
Trump, when asked about whether he would condemn white supremacists, failed to fully do so, telling the right-wing Proud Boys group, “Stand back and standby.” He also continued to cast unwarranted doubt on mail-in ballots.
Top advisers to Biden, in the aftermath of a messy and hostile debate that some have already claimed was the worst in American history, say he will participate in the remaining debates with Trump.
“Yes, Joe Biden’s going to show up,” Kate Bedingfield, the deputy campaign manager, said on after the debate. “He’s going to continue speaking directly to the American people.”
Wallace ended Tuesday’s debate by asking each candidate whether he would pledge to urge calm among his supporters and promise not to make a preemptive claim of victory while votes were still being counted.
Biden said yes, while Trump pointedly refused.
“I’m urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully,” the president said, repeating misleading claims about mail voting — a process of which he has availed himself and which more Americans are using this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden talked about the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed the lives of more than 205,000 people in the United States.
Addressing the American voters, Biden asked: “How many of you woke up this morning with an empty chair at the kitchen table because one of them died of COVID-19?”
Trump said, “You wouldn’t do the work we’ve done.”
“I know what to do when the president has no plan,” Biden replied.
Trump defended his decision to nominate a conservative judge to the Supreme Court a few weeks before the election.
Biden stressed the need to postpone the appointment of a judge on the Supreme Court until after the presidential elections.
Trump refused, defending his right to appoint a successor to the late Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Trump said, “We won the 2016 election and we have the right to do so.”
Biden quickly responded, “We have to wait until we see the outcome of this election.”
Regarding his tax record, Trump said he pays millions of dollars in income tax.
Biden said, however, that Trump had used the tax code to his advantage and that he would repeal the withholding law if he wins.
Aaron Cal, a professor at the University of Michigan and a specialist in presidential debates, told AFP that the debate “will remain one of the worst debates in history.”
Trump warned ominously, and without evidence, of “bad things” in Philadelphia. “If I see tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated, I can’t go along with that,” he added.
It marked the latest instance in which the Republican incumbent has refused to commit to accepting the results of the election.
In the final moments of Tuesday’s debate, President Trump repeated his baseless claim that mail balloting will invite widespread fraud and declined to commit to accepting the results of the election.
The presidential elections will be held in conjunction with elections for the House of Representatives and the Senate, in several elections at the state and local levels.
The winner of the 2020 US presidential elections is scheduled to be inaugurated on January 20, 2021.