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Bitter adversaries returned to the campaign a day after their off-the-rails showdown in Cleveland made headlines less for its substance than for its unbridled chaos.
President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden look into the audience at the end of the first presidential debate at the Case Western Reserve University Health Education Campus on September 29, 2020 in Cleveland, Ohio. Image: AFP
WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrat Joe Biden on Wednesday called his election rival Donald Trump a “national shame” for not explicitly denouncing white supremacist groups, as the president moved to quell the storm sparked by his comments on the stage of the debate.
Bitter adversaries returned to the campaign a day after their off-the-rails showdown in Cleveland made headlines less for its substance than for its unbridled chaos.
The toxic screaming party, with Trump constantly interrupting and Biden launching personal attacks, even prompted the Presidential Debate Oversight Commission to announce that it would impose new measures to help moderators “keep order” in the next two debates. .
After his assertive performance, Biden launched an emergency stop train tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania on Wednesday where he renewed his criticism of Trump.
“The president of the United States behaved the way he did; I think it was a national disgrace,” Biden said in Alliance, Ohio.
He fiercely attacked the failure of Trump to make a clear and forceful denunciation of the white supremacist groups or the far-right Proud Boys, instead giving a salute to the all-male militia group saying they should “back off and stand by. “that the real problem is the” extreme left “extremists.
“My message to the Proud Boys and all other white supremacist groups is: cease and desist,” Biden said. “This is not who we are. This is not who we are as Americans.”
Trump, in an apparent attempt to suppress outrage over his comments, asked the group to “stand down.”
“I don’t know who the Proud Boys are, but whoever they are, they have to stand down,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “Stand back, let the police do their job,” he said. “Whoever they are, get out.”
TRUMP ‘MISSPOKE’
Biden also criticized Trump for not speaking directly to the American public about his plight during the Covid-19 crisis, which has killed more than 206,000 Americans.
“Does your president have any ideas or understand what you’re going through? Biden asked.” Or does he just ignore you, look at you with contempt, lie to you? “
After the president failed to explicitly condemn white supremacists, Senator Tim Scott, the only black Republican in the US Senate, said Wednesday that he believes Trump “needs to correct” his comments.
“White supremacy must be denounced at all times. I think the president was wrong and he needs to correct it,” Scott told reporters.
“If you don’t correct it, I guess you were right,” Scott added.
Trump spent much of the debate time interrupting Biden, accusing him of being controlled by the “radical left” and trying to get under his skin with comments about his son Hunter’s past dealings.
The former vice president maintained his composure for the most part and was face-to-face with Trump for the entire 90 minutes, attacking his handling of the pandemic, race relations and the economy.
Tuesday’s clash in Cleveland allowed the 77-year-old Biden to reject claims by Republicans that he doesn’t have the stamina for the White House job.
Trump had previously hinted that Biden is too old for the job and that his mental faculties have declined with age.
An exasperated Biden described Trump as a “clown”, a “liar” and a “Putin puppy”, while telling him at one point to “shut up, man.”
Quick polls on the presidential candidates’ performances in the debate leaned toward Biden, who withstood a barrage of spikes from Trump, 74, while offering up some of his own.
A CBS sample of 1,039 likely voters who watched the debate televised saw Biden outperform Trump between 48% and 41%, a margin similar to national polls heading into the Nov.3 election.
‘MELTDOWN’
As Biden’s group praised their candidate’s performance Wednesday, Trump took to Twitter to lash out at Fox News host Chris Wallace, the moderator, claiming he had joined forces with Biden and joined him.
Biden responded with a tweet showing Trump as a crying baby.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump’s behavior in the debate demonstrated why he had recommended that Biden not debate him at all.
“You saw a political nervous breakdown, a crisis,” Pelosi said on MSNBC.
Trump “has never respected the dignity of his office and he showed that last night.”
The Cleveland debate was scheduled to be the first of three before the election, but the bitter debacle prompted some commentators to call for the other two to be canceled.
In an interview with CNN, Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, suggested the Democratic candidate was unlikely to withdraw from upcoming debates.
“Joe Biden will never refuse to speak to the American people,” Harris said.
Trump will attend a fundraiser on Wednesday and head to an outdoor campaign rally in Duluth, Minnesota, a Midwestern state narrowly won by Hillary Clinton in 2016.
The next debate is scheduled for October 15 in Miami.
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