President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden clashed, in a way, in a duel in televised town halls that featured striking differences in temperament, views on racial justice and approaches to a pandemic that has reshaped the nation.
Arriving just two and a half weeks before Election Day, Thursday night’s events offered crystallizing contrasts and a national, albeit divided, audience. But it seemed unlikely that there would have produced a necessary moment for a president to be running out of time or opportunities to appeal beyond his main base.
He was defensive about his administration’s handling of the coronavirus, which has claimed more than 217,000 lives in the United States, and was evasive when asked if he underwent the required Covid-19 test before his first debate with Biden. Angry and combative, Trump refused to denounce the conspiratorial group QAnon, and only did so in irritation regarding white supremacists.
The Republican president also appeared to acknowledge revelations in a recent New York Times report that he was in debt and left open the possibility that some of it is owed to a foreign bank. But he insisted that he owed no money to Russia or any “sinister people” and suggested that a debt of $ 400 million was a “very, very small percentage” compared to his total assets.
Biden denounced the White House’s handling of the virus, stating that he was to blame for closing a pandemic response office established by the Obama administration in which he served. Though vague at times, he suggested that he will offer clarity on his position on the expansion of the Supreme Court if Trump’s candidate for the bench is seated before Election Day.
After Biden’s 90-minute town hall event formally concluded, the candidate spent another half hour answering questions from those in the audience who didn’t get a chance during the televised show.
Trump and Biden were supposed to spend Thursday night on the same debate stage in Miami. But that showdown fell apart after Trump’s coronavirus infection, which shook the race and threatened the US president’s health.
Trump would not say whether he had tested negative on the day of his first debate with Biden on September 29, admitting only: “Possibly I did, possibly I didn’t.” The rules of the debate required each candidate, using the honor system, to have tested negative before the Cleveland event, but Trump spoke in circles when asked when he last tested negative.
Presidential rivals answered questions in different cities on different networks: Trump on NBC from Miami, Biden on ABC from Philadelphia. Trump backed down from plans for the presidential showdown originally scheduled for the night after organizers of the debate said it would take place practically after his Covid-19 diagnosis.
City councils offered a different format for the two candidates to present themselves to voters, after the couple held a chaotic and combative first debate late last month. The difference in the men’s tone was immediate and surprising.
Trump was Trump. He was loud and argumentative, berating his FBI director, fighting with the presenter, Savannah Guthrie, complaining about the questioning and finally saying for the first time that he would honor the results of a fair election, but only after casting an extraordinary amount of doubt about the probability of justice.
“And then they talk, ‘Will they accept a peaceful transfer?'” Trump said. “And the answer is, ‘Yes, I will.’ But I want it to be an honest choice, just like everyone else. “
He again tried to downplay the revelations from a New York Times investigation that he owes more than $ 400 million in debt and suggested that reports are wrong that he paid little or no federal income tax in most years during the last two decades.
Meanwhile, Biden took a very different and softer approach to questions from the audience. The former vice president, who struggled growing up with a stutter, stuttered a bit early in the show and at one point squeezed his eyes together and slowed down his response to clearly enunciate his words. Sometimes his responses followed monotonously.
With a white cloth mask in one hand, the Democratic candidate brought a small note card to the stage and referred to it while vowing to reverse the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. He said doing so would save, as he consulted his notes, “let me see … $ 92 billion.”
Biden promised to say before Election Day whether he will support expanding the number of justices on the Supreme Court if Democrats win the presidency and Senate and occupy the House after November.
For weeks he has refused to answer the question, but went further on Thursday night. He said, “I’m still not a fan” of expanding the court, but said his final decision depended on how Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation before the Supreme Court is “handled” and “how much they rush this.”
Biden also criticized Trump’s foreign policy, stating that “‘America first’ has made ‘America alone'” and “This president embraces all the bullies in the world.” He became introspective when asked what he would say if he lost.
“I could say that I’m a lousy candidate, that I didn’t do a good job,” Biden said. “But I think I hope he doesn’t say that we are as racially, ethnically and religiously at odds as it seems the president wants us to be.”
Biden said he plans to participate in next week’s debate, but would ask Trump to take a Covid-19 test before arriving. “It’s just decency” to everyone around him, including non-candidates like camera operators, Biden said.
The two men are still scheduled to occupy the same space for a debate for the second and final time next week in Nashville.
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