WASHINGTON: After more than a year hanging around, Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden met on the stage of the debate Tuesday night in Ohio.
The 74-year-old president and the 77-year-old former vice president are similar in age and share a mutual dislike. But they differ markedly in style and substance. All of that was evident from the beginning on the Cleveland stage.
Below are key takeaways from the first of three presidential debates scheduled before Election Day on November 3.
TRUMP SERIES INTERRUPTS
Trump is no stranger to the offense, but his aggressive stance on stage left his Democratic opponent scrambling to complete a sentence. Trump frequently interrupted Biden mid-sentence, sometimes intensely personal.
“ There is nothing smart about you, ” Trump said of Biden. “ 47 years you have not done anything. ”
While Trump toyed on his bully reputation, he may have been effective in breaking down Biden’s worst attacks, simply by talking about them.
Trump aides believed before the debate that Biden would be unable to withstand Trump’s devastating offensive of style and substance, but Biden came up with a few retorts of his own, calling Trump a “ clown ” and poking fun at Trump’s style by asking: “ ‘You want to shut up, man? ”
His supporters may have been applauded for Trump’s frontal attack. Whether undecided voters, who watched the debate to try and meet the two candidates, were impressed is another matter.
Moderator Chris Wallace was not very amused and reproached Trump for his interruptions. “ Frankly, you’ve been interrupting more, ” Wallace said, asking Trump to let his opponent speak.
TRUMP CAN’T ESCAPE THE VIRUS
Trump has wanted the election to be about anything but the coronavirus pandemic, but he couldn’t get past reality on the stage of the debate.
“It is what it is because you are who you are,” Biden told the president, referring to Trump’s months of downplaying COVID-19, while privately saying he understood how deadly it is.
But Trump didn’t take it easy. He proceeded to bombard Biden with a mixture of self-defense and counter-offenses. 200,000 dead? Biden’s death toll would have been in the “ millions, ” Trump said. An unstable economy? Biden would have been worse. Biden would not have made enough masks or ventilators.
The catch: “There will be a vaccine very soon.”
Biden backed off on his bottom line: “A lot of people died, and a lot more are going to die unless they get a lot smarter.”
For voters still undecided about who would best handle the pandemic, the exchange may not have offered them anything new.
QUESTION ABOUT THE COURT, ANSWER ABOUT MEDICAL CARE
Trump defended his decision to nominate Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court just weeks before Election Day, saying “elections have consequences.”
Biden said he “is not opposed to justice” but said that “the American people have a right to have a say in who is the candidate for the Supreme Court.”
But instead of litigating the 2016 Republicans’ blockade of Merrick Garland in high court, Biden quickly turned his attention to the issues that will potentially come up in court: health care and abortion. It’s an effort by the Democrat to refocus the almost certain confirmation fight for Trump’s third Supreme Court Justice on an assault on Trump and his record.
Biden said that Barrett, who would be the sixth nine-member court judge to be appointed by a Republican, would endanger the Affordable Care Act and tens of millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions, and endanger the legalized abortion. It was a reshaping of the political debate in terms much more favorable to the Democrat, and Trump played. Trump said of the conservative Barrett, “ You don’t know her take on Roe vs. Wade, ” and defended her efforts to try to undermine the popular Obama-era health law.
Biden has tried to pressure Democrats to use the judicial confirmation fight as a rallying cry against Trump, and the discussion of the debate played out largely on his turf.
WALLACE ‘INVISIBLE’ FIGHT TO CONTAIN TRUMP
Debate moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News tried hard to stand his ground Tuesday after saying beforehand that it was not his job to check data on candidates, especially Trump, in real time.
But Wallace fought to keep Trump from interrupting, and at times appeared to lose control of the debate.
“ Mr. President, as the moderator, we are going to talk about COVID in the next segment, ” Wallace said.
Shortly after: “I am the moderator and I would like you to let me ask my question.”
Minutes later: “I have to give it roughly the same time. Let the vice president speak. ”
And when Wallace noted that Trump hadn’t come up with his health care plan in nearly four years, Trump returned the question to Wallace.
“First of all, I’m debating with you and not with him. It’s okay. I’m not surprised.”
Wallace said he wanted to be “ invisible. ”
Well, that was impossible.
RACIAL RECOGNITION
Trump said that Biden was the politician who helped incarcerate millions of African Americans under the 1994 criminal act. Biden called Trump “ the racist ” on the run.
Biden was silent as Trump attacked him as a tool of the “radical left” and a weak figure who opposes “law and order.” He repeatedly lobbied Biden to name any police union to back him. He falsely accused Biden of wanting to “ defund the police. ”
Biden did not capitalize when Trump refused to condemn the armed militias, insisting: “ This is not a right-wing problem. This is a left-wing problem. ”
The former vice president tried to back off, but not until Trump made his case, including the misrepresentations.
Biden regained some balance by poking fun at the president’s warnings about the suburbs, saying, “ I wouldn’t recognize a suburb unless it took a wrong turn. ” And perhaps revealing the idea of allowing Trump the rhetorical advantage, Biden said, “ All these dog whistles and racism just don’t work anymore. ”
FAMILY BUSINESS
As expected, Trump found a way to bring up Hunter Biden, the former vice president’s son, and recycle the allegations about young Biden’s international business practices. Biden called Trump’s litany “discredited” and responded, “I mean, we can talk about his family all night.”
But Biden sidestepped any of the details of Trump’s international business deals and instead addressed the camera directly. “It’s not about my family or his family,” Biden said as Trump tried to talk about him. “It’s about your family.”
In a later exchange, Trump interrupted Biden when he was talking about his late son, Beau Biden, who died of cancer in 2015 after having served in Iraq.
“I don’t know Beau, I know Hunter,” Trump said.
The 74-year-old president and the 77-year-old former vice president are similar in age and share a mutual dislike. But they differ markedly in style and substance. All of that was evident from the beginning on the Cleveland stage.
Below are key takeaways from the first of three presidential debates scheduled before Election Day on November 3.
TRUMP SERIES INTERRUPTS
Trump is no stranger to the offense, but his aggressive stance on stage left his Democratic opponent scrambling to complete a sentence. Trump frequently interrupted Biden mid-sentence, sometimes intensely personal.
“ There is nothing smart about you, ” Trump said of Biden. “ 47 years you have not done anything. ”
While Trump toyed on his bully reputation, he may have been effective in breaking down Biden’s worst attacks, simply by talking about them.
Trump aides believed before the debate that Biden would be unable to withstand Trump’s devastating offensive of style and substance, but Biden came up with a few retorts of his own, calling Trump a “ clown ” and poking fun at Trump’s style by asking: “ ‘You want to shut up, man? ”
His supporters may have been applauded for Trump’s frontal attack. Whether undecided voters, who watched the debate to try and meet the two candidates, were impressed is another matter.
Moderator Chris Wallace was not very amused and reproached Trump for his interruptions. “ Frankly, you’ve been interrupting more, ” Wallace said, asking Trump to let his opponent speak.
TRUMP CAN’T ESCAPE THE VIRUS
Trump has wanted the election to be about anything but the coronavirus pandemic, but he couldn’t get past reality on the stage of the debate.
“It is what it is because you are who you are,” Biden told the president, referring to Trump’s months of downplaying COVID-19, while privately saying he understood how deadly it is.
But Trump didn’t take it easy. He proceeded to bombard Biden with a mixture of self-defense and counter-offenses. 200,000 dead? Biden’s death toll would have been in the “ millions, ” Trump said. An unstable economy? Biden would have been worse. Biden would not have made enough masks or ventilators.
The catch: “There will be a vaccine very soon.”
Biden backed off on his bottom line: “A lot of people died, and a lot more are going to die unless they get a lot smarter.”
For voters still undecided about who would best handle the pandemic, the exchange may not have offered them anything new.
QUESTION ABOUT THE COURT, ANSWER ABOUT MEDICAL CARE
Trump defended his decision to nominate Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court just weeks before Election Day, saying “elections have consequences.”
Biden said he “is not opposed to justice” but said that “the American people have a right to have a say in who is the candidate for the Supreme Court.”
But instead of litigating the 2016 Republicans’ blockade of Merrick Garland in high court, Biden quickly turned his attention to the issues that will potentially come up in court: health care and abortion. It’s an effort by the Democrat to refocus the almost certain confirmation fight for Trump’s third Supreme Court Justice on an assault on Trump and his record.
Biden said that Barrett, who would be the sixth nine-member court judge to be appointed by a Republican, would endanger the Affordable Care Act and tens of millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions, and endanger the legalized abortion. It was a reshaping of the political debate in terms much more favorable to the Democrat, and Trump played. Trump said of the conservative Barrett, “ You don’t know her take on Roe vs. Wade, ” and defended her efforts to try to undermine the popular Obama-era health law.
Biden has tried to pressure Democrats to use the judicial confirmation fight as a rallying cry against Trump, and the discussion of the debate played out largely on his turf.
WALLACE ‘INVISIBLE’ FIGHT TO CONTAIN TRUMP
Debate moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News tried hard to stand his ground Tuesday after saying beforehand that it was not his job to check data on candidates, especially Trump, in real time.
But Wallace fought to keep Trump from interrupting, and at times appeared to lose control of the debate.
“ Mr. President, as the moderator, we are going to talk about COVID in the next segment, ” Wallace said.
Shortly after: “I am the moderator and I would like you to let me ask my question.”
Minutes later: “I have to give it roughly the same time. Let the vice president speak. ”
And when Wallace noted that Trump hadn’t come up with his health care plan in nearly four years, Trump returned the question to Wallace.
“First of all, I’m debating with you and not with him. It’s okay. I’m not surprised.”
Wallace said he wanted to be “ invisible. ”
Well, that was impossible.
RACIAL RECOGNITION
Trump said that Biden was the politician who helped incarcerate millions of African Americans under the 1994 criminal act. Biden called Trump “ the racist ” on the run.
Biden was silent as Trump attacked him as a tool of the “radical left” and a weak figure who opposes “law and order.” He repeatedly lobbied Biden to name any police union to back him. He falsely accused Biden of wanting to “ defund the police. ”
Biden did not capitalize when Trump refused to condemn the armed militias, insisting: “ This is not a right-wing problem. This is a left-wing problem. ”
The former vice president tried to back off, but not until Trump made his case, including the misrepresentations.
Biden regained some balance by poking fun at the president’s warnings about the suburbs, saying, “ I wouldn’t recognize a suburb unless it took a wrong turn. ” And perhaps revealing the idea of allowing Trump the rhetorical advantage, Biden said, “ All these dog whistles and racism just don’t work anymore. ”
FAMILY BUSINESS
As expected, Trump found a way to bring up Hunter Biden, the former vice president’s son, and recycle the allegations about young Biden’s international business practices. Biden called Trump’s litany “discredited” and responded, “I mean, we can talk about his family all night.”
But Biden sidestepped any of the details of Trump’s international business deals and instead addressed the camera directly. “It’s not about my family or his family,” Biden said as Trump tried to talk about him. “It’s about your family.”
In a later exchange, Trump interrupted Biden when he was talking about his late son, Beau Biden, who died of cancer in 2015 after having served in Iraq.
“I don’t know Beau, I know Hunter,” Trump said.
.
