WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden met for the second and final time on a debating stage after a previously scheduled public debate was canceled after the Republican incumbent became one of the millions. Americans who contracted the coronavirus.
For Trump, Thursday’s showdown at Belmont Tennessee University was perhaps the last chance to change the dynamics of a career dominated, much to his chagrin, by his response to the pandemic and its economic consequences. For Biden, it was 90 minutes to solidify an apparent advantage less than two weeks before the election.
Here are the key takeaways: COVID-19 STILL A DRAG FOR TRUMP
Trump’s difficulty in articulating a defense of his handling of the coronavirus remains a drag on his campaign. The opening topic of the debate was completely predictable. Trump has received variations of the same question in interviews and has rarely provided a clear answer.
When asked to describe his plan for the future, Trump claimed instead that his previous handling was flawless and predicted an optimistic reversal of the pandemic that has killed more than 220,000 Americans.
We’re turning the corner, we’re turning the corner, Trump asserted, even as cases spike across the country again. It goes.
Biden, who has tried to prosecute Trumps for handling the virus in his closing speech to voters, came prepared. Whoever is responsible for so many deaths should not remain president of the United States of America, he said.
Biden added: He says we were, you know, learning to live with it. People are learning to die with him.
TRUMP ATTACK OBAMACARE, AGAIN
Trump and Biden sought to position themselves as the advocate for Americans’ healthcare, well aware that it was among the top issues for voters even before the coronavirus pandemic hit the nation.
But Trump’s efforts to repeal and undermine the Obama-era Affordable Care Act proved to be a drag, as Biden cracked down on his efforts to remove coverage from tens of millions of Americans and his lack of a plan to cover. to those with pre-existing conditions.
Biden, on the other hand, defended himself from Trump’s attack that his plan to enforce Obama-era law with a public option amounted to a step toward socialized medicine by relying on his well-established public persona and his defeat of the Democratic primary rivals with more liberal health. care policies.
He thinks he’s running against someone else, Biden said. I hit all those other people.
TRUMP TONES YOU
Three weeks after drawing bipartisan criticism for his frequent interruptions and harassment of his Democratic rival, Trump took a more moderate tone for much of the debate.
Trump decided to ask moderator Kristen Welker for the opportunity to follow up on Biden’s responses. If I can? instead of just jumping, and he thanked Welker repeatedly for starting.
From the very first question, this debate seemed different from the first round, when Trump’s incessant interruptions and breaches of time limits derailed the 90-minute contest from the start.
Sure, there were still excavations.
We can’t lock ourselves in a basement like Joe does, Trump said, repeating his spring and summer attacks on Biden who is staying at his residence rather than campaigning in person amid the pandemic.
Biden smiled, laughed, and shook his head. He mocked Trump for once by suggesting that the bleach helped kill the coronavirus.
The two men had a lengthy exchange of views on their personal finances and family business problems.
But overall, voters at home got something they didn’t get on September 29: a debate.
It marked an acknowledgment by Trump that his bombastic side was a drag on older voters and suburban women who have turned from the Republican Party to the Democrats.
INDIRECT PERSONAL ATTACKS BY TRUMP
Aiming to alter the career trajectory, Trump returned to a tactic he believes propelled him to the Oval Office four years ago amid personal attacks on his opponent.
Trump repeatedly brought unfounded accusations against Biden and his son Hunter in an attempt to deem his rival and his family corrupt.
I don’t make money with China, you do. I don’t make money from Ukraine, you do, Trump said.
Trump did not offer strong evidence for his claims and has a history of making claims that do not stand up to scrutiny.
When the Democrat sought to shift the subject of the president’s attacks on his family to more voter-related issues, Trump responded with the accusation that Biden’s canned line reflected that he was just a typical politician, mockingly adding: Come on, Joe, you can do better.
Both candidates struggled to explain why they couldn’t accomplish more while in office, falling into the familiar tactic of blaming Congress for their inaction.
A bigger question may be whether voters are shaken, especially those undecided voters whom both candidates are trying to win over, especially given that more than 47 million Americans have already cast their votes.
WHITE MEN AND RACE
With centuries of institutional racism coming to a head in 2020, it has been a bit disconnected to see a 74-year-old white Republican and a 77-year-old white Democrat fight for the presidency. Trump and Biden did little to dispel that disconnect.
Welker offered multiple opportunities to speak directly to African Americans. Both men said they understood the challenges black citizens face, but the segment consisted primarily of them attacking each other.
Trump blamed Biden as an almost unique force behind the mass incarceration, especially of young black men. Trump declared himself the least racist person in this room and repeated his claim that no one has done what I have done for African Americans with the exception of Abraham Lincoln, a possible exception.
Biden, incredulous, called Trump a racist who fuels every racist fire.
Polls suggest that many young voters of color do not support Trump, but they are not particularly enthusiastic about Biden, either. Your final debate is unlikely to have altered that point of view.
WEATHER
Trump and Biden clashed over global climate change in the first extensive discussion on the issue in a presidential debate in 20 years.
Biden sounded the alarm for the world to address a warmer climate, as Trump took credit for pulling the United States out of a major international agreement to do just that. Trump claimed he was trying to save American jobs, while taking credit for having the cleanest air and water the nation has seen in generations, in part a holdover from regulations passed by his predecessor.
Biden, tapping into an issue of particular importance to his base, called for a massive investment to create new environmentally friendly industries. Our health and our jobs are at stake, he said.
Biden also spoke of a transition in the oil industry, which Trump took advantage of and asked voters in Texas and Pennsylvania if they were listening.
FOREIGN POLICY MAKES A CAMEO
Biden finally got a chance to talk a bit about foreign policy. But just a little. The former vice president loved the issue in the early months of the Democratic presidential primaries, but the general election has been dominated by the pandemic and other national crises.
He used it to forge Trump’s cozy relationship with North Korean authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un. His friend, who is a bully, said Biden, arguing that Trump’s summit with Kim legitimized an American adversary and a possible nuclear threat.
Trump defended his different kind of relationship … a very good relationship with Kim, leading Biden to retort that the nations had a good relationship with Hitler before he, in fact, invaded the rest of Europe.
It certainly wasn’t a deep dive into a complex set of problems.
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