[ad_1]
NASHVILLE: President Donald Trump will face Democratic challenger Joe Biden on Thursday (Oct. 22) in what promises to be a forceful final debate with less than two weeks left in his turbulent fight for the White House.
The couple’s latest televised showdown turned into an ugly showdown marred by interruptions and nicknames, prompting organizers to quietly introduce the microphone this time to try to keep things in order.
The debate in the southern city of Nashville fires the starting gun in the latest sprint to the Nov. 3 election in a deeply polarized and tense America that fears the results will trigger court battles and more protests.
Trump has stepped up his attacks on Biden, who according to national polls is leading the race, as he struggles to hold on to the White House after four tumultuous years.
NBC News reporter Kristen Welker, who will host the debate, has been called by Trump a “radical Democrat.” (Photo: AFP / Mandel Ngan)
To reduce the interruptions that marked the last debate, during the two minutes that the candidates have to answer the questions of the moderator, only their microphone will be live.
“I think the silence is very unfair and I think it is very bad,” Trump said this week, calling debate moderator Kristen Welker a “radical democrat.”
Biden, 77, had no public events on his schedule Wednesday for the third day in a row, as Trump, 74, has been participating in multiple rallies per day.
Barack Obama was baffled by his former vice president on Wednesday, urging Democrats not to be swayed by complacency over Biden’s leadership in the polls.
READ: Iran and Russia interfere in 2020 elections: US intelligence agencies.
Comment: Trump’s controversial social media is gaining him the limelight, but what about the election?
It issued a stark reminder of 2016, when polls showed Hillary Clinton as the clear favorite, only for her and her supporters to be shocked by Trump’s victory on Election Day.
“NOT THIS TIME”
“We can’t be complacent. I don’t care about the polls,” the two-term former president said at a rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one of the few states expected to decide the election.
“There were a lot of polls last time. It didn’t work. Because a lot of people stayed home. And they got lazy and complacent. Not this time. Not in this election.”
Former US President Barack Obama told attendees of a Biden-Harris rally in Philadelphia that they “cannot be complacent” in this election. (Photo: AFP / Alex Edelman)
He told supporters that the stakes were high to have four more years of Trump leading the nation, seeking to contrast his successor, a real estate mogul and former reality TV star, with Biden.
“And the rest of us have had to live with the consequences of him showing that he is incapable of taking work seriously.”
The coronavirus has killed more than 220,000 people in the US and seriously injured the world’s largest economy, sparking harsh criticism of the president’s handling of the crisis.
While Obama was in Pennsylvania, Trump visited North Carolina, another of the battlefield states, as he seeks to regain the enthusiasm of four years ago.
LEE: Obama criticizes Trump’s tweets, the record in the debut of the 2020 campaign
LEE: Trump tends to his electoral map, Biden points to Obama’s impulse
Trump’s message has included telling Americans that the coronavirus outbreak is all but over and attacks on the businesses of Biden’s son, Hunter, while his father was vice president.
A Quinnipiac University poll of potential voters released Wednesday gave Biden a 51-43 lead in Pennsylvania, which Trump narrowly won in 2016.
Clear divisions are seen on stage as preparations for the final 2020 US presidential debate were underway (Photo: AFP / Brendan Smialowski).
Trump is behind Biden in national polls and another Quinnipiac poll indicated potential problems for his re-election hopes.
The poll had Democratic and Republican presidential candidates tied 47-47 in Texas, a state that Trump won by nine points four years ago and has not voted for a Democrat since Jimmy Carter in 1976.
More than 40 million Americans have already voted, according to the University of Florida’s US Elections Project, nearly 30 percent of the total turnout in 2016.
