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Marked by angry interruptions and bitter accusations, the first debate between US President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden erupted in controversial exchanges Tuesday night (US time) over the coronavirus pandemic, the city violence, job losses and how the Supreme Court will shape the future of the nation’s healthcare.
In what was the most chaotic presidential debate of recent years, somewhat befitting what has been an extraordinarily ugly campaign, the two men spoke frequently to each other and Trump interrupted, almost yelled, so often that Biden finally told him. he yelled, “Do you want to? Shut up, man?”
Morry Gash / AP
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, and the former vice president of the Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, exchange points during the first presidential debate.
“The fact is, everything he’s said so far is just a lie,” Biden said. “I am not here to scream your lies. Everybody knows he’s a liar. “
Trump and Biden came to Cleveland in the hope that the debate would energize their constituencies, even as they competed for the small portion of swing voters who might decide the election. It has been generations since two men were asked to lead a nation facing such tumult, with Americans fearful and impatient over the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 of their fellow citizens and cost millions of jobs.
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Time and again, Trump tried to control the conversation, interrupting Biden and repeatedly speaking about the moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News. The president tried to deflect the harsh lines of questioning, be it about his taxes or the pandemic, to launch volleys at Biden.
The president took a lecture from Wallace, who pleaded with both men to stop interrupting. Biden tried to rebuff Trump, sometimes looking directly at the camera to address viewers directly instead of the president and yelling, “This clown is hard to talk to.
The vitriol exploded when Biden attacked Trump’s handling of the pandemic, saying the president “waited and waited” to act when the virus hit US shores and “doesn’t have a plan yet.” Biden told Trump to “get out of your bunker and out of the sand trap” and ride your golf cart to the Oval Office to come up with a bipartisan plan to save people.
Trump grunted a response, stating that “I’ll tell you Joe, you could never have done the job we did. You don’t have it in your blood. “
“I know how to do the job,” was the solemn reply from Biden, who served eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president.
The effects of the pandemic were in full view, with the candidates’ lecterns widely separated, all the guests in the small crowd screened, and the traditional opening handshake scrapped. The men did not shake hands, and while none of the candidates wore a mask to take the stage, their families covered their faces.
Trump struggled to define his ideas to replace the Affordable Care Act on health care early in the debate and defended his nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, stating that “I was not elected for three years, I am elected for four years”.
“We won the elections. Elections have consequences. We have the Senate. We have the White House and we have a phenomenal nominee, respected by all. “
Trump criticized Biden for the former vice president’s refusal to comment on whether he would attempt to expand the Supreme Court in retaliation if Barrett is confirmed to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Morry gash
The first presidential debate was held at Case Western University and Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio.
As the conversation moved to race, Biden accused Trump of backing away from the American promise of fairness for all and making an appeal based on race.
“This is a president who has used everything like a dog’s whistle to try to generate racist hatred, racist division,” Biden said.
In recent months there have been major protests following the deaths of blacks at the hands of the police. And Biden said that there is a systemic racist injustice in this country and that while the vast majority of police officers are “decent and honorable men and women,” there are “bad apples” and people must be held accountable.
Trump, in turn, claimed that Biden’s work on a federal crime bill treated the African American population “almost as badly as anyone in this country.” The president shifted his hard-line approach to those protesting racial injustice and accused Biden of being afraid to use the words “law and order” for fear of alienating the left.
“Violence is never appropriate,” Biden said. “The peaceful protest is”.
With just 35 days left until the election, and early voting already underway in some states, Biden took the stage with a poll advantage, significant in national polls, close in some battlefield states, and looking to expand his support among the suburban voters, women. and older people.
Polls show the president has lost a lot of ground among those groups since 2016, but Biden faces his own questions buoyed by Trump’s devastating attacks.
