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WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden clashed in the final presidential debate on Thursday (October 22), making their case on why Americans should vote for them, with just under two weeks to elections. Day.
Below are some highlights from the discussion.
1. Coronavirus: as different as day and night
The debate highlighted the marked differences in the views of the two men on the Covid-19 situation in the United States, which is experiencing what some describe as a third spike in cases, this time focused on the Midwest.
The audience had to weigh whether they thought Trump had a plan, decide what prediction of the future made the most sense to them, and decide whether to find Trump responsible for the 220,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States so far.
Trump made an optimistic prediction that the virus will “go away” and that the United States is “rounding the turn,” stating that the vaccine could be only a few weeks away, a claim he has been making for weeks.
Rather, Biden warned that the United States was about to enter a “dark winter,” echoing previous warnings from experts and public health officials.
This, Biden said, was compounded by the Trump administration’s lack of a clear plan to contain the coronavirus and the likelihood that most Americans will not have a vaccine available before the middle of next year.
“I don’t know if we are going to have a dark winter. We are opening up our country. We have learned, studied and understood the disease, which we did not do at first,” Trump said. answered.
When asked to present his plan to deal with the virus in the future, the president said it was a global problem and defended his initial handling of the outbreak.
Biden said he would encourage everyone to wear a mask all the time, invest in rapid tests, and help schools and businesses open safely.
Trump also said that Americans were learning to live with the virus, to which Biden responded, “Learning to live with it? We are dying with it.”
2. Foreign policy and foreign entanglements
The candidates discussed their foreign policy toward China and North Korea, but the debate was primarily a replay of positions and criticisms they had voiced before.
Trump repeated his argument that China paid the bill for its trade war tariffs, a claim flatly rejected by economists, who say the cost is borne by taxpayers.
Biden, who has said he will focus on international norms and alliances as president, said he would make China abide by international rules. He also criticized Trump for “embracing thugs” such as Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
But the debate largely focused on the two men’s possible foreign entanglements, with a detailed exchange of Trump’s taxes and deals, and Biden’s son Hunter’s business dealings in China.
Biden said: “I have not taken a penny from any foreign source in my life … You have not published a single year of your tax return. What are you hiding? Why are you unwilling? Foreign countries are paying you a lot. “
Foreign relations watchers weren’t impressed.
“The insufficiency of the national security section of the debate underscores why (the Committee on Presidential Debates) was wrong in not having a dedicated foreign policy debate. Worse still, most of the exchange tonight was not on foreign policy but on alleged corruption, “the Council wrote. on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass on Twitter.
3. The traditional debate returns
Compared to the first debate, which was a mess of interference and interruptions, Thursday’s debate was relatively calm and civilized.
This is likely due at least in part to a rule change that muted each speaker’s microphone during the other candidate’s opening response.
And while there was a hint of insults: Trump mocked Biden for “hiding” in his basement instead of campaigning hard, while Biden accused Trump of playing golf instead of working on a coronavirus relief package with The congress. not close to the intensity and rancor of the first debate.
The change would have reassured, and possibly also targeted, swing voters who did not like the president’s combative attitude in the first debate. Various polls found that most people thought Biden had won the last debate.
This gave the candidates more time to delve into politics, with healthcare, immigration and climate change among some of the issues they discussed.
4. A racist president?
The final segment of the debate was on racial issues, but it quickly turned into a referendum on the president and his character.
“I’m the least racist person in this room,” Trump said in response to whether his comments, which included calling the Black Lives Matter movement a symbol of hate and sharing a video of a man chanting “white power,” encouraged the fight. racial.
Noting his approval of criminal justice reform and prison reform policies, Trump said that no one else had done more for the black community, with the exception of founding father Abraham Lincoln.
“Abraham Lincoln here is one of the most racist presidents we have had in modern history,” Biden said sarcastically.
“(Trump) fuels every racist fire … he has a dog whistle as big as a foghorn.”
Who was this exchange for? Black voters have been solidly supportive of Biden, although Trump has gained some traction among black men and is unlikely to be swayed.
A national poll by the New York Times-Siena College on Tuesday found that 90 percent of black voters said they would vote for Biden, while 4 percent said they would go for Trump.
Instead, the exchange was more likely aimed at white voters uncomfortable with the president’s remarks on race issues, who might reject it on the basis of that.
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