Trump and Biden Debate: A summary
The first debate between President Democrat nominee Donald Trump and Joe Biden was more of a boxing match than a debate. Insults were hurled, rules from moderator Chris Wallace were ignored. Here is a relatively descriptive summary of the questions and answers.
First Debate Question – Supreme Court Nominee
The first debate question was regarding the Supreme Court. Directed to President Trump, Chris Wallace asked: “Why do you think you can nominate Justice Barret to the supreme court, and where do you think Justice Barret would take the Supreme Court?”
President Trump explained why they could nominate Justice Barret stated that “..simply – We won the election.” Biden’s rebuttal was that the “American people have a right to have a say in who the Supreme Court nominee is, and that can’t happen right now as we are in the middle of the election.” Biden continues, stating that Trump wants Barret in the Supreme Court so that Trump can repeal the Affordable Care Act. They go back and forth arguing about healthcare – on a question based on the Supreme court Nominee.
Second Debate Question – Covid-19
The second debate question was regarding Covid-19. Directed to Both candidates, Wallace asked: “based on what you have said and done so far, and what you have said you would do starting 2021, why should the American people trust you more than your opponent to deal with this public health crisis going forward?” Biden starts, with “two minutes, uninterrupted.”
Senator Biden went straight to the point and user statistics. However, the United States has 4% of the world’s population but has 20% of the Coronavirus deaths. He hammers home that Trump knew about the Coronavirus since February, but “didn’t tell us or give people are warning to panic the American people.”
Trump interrupts multiple times in this segment, with Chris Wallace stating four times in Biden’s 2 minutes that “[Biden] has two minutes.” We do not hear Trump’s two minutes, only his rebuttals to Biden’s statements stating that “If we would have listened to [Biden], the country would have been left wide open” and that “millions would have died, not 200,000”. Trump presses that the Fake news has portrayed him as have done a lousy job.
It is interesting to note that Mr. Biden continues the debate the way a regular politician debates – looking into the camera, trying to favor the American Public rather than entertaining Trump’s taunts. Meanwhile, Trump tries to excite his current voter base by hurling insults and continuing with his Brash, unconventional debate style.
Third Debate Topic – Covid-19 Vaccine
The third debate question regards Trump and his contradictions with government officials and top scientists regarding the vaccine’s timeline.
Trump admitted that he disagrees with both Dr. Slaouci and Dr. Redfield.
However, Wallace doesn’t ease up on Biden either, suggesting that they too have been instilling fear with his running mate, Senator Harris, stating that public experts quote “will be muzzled, will be suppressed.”
With jabs at both sides, the debate goes on with Biden calling out Trump’s rallies and no masks, while Trump calls out Biden for not having enough supporters to even start a rally.
Fourth Debate Topic – Economy, V-Shape or K-Shape?
The fourth debate question discusses the economy and the difference/relevance between Trump’s “V-shape” recovery and Biden’s “K-shape” recovery.
Trump’s answer states that his government “built the greatest economy in history,” and they had to close it down because of the “China Plague” – pointing to an increase in drugs and alcoholism because of the lockdown. Biden shot back, stating people like Trump [billionaires] have made over $300-400 Billion over the lockdown and have only focused on the market.
Biden brings up the New York Times article, which stated that Trump only paid $750 in Federal Tax.
Fifth Debate Topic – Trump’s Federal Taxes
This segues into the fifth debate question, a simple one. “Is it true you paid $750 in Federal Income Taxes?”
President Trump states, “I paid millions of dollars in taxes, millions of dollars of income tax..” however, he does not say whether or not he only paid $750 in Federal Income Tax.
Wallace continues with the economy, asking Biden about his economic plan to tax people making $400,000 a year. Biden states that it would create 7 million jobs. At this point, the argument gets derailed, with Trump eventually bringing up Hunter Biden’s (Joe Biden’s son) 3.5 Million donation, and what it was for. They go ham at each other, basically cutting each other off. Wallace gets annoyed.
Chris Wallace: Stop. Gentlemen, I hate to raise my voice, but why should I be different than the two of you? So here’s the deal.
Joe Biden: That’s a good point:
Chris Wallace: We have six segments. We have ended that segment. We’re going to go to the next segment. In that segment, you each are going to have two uninterrupted moments. In those two interrupted minutes, Mr. President, you can say anything you want. I’m going to ask a question about race, but if you want to answer about something else, go ahead. But I think that the country would be better served, if we allowed both people to speak with fewer interruptions. I’m appealing to you, sir, to do that.
President Donald Trump: Well, and him too.
Chris Wallace: Well, frankly, you’ve been doing more interrupting than he has
President Donald Trump: Well, that’s all right, but he does plenty
Chris Wallace: Well, sir, less than-
President Donald Trump: He does plenty
Chris Wallace: No, less than you have…
Sixth Debate Topic – Race
The sixth debate question regards to race. Wallace asks both candidates, “Why should voters trust you rather than your opponent to deal with the race issues facing the country over the next four years?”
This is where it gets interesting. Biden took the typical Democratic line – racism is terrible, equity for everyone. Trump pushes on Biden, stating that Biden implemented a Crime Bill in 1994, calling them super predators. Trump steers the discussion away from race to law and order.
The second question with race. “Do you believe that there is a separate but unequal system of Justice for Blacks in this country?” Biden says yes.
The third question about race, to Trump. “Why did you remove racial sensitivity training, and do you believe that there is systemic racism in this country?”
Trump states that racial sensitivity training is “racist” and “radical” and that “[racial sensitivity training] were teaching people to hate our country.” Biden calls out Trump for being racist.
Seventh Debate Topic – Extremist Groups
Now we approach the part of the debate that has been the talking point of many news outlets. Chris Wallace asks Donald Trump: “Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and miltia groups and say that they need to stand down?” – Biden and Wallace eggs Trump on. “Do it sir,” says Wallace. “Say it, do it say it,” Says Biden.
Donald Trump says, “Proud Boys, Stand Back and Stand by.” Trump was given a silver platter to denounce white supremacist groups, and he does not. Then he continues to bash Antifa and the left.
This has excited the Proud Boys, a notorious right-wing national group. They have stated that they have seen an increase in resignations as of late, and are now putting “Stand by” on T-shirts.
Christopher Wray, Trump’s own FBI director, stated that the threat comes from white supremacists, and ANTIFA is an idea, not an organization.
Trump has tried to backpedal his comments after the debate, stating that “I don’t know who the Proud Boys are, you’ll have to give me a definition, cause I really don’t know who they are”
Final Debate Topics – Why should voters vote for you, Climate Change and Election Fraud
Trump states;
- No administration or president has done more than he’s done in three years
- The impeachment hoax was a con job
- Greatest economy before COVID
- lowest unemployment numbers
- Rebuilt the military
- Appointed 300 Judges
Biden Turn
- Points out we’ve gotten sticker, poorer, more divided, and more violent
- Fixed a recession their administration inherited when he was Vice President
- Gone head to head with Putin, unlike Trump
Trump interrupts, stating your son got 3.5m dollars from Moscow.
Chris Wallace: “Wait a minute. Mr. President, your campaign agreed to both sides would get two minute answers, uninterrupted. Well, you’re a side agreed to it and why don’t you observe what your campaign agreed to as a ground rule. Okay, sir?”
- Wealth Divide under Trumps administration
Again, Trump Interrupts – calling out Hunter Biden’s cocaine usage.
Notice the difference between the two candidates – Trump talks about what he did. Biden primarily calls out Trump’s flaws. This was consistent in the debate. When the questions were related to why [the candidate] was better than the other candidate, Trump would talk about why he was better – and Biden would talk about Trump’s flaws, not about himself.
Chris Wallace continues the debate with questions regarding Climate Change plans and election fraud, and similar patterns continue in the paragraph above. They talk over each other, Donald Trump gets back on the topic of Joe Biden’s son, etc. Chris Wallace finally calls it an end on the subject of election Fraud and the debate.
In terms of a debate, it was a terrible debate. However, it was interesting to see how both Trump and Biden handled the opposing candidate, knowing relatively well how each other was going to debate.
However, as a form of entertainment? I can’t wait for the next one.
