The Trump Biden debate did not appeal to the American media and voters, with CNN describing it as a "deep disservice to democracy."
The debate of President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden was held at Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University and was moderated by Chris Wallace of Fox News.
The debate did not smoothly go due to interruptions.
When Wallace asked Trump about having not replaced the Affordable Care Act with another program, Trump questioned the host's line of questioning. Wallace asked Trump to let him finish.
However, after a few moments of cross-talk, Trump said, “I guess I’m debating you, not him."
Wallace had to ask Trump and Biden to maintain order during the debate. "Your campaign agreed that both sides would get two-minute answers,” Wallace addressed Trump late in the debate.
Coronavirus response
Biden criticized Trump's early management of the coronavirus pandemic. Biden said the government only made the public aware of the outbreak's severity only when it started to affect the stock market.
“Do you believe for a moment what he’s telling you in light of all the lies he’s told you about the whole issue relating to Covid?” Biden asked. “He still hasn’t even acknowledged that he knew this was happening — knew how dangerous it would be back in February — and he didn’t even tell you," he said.
“He panicked, or just looked at the stock market, one of the two,” Biden added. “Because guess what? A lot of people died and a lot more are going to die unless he gets a lot smarter or a lot quicker."
US economy
Trump and Biden took turns highlighting their qualifications to manage the US economy amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Trump cited his business-friendly tax cuts and stock market gains. On the other hand, Biden emphasized job creation while he was the vice president in President Barack Obama's administration.
“When the stock market goes up, that means jobs. It also means 401(k)s," Trump said.
“If you got in ... if you ever became president with your ideas — you want to terminate my taxes [tax cuts], I’ll tell you what. You’ll lose half of the companies that have poured in here. ... They’ll leave," he added.
However, Biden responded: “We were able to have an economic recovery that created the jobs you’re talking about. We handed him a booming economy. He blew it.”
“Even before Covid, manufacturing went in the hole. Manufacturing went in the hole... I’m the guy that brought back the automobile industry. I was asked to bring back Chrysler and General Motors. We brought them back right here in the state of Ohio and Michigan. He blew it," he added.
The candidates' children
The insults thrown by Biden and Trump at each other extended to their children. Trump made claims on Biden’s son Hunter over his consulting business.
“China ate your lunch, Joe. No wonder, your son goes in and he takes out billions of dollars. takes out billions of dollars to manage. He makes millions of dollars,” Trump said.
“That’s simply not true,” countered Biden.
Trump continued: “Why is it, just out of curiosity, the mayor of Moscow’s wife gave your son $3.5 million?”
“None of that is true,” Biden stressed.
“He didn’t get $3.5 million?” Trump asked. Politifact found no evidence that Hunter Biden was associated with the deal in question.
“Here’s the deal. You want to talk about families and ethics? I don’t want to do that. His family, we can talk about all night,” Biden said, referring to Trump’s children.
“My family lost a fortune coming down and helping with government,” Trump responded. “Every single one of them.”
“This is not about my family. It’s not about your family. It’s about the American people,” said Biden.
Wallace tried to change the subject, but Trump mentioned Hunter late in the debate.
“Hunter got thrown out of the military,” Trump said of Biden’s son. “He got thrown out.”
White supremacy
Viewers noticed that Trump did not explicitly condemn white supremacists and tell them not to “add to violence” to the unrest happening in the US.
Trump was asked if he would publicly “condemn white supremacists and militia groups and say they need to stand down and not add to the violence.”
The president made an attack instead on what he describes the “radical left” like antifa, referring to antifascist demonstrators.
“I would say almost everything I see is from the left wing,” he said. “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. But I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about antifa and the left.”
