Trump X Biden: A Debate That Made History (But Not In A Good Way)

The long-awaited debate between current President of the United States, Donald Trump, and Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, took place on the night of September 29th at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. This was the first of three events that will happen and had a huge repercussion, however it wasn’t  because of the good arguments that should’ve been presented, but because of the interruptions, intimidation and chaos between the candidates.

Moderated by journalist Chris Wallace – who was interrupted by the president several times – the debate lasted 90 minutes and covered previously established topics such as covid-19, racism  and police violence, integrity of the elections and others. Due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus, the event was held with a minimum audience and without the classic handshake.

The debate – considered by several vehicles the worst in American history – was chaotic. Trump maintained his 2016 accusatory stance and, on many occasions, proclaimed false information, such as the unsubstantiated claim that the elections will be frauded. “This is going to be a fraud like you’ve never seen”, said. “We might not know for months because these ballots are going to be all over.”

Precautionary measures have been taken due to the coronavirus and many states will have their vote sent by mail. However, studies have found no evidence on a large-scale fraud. In fact, the overall fraud rate in the United States is between 0.00004% and 0.0009%, according to a 2017 study by the Brennan Center for Justice. Trump’s comments about the frauds came days after he told reporters he wouldn’t transfer power peacefully if he lost the election.

When asked about climate change, Trump stated that “We want crystal clean water and air”. He then went on to make false claims about the United States having the lowest carbon. Also, the republican said the California wildfires were caused by lack of forest management. But, according to the 2018 National Climate Assessment, west fires are directly related to climate change.

Even Brazil was mentioned in the debate, by the Democratic candidate, who talked about the exacerbated deforestation in the Amazon Florest. “More carbon is absorbed in that Rain Forest than all the carbon emitted in the United States. I will make sure that the countries in the world come up with U$ 20 billion and say: ‘Here are U$ 20 billion, stop tearing down the forest. If you don’t, then you’re going to have significant economic consequences.’”

Joe Biden’s performance was marked by impatience, which peaked when he uttered “Will you shut up, man” to the President. The Democratic nominee was not afraid to call Trump a racist and a liar. “It’s hard to get a word in with this clown”, he said due to his rival’s intermissions.

The former vice president also addresses that Trump’s government was ineffective when it came to control  the pandemic, which has already killed more than 210,000 Americans. “We should be providing the money the House has passed in order to be able to go out and get people the help they need to keep their businesses open.”, criticized Biden. Donald Trump replied that his administration did a good job: “We got the gowns, we got the masks, we made the fans”, he said.

One of the most reverberated moments was when the President was unable to condemn white supremacist groups. After Wallace’s question on the subject, Biden mentioned the Proud Boys, a far-right group. Trump responded, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,” said. “But I’ll tell you what. I’ll tell you what. Somebody’s got to do something about antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem. This is a left-wing problem.” The Democratic recalled that the FBI has already dismissed this information, reporting that “antifa is an idea, not an organization.”

After the debate, CNN conducted a survey that showed that 60% of Americans believed that Joe Biden performed better in the debate. Moreover, the poll conducted by NBC and the Wall Street Journal two days following the debate, indicated that the Democratic candidate has a 14-point lead compared to Trump. The results of this will only be known on November 3rd.

Meanwhile the next debate is scheduled to happen in october 15th ,the commission organising the debate in Miami said that this debate would have to take place remotely after Trump tested positive for coronavirus. However, the president refuses to participate. On a phone-in interview with Fox Business Channel, said he was “not gonna waste my time” on a virtual debate and “sit behind a computer, ridiculous”.

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The article above was edited by Marina Ponchio.

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• elections
• politics
• presidential debate