US President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden sparred in spectacular fashion in the first presidential debate in Cleveland in the United States on Tuesday night. Along with Fox News moderator Chris Wallace, the two shared the stage for the first time this election season, a 90-minute session that was frequently punctuated by interruptions, acerbic exchanges and pleas from the moderator to maintain order.
In one of the most controversial portions of the debate, Trump refused to condemn white supremacy and extremist violence from the right-wing, though he stated that he was "willing" to do so. Instead, he attacked "left-wing" protesters during the debate. Referring to the far-right group Proud Boys, Trump said, “Proud Boys, stand back and standby,” then continuing. “But I’ll tell you what... Somebody has to do something about antifa and the left. This is not a right-wing problem. This is left wing.”
It has been generations since two men asked to lead a nation facing such tumult, with Americans both fearful and impatient about the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 of their fellow citizens and cost millions of jobs.
Here are five things that happened at Tuesday night’s debate:
A heated beginning
Trump and Biden began the first presidential debate with heated exchanges over health care, the coronavirus and the future of the Supreme Court. The pandemic's effects were in plain sight, with the candidates' lecterns spaced far apart, all of the guests in the small crowd tested and the traditional opening handshake scrapped. Neither candidate wore a mask to take the stage.
Fitting for an edge in their bitter campaign, the two men frequently interrupted each other with angry interjections, with Biden eventually snapping at Trump, “Will you shut up, man?” That was after the president badgered him over his refusal to comment on whether he would try to expand the Supreme Court in retaliation if Trump's high court pick, Amy Coney Barrett, was confirmed to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Trump struggled to define his ideas for replacing the Affordable Care Act on health care in the debate's early moments and defended his nomination of Barrett.
COVID-19 and India
Biden and Trump sparred on the extent of the deaths caused by the pandemic, Trump said that India does not give a "straight count" on the COVID-19 deaths.
Biden said that the 200,000 people who died of the coronavirus were 20% of the global death toll of 1 million while the US population is only 4% of the world.
Trump shot back, “When you talk about numbers you know how many people died in China? You know how many people died in Russia? You don't know how many people died in India. They don't give you a straight count."
Trump said that the pandemic was China's fault, but Biden tried to deflect China's role wanting to pin the blame for its ravages on Trump.
Taxes
Trump would not say when he will finally make his personal taxes public as he has long promised. The president was asked specifically about a report in The New York Times that revealed he paid only 750 in personal income taxes each of those years.
All presidents except Trump have publicly released their taxes since the presidency of Richard Nixon.
Trump has said since 2016 that he would eventually release them. But when asked by moderator Chris Wallace when, he said only: “You'll get to see it.”
Democratic nominee Joe Biden quickly used that as a point of attack, saying Trump does take advantage of the tax code and pays less tax than a schoolteacher.
Trump shrugged off the attack, saying that all business leaders do the same unless they are stupid.
Supreme Court nominee
Trump said that he has the right to choose a Supreme Court nominee while Biden asserted that the winner of the November 3 election should do it.
Trump, responding to a question on nominating Judge Barrett for the Supreme Court to fill up the vacancy following the death of Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg, said, “We won the election and we have a right to do it.”
Biden disagreed, saying the American people have a right to have a say in the Supreme Court nominee and that occurs when they vote for United States senators and when they vote for the President of the United States.
They are not going to get that chance now because we are in the middle of an election already, the election has already started, the former vice president said, opposing the nomination of Judge Barrett.
Potshots, interruptions and insults
Calling Donald Trump a "liar" and a man who "doesn't know what he's talking about", Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden ripped into US president Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic which has killed more than 200,000 Americans, plunged the economy and upended life across the country.
"This man doesn't know what he's talking about," Biden said in response to many of Trump's claims.
Biden also mocked Trump for his controversial remarks on using bleach as a possible remedy for the coronavirus. He also referred to the president as a “clown” during the debate.
“There’s nothing smart about you, Joe,” Trump said at one point. There were also frequent interruptions during the course of the debate.
With PTI and IANS inputs