The first debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden was a disgrace. Both candidates were combative with the moderator, talked over each other incessantly and blatantly lied to or misled the public on numerous occasions.
The most sensible part of the debate was the first segment, which focused on the Supreme Court and the vacancy left by the death of late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Past that point, the moderator, Chris Wallace, played the role of a substitute middle school teacher desperately trying to control his class. Trump may have lost the debate on the sole basis that he was guiltier of being a nuisance to worthwhile discussion.
While the debate was a clown show in many ways, a few takeaways can be gathered. On the issue of the environment, Biden backed away from the Democrat Party’s Green New Deal and said it is not his plan. This is in direct contradiction to the climate plan on his own campaign website that reads “Biden believes the Green New Deal is a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face.” Based on this, people don’t know what Biden’s proposal for fixing climate change is anymore. What we are sure of, however, is that it will be much more expensive than Trump’s policy, and a Biden victory would send us back into the Paris accord.
Trump did not fare much better on the topic of climate change, as he seemed unprepared for the question. He offered little in the form of a plan while pointing to California’s poor forestry management as the cause of fires raging across the state.
Another topic that Trump answered poorly on is race relations. When asked to condemn far-right militia and white supremacist groups, he gave only a weak response to Wallace’s question before turning to call out the violence caused by Antifa and other left-wing groups. It stood out as a softball question that Trump whiffed on and will serve as fuel for Democrats.
In the economy segment, Biden attempted to call Trump’s policies failures, despite that median household income was $68,703 in 2019, which is up 6.8 percent from the 2018 median of $64,324, according to a census survey. The national unemployment rate was also at an astonishingly low 3.5 percent in Feb. 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. To say that the middle class was doing financially worse during the pre-COVID Trump administration is a falsehood. If Biden wants to take shots at Trump’s economic policy, he needs to look further than simple rhetoric.
The debate concluded with Wallace asking if both candidates will urge their supporters to stay calm if the election process takes an extended amount of time to declare a winner.
Trump spoke first and emphasized his serious concern that there will be a fraudulent election. His answer gave little reassurance that he will accept defeat if the time comes.
Biden looked better on the question from a moderate perspective, with the message that he will support the outcome regardless of the result.
To summarize the debate, neither Trump nor Biden presented themselves as worthy of the job. If you didn’t know much about American politics before last night, it’s doubtful that you came away with even a modest understanding of their policies. In the most divisive and crucial election of our lifetime, undecided voters and those who are skeptical of voting deserve better than what was just witnessed.