By: Caroline O'Sullivan
With a television audience of 73 million Americans, Republican President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden faced off for the first time to discuss their stance on important national topics.
The first of three presidential debates, sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates, was held and broadcasted on live television on September 29th. The debate was held at the Health Education campus of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
Due to the COVID19 pandemic, only 80 viewers were able to attend the event in person. Per the Cleveland Clinic, these 80 individuals need to abide by proper social distancing protocols, remain six feet apart, and to wear masks at all times.
Audience members were to remain silent throughout the debate to maintain flow.
Moderating the debate was Fox News Anchor Chris Wallace.
The debate was divided into six, 15-minute segments, each segment covering a specific political topic. Each candidate was allowed two minutes to speak, with an opportunity for an open discussion after.
The first topic surrounded the succession of the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court's former associate justice. Ginsburg's final wish was that the replacement of her position is filled after the election. The Trump Administration is hoping to replace Ginsburgs' position right away with the Court of Appeals lawyer Amy Coney Barrett.
The first question surrounded whether or not Ginsburg's succession should wait until before or after the election.
Trump said, "We won the election; the election has consequences. We have the White House and a phenomenal nominee who is good in every way."
Following this statement, Trump said Coney Barrett has many liberal endorsers and has received high praise from many. "We won the election; we have the right to choose her."
Biden, speaking directly into the camera, said that this replacement was an abuse of power.
"The American people have a right in the say for the Supreme Court Nominee, just like they vote for congressman and a president. We should wait to see how the election turns out before any decisions are made," said Biden.
The second segment focused on the nation's current pandemic and why the American people should trust the candidates in dealing with this public health crisis.
Biden jumped in and said that we have 5% of the world's population of cases in the United States alone, and 20% of the deaths. He said that Trump knew how severe this virus was, and he panicked.
"He wasn't transparent. He waited." Biden said.
Biden said that we should be providing more personal protective equipment (PPE) and use the money that the House of Representatives passed to get the help people need. Further, we need to find out what we need to do to save lives, he said.
Trump followed Biden by saying he saved lives according to White House doctor Anthony Fauci. "I did a phenomenal job." said Trump. He said that he got the proper PPE and made the ventilators needed to save people.
"We are weeks away from a vaccine." Trump said. Trump also said that he hadn't done a good job due to his portrayal by fake news. He followed it by saying to Biden, "you could not have known how to do the job."
Trump also brought up the Swine Flu (H1N1 virus) that swept the country back in 2009 and remarked on Biden's poor job of handling that vice president. Trump also led by saying that the COVID19 vaccine has become "political."
Biden combated Trump's statement and said that many companies are talking about "maybe" having a vaccine. If we are lucky and we find something, it could be until 2021 before it arrives. How are we able to trust that one is weeks away, said Biden.
"He knew this virus was a major problem and did nothing about it.", said Biden. "If everyone social distanced and wore masks in January, this problem would have been so much better.
Biden said that Trump placed disagreement and pressure onto Dr. Fauci and proposed how the American people should trust his statements with all the lies he has given.
Biden followed by comparing his smaller, masked, and distanced political rallies with those of Trumps.
Biden said during his political rallies, everyone is far away from each other and practicing safe protocols.
Trump's political rallies of 30 to 40,000 individuals, completely disregarding the social distancing policy and prevention of the spread of COVID19, said Biden. "he is irresponsible." he said.
Trump answered this statement and said, "because people want to hear what I have to say."
When the third segment regarding the economy hit the debate, Fox News moderator Chris Wallace describes how Trump sees the economic recovery as a "V shape" where Biden believes it's "K-shaped."
The V shape describes a sharp decline followed by an equally intense increase. The K shape postulates that the wealthiest Americans are "rebounding and thriving," while the middle and lower-income classes continue to suffer.
During the debate, Trump said, "the economy is recovering faster than expected. I created the greatest economy, and it fell due to the China plague." Trump said he placed 10.4 million people back into the workforce after losing their jobs due to the COVID19 recession.
"People want their businesses open." said Trump. Biden replied and said, "safely."
Biden quickly answers, saying Trump has fewer jobs in his current administration than when he entered office in 2016. "People that lost their jobs were those on the frontlines, saving the lives of others and dying at the hands of it. Trump has insisted opening despite an increase in cases. You can't fix the economy until you fix the crisis".
Biden's economic plan would increase the corporate tax from 21% to 28%, making large business conglomerates pay more taxes and in a different tax bracket than middle-class Americans.
Further, Biden said his economic plan would create more jobs, 1 trillion in economic growth. He also stated the importance of "buying American."
The next segment surrounded racial tension and racism.
This year, Trump recently passed to expand the ban on racial sensitivity training that covers white privilege and race theory.
When explaining why he did that, Trump said these trainings teach individuals to "hate our country."
"I ended it because it was racist. People were complaining that they were asked to do things that were insane, that it was a radical revolution that was taking place in our military, in our schools all over the place", said Trump.
Trump also said he had released many Black prisoners from jail and that he is doing better than any republican surrounding race in this country.
When asked to delve on the country's racism, Biden said, "it's about decency and the Constitution. We require equity and equality for the whole of America; we don't just walk away from it."
Biden also said Trump wants to "divide, rather than unify" the United States.
Biden's solution to alleviating the nation's racial tension and police brutality epidemic is through calling together a group of people and working it out.
Biden believes that rather than defunding the police, they need further assistance from licensed mental health professionals and community policing.
"Violence conducted by officers should be prosecuted." said Biden.
When addressing climate change, Trump said that our numbers of carbon emissions are "low." He described the air and water quality as "crystal clear" and said that people are happy with his administration.
Trump said that they are planting trees, and with better forest management, the forest fire problems can diminish.
Biden offered a different plan. He said that cheap oil, fuel, and gas have zero renewable energy. "We must take the federal fleets and run them electronically." he said.
Highways will have charging stations placed. The new infrastructure will be green. Cars will be built to be more weathered and emit less gas so the heat won't escape. Biden's green deal will pay for itself moving forward.
Biden hopes to create more energy production jobs to help with the high unemployment rate and plans to rejoin the Paris Accord. He plans to donate money to Brazil to protect the endangered Amazon rainforest.
"The Green deal will pay for itself moving forward," said Biden.
At the closing of the debate, both Trump and Biden emphasized the importance of taking time to vote. Trump heavily encouraging his followers to vote in person or through absentee votes. Biden closed, saying he will "be a president not just for democrats, but for republicans."
More information gathered for this story can be found from these sources
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/30/economy/k-shaped-economic-recovery-trnd/index.html
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