Stars and snipes as contenders tangle
NASHVILLE: The proTrump crowd gathered on a Nashville rooftop bar yesterday cheered and whooped as Donald Trump landed blows on his rival.
Not surprisingly, they put the President ahead of Democrat challenger Joe Biden after the second and final debate, just 10 days before election day.
But what Mr Trump didn’t achieve was a knockout blow, and that makes his fight to retain the White House an even tougher one.
Trailing in almost every poll and roundly criticised for his poor handling of the pandemic, Mr Trump was seeking a game-changing moment that never came.
He went into the debate with the growing scandal over Mr Biden’s son’s business dealings as his main weapon, after Hunter Biden’s former business partner said the Democratic presidential candidate had leveraged his political position to make millions of dollars.
Mr Biden said this week the reports had no merit. But even as Mr Trump threw the
claims repeatedly at Mr Biden, he didn’t manage to draw blood.
“If this stuff is true about Russia, Ukraine, China, other countries, Iraq, then he is a corrupt politician,” Mr Trump said. “So don’t give me this stuff about how you’re the guy who is the innocent baby. Joe, they are calling you a corrupt politician. I think you owe an explanation to the American people.”
In finally addressing the corruption allegations, Mr Biden said: “I have not taken a single penny from any country whatsoever.”
And although Mr Trump kept trying to return to the allegations, Mr Biden held firm and held his temper.
While Mr Biden had a couple of “senior moments”, changing track mid-answer, he managed to hold up his end for 90 minutes.
And Mr Trump shed the belligerent, bullying attitude he showed three weeks ago in Cleveland, even at one point congratulating moderator Kristen Welker for keeping the candidates in line.
This meant Americans had their most thorough airing of policy as the candidates dis
cussed the coronavirus, social security, immigration, race, security and the climate.
Snap polls at the end of the debate were mixed.
A Fox 8 poll concluded that 59 per cent believed Mr Trump won and Fox commentator Sean Hannity said the moderator interrupted Mr Trump 30 times, compared to twice for Mr Biden.
CNN’S “instant poll” said an hour after the debate that Mr Biden won 53 per cent to 39 per cent, compared to a winning margin of 60 per cent to 28 per cent in the first debate.