Biden, Trump snipe from road
Post-debate, few Republicans defend president
President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden kept up their debate-stage sniping from the road and the rails on Wednesday, fighting for working-class voters in the Midwest while both parties sought to deal with the most chaotic presidential faceoff in memory.
The debate raised fresh questions about Trump’s continued reluctance to condemn white supremacy, his questioning the legitimacy of the election and his unwillingness to respect debate ground rules.
Less than 12 hours after the wild debate concluded, Biden called Trump’s behavior in the primetime confrontation “a national embarrassment.” The Democratic challenger launched his most aggressive day on the campaign trail all year, with eight stops planned for a train tour that began midmorning in Cleveland and was ending 10 hours later in western Pennsylvania. Trump was to address voters and donors in Minnesota late in the day.
Biden balanced criticism of Trump with a call for national unity.
“If elected, I’m not going to be a Democratic president, I’m going to be an American president,“Biden said at the Cleveland train station. As his tour moved into Pittsburgh, he accused Trump of never accepting responsibility for his mistakes, promising, “I’ll always tell you the truth. And when I’m wrong, I’ll say so.”
While some Republicans feared that Trump’s debate performance was too aggressive, he gave himself high marks as he left Washington. He had spent much of the morning assailing Biden and debate moderator Chris Wallace on social media.
“It was an exciting evening. I see the ratings were very high and it was good to be there,” Trump said.
The first of three scheduled debates between Trump and Biden deteriorated into bitter taunts and chaos the night before as the Republican president repeatedly interrupted his Democratic rival with angry jabs that overshadowed any substantive discussion of the crises threatening the nation.
Trump also refused at the debate to condemn white supremacists who have supported him, telling one such group known as Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” Asked directly on Wednesday if he welcomed white supremacist support, he first said only that he favored law enforcement but when the questioner persisted he said he had always denounced “any form of any of that.”
On Capitol Hill, Republicans showed signs of debate hangover with few willing to defend Trump’s performance.
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney called the debate “an embarrassment” and said Trump “of course” should have condemned white supremacists.
“I think he misspoke,” said South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican senator. “I think he should correct it. If he doesn’t correct it, I guess he didn’t misspeak.”