Insults and interruptions mar bitter first Trump-Biden US presidential debate
Covid-19, health care among topics covered in chaotic encounter
President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden battled fiercely over Trump’s record on the coronavirus pandemic, health care and the economy in a chaotic and badtempered first debate marked by personal insults and Trump’s repeated interruptions.
Trump bulldozed his way through the 90-minute debate, trying to goad Biden, claiming that Democrats were trying to steal the presidential election with mail-in ballots and declining to condemn white supremacist groups when asked to do so.
Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News never established control of the debate, with Trump repeatedly ignoring his calls to let Biden speak.
The two White House contenders talked over each other and lobbed insults in a breathtaking political brawl that made it hard for either to make a point.
At one point, an exasperated Biden said after Trump’s repeated interruptions: “Will you shut up, man? This is so unpresidential.”
Wallace tried in vain to reel in Trump, who ignored his time limits and talked over Biden.
For Trump, 74, Tuesday’s debate represented one of the few remaining chances to change the trajectory of a race most opinion polls show him losing, as the majority of Americans disapprove of his handling of the pandemic and protests over racial injustice.
Biden, 77, has held a consistent lead over Trump in national polls, though surveys in the battleground states that will decide the election show a much closer contest.
Trump repeatedly tried to fluster Biden and force him into a gaffe, but largely neglected to make any affirmative case for why he was the candidate best suited to tackle fundamental election issues.
The hyper-aggressive performance will almost certainly draw raves from his core supporters, but is unlikely to win back critical swing voters.
Trump has more debates with Biden scheduled for October, while vice-president Mike Pence and Biden’s vicepresidential running mate, Kamala Harris, have a debate next week.
Tuesday’s debate followed months of racial justice protests over police brutality against black Americans.
Trump, who has seized on the unrest to push a “law and order” message, was asked if he was willing to also condemn white supremacists and tell them to stand down.
“This is not a right-wing problem. This is left-wing,” he said.
Trump also repeated his complaints that mail-in ballots would lead to widespread election fraud and declined to commit to accepting the results of the election or commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he lost the election.
“If I see tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated, I can’t go along with that,” he said. “This is going to be a fraud like you’ve never seen.”
Biden urged Americans to make a plan to vote.
“If we get the votes, it’s going to be all over. He’s going to go,” he said.
Biden was sharply critical of
Trump’s record on the pandemic which has killed more than 200,000 Americans, accusing him of failing to protect Americans because he was more concerned about the economy. “You should get out of your bunker and get out of the sand trap and ... the golf course and go in the Oval Office and [put] together Democrats and Republicans, and fund what needs to be done now to save lives,” Biden said.
Hours before the debate, Biden released his 2019 tax returns and his campaign called on Trump to do the same.
Biden took the step two days after reports Trump paid just $750 (about R12,700) in income taxes in 2016 and 2017 after years of reporting steep business losses.
Trump insisted he has paid millions in taxes but said he could not prove it by releasing his returns until an audit was finished. He said as a businessman he had taken advantage of tax laws to pay less. —