U.S. President First Debate:
- Trump began by arguing he had every right to do so. “We won the election,” Trump said. “Elections have consequences.”
- Biden loses patience with Trump : “Will you shut up, man,”
Joe Biden appeared to lose his patience with Trump’s aggressive interrupting style in the first 10 minutes of the debate.
- Biden says Trump didn’t take Covid-19 seriously until it hit stocks
Biden swiped at Trump over the president’s early handling of Covid-19, alleging that the administration only started to inform the public of the disease’s severity when it hit the stock market.
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Trump says he has paid ‘millions of dollars’ in federal income taxes
Trump pushed back on New York Times reporting that he paid just $750 per year in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017.
“I paid millions of dollars in taxes, millions of dollars in income tax,” Trump said.
Trump said he paid $38 million in taxes in one year, and $27 million in another.
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- Biden and Trump battle over the economy
Trump highlighted his business-friendly tax cuts and stock-market gains while Biden noted significant job creation while he was vice president in the Obama administration.
Trump: “When the stock market goes up, that means jobs. It also means 401(k)s.”
Biden: “We were able to have an economic recovery that created the jobs you’re talking about. We handed him a booming economy. He blew it.”
He continued: “Even before Covid, manufacturing went in the hole. Manufacturing went in the hole.”
“I’m the guy that brought back the automobile industry. I was asked to bring back Chrysler and General Motors. We brought them back right here in the state of Ohio and Michigan. He blew it.”
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Trump and Biden spar over their children
Biden and Trump sparred over their children, with Trump launching a misleading attack on Biden’s son Hunter Biden over his consulting business.
“Here’s the deal. You want to talk about families and ethics? i don’t want to do that. His family, we can talk about all night,” Biden said, referring to Trump’s adult children.
“My family lost a fortune coming down and helping with government,” Trump shot back. “Every single one of them.”
“This is not about my family. It’s not about your family. It’s about the American people,” said Biden.
Wallace then changed the subject.
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‘He’s afraid of counting the votes’
After Trump again says mail-in ballots are going to lead to electoral fraud, Biden hits back and says: “He’s afraid of counting the votes.”
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A brutal debate comes to an end
The first debate between Trump and Biden was an acrimonious mess, full of interruptions, insults and anger. Will this move the needle in either direction? There are still two more presidential debates to go.
Trump would not explicitly condemn white supremacists
Trump would not explicitly condemn white supremacists and tell them not to “add to violence” surrounding unrest in the U.S.
Trump immediately turned to an attack on what he calls the “radical left” like antifa, referring to antifacist demonstrators.
“I would say almost everything I see is from the left wing,” Trump said, referring to the violence.
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Biden urges voting, Trump warns of ‘fraud like you’ve never seen’
Near the end of the debate, the moderator turned to the topic of election integrity.
Wallace asked how confident Americans should be that the election will be fair. Biden urged citizens to vote, whether in person or by mail. He cited Trump administration officials as he assured that there’s “no chance at all that mail-in ballots are a source of manipulation or cheating.”
Trump has repeatedly warned, without evidence, that an expected flood of mail-in ballots due to the pandemic will lead to massive fraud in the 2020 election. Just last week, Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he lost to Biden in the election.
“He’s trying to scare people into thinking that it’s not going to be legitimate,” Biden said of Trump. “Show up and vote. You will determine the outcome of this election.”
In his own response, Trump continued to sow doubts about the election outcome. “This is not going to end well,” Trump said. “This is going to be a fraud like you’ve never seen.” He also returned to his well-worn attacks against the Obama administration for “spying on my campaign.”
“They came after me trying to do a coup,” Trump said. “We’ve caught ’em all.” “President Obama, he knew about it too,” Trump added, “So don’t tell me about a free transition.”
Reference: CNBC
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