Final presidential debate between Trump and Biden

The final presidential debate between the two rivals takes on a more civilized tone than the first meeting with 12 days to Election Day. After last month’s chaotic debate, United States President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, took the stage again on Thursday night. The two rivals sparred on coronavirus strategies, leadership styles, racism, and climate change. More than 45 million Americans have already voted in early ballots, according to the United States Elections Project tracker.

Fact check: Biden on pre-existing conditions

Biden argued that Trump’s effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act will result in “over 110 million people” losing their pre-existing conditions under that law. The truth is Biden is exaggerating that number significantly, according to the nonpartisan fact-checking group, FactCheck.org.

That figure represents the total number of Americans with pre-existing conditions, but “they wouldn’t all lose coverage, as the claim misleadingly suggests, barring highly unlikely circumstances,” the group points out.

Fact check: Trump on “super predators

During his criticism of Biden’s past crime policies, Trump accused Biden of referring to African-American kids who repeated crime offenders as “super predators” in the 1990s when Democrats were pushing “tough-on-crime” measures. The problem is that Biden didn’t use that term. It was Trump’s previous Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton who uttered those words in 1996.

Fact check: Biden on fracking

Trump continued to accuse Biden of supporting a ban on “fracking,” a controversial method of drilling for oil and gas that environmentalists want to stop. It’s a hot-button issue in battleground Pennsylvania, where the economy in some parts of the state has rebounded in recent years because of the fracking industry.

In reality, Biden has not called for an outright ban on fracking. He correctly defended himself during the debate by saying he has said he does not support new drilling permits on federal land but has not argued for banning fracking.

Final question: What Trump, Biden would say to those who don’t vote for them

Moderator Kristen Welker asked each candidate to offer what they’d say at their inauguration to those Americans who didn’t vote for them on Election Day. Trump: ”We have to make our country totally successful as it was before the plague came in from China. Success is going to bring us together, we are on the road to success.”

He then added a dig at Biden saying, “If he gets in we will have a depression the likes of which we’ve never seen.” Biden: “I will say I’m the American president, I represent all of you whether you voted for or against me. … We’re going to choose to move forward because there are enormous opportunities to get better.”

And Biden also got in his own dig at Trump: “What is on the ballot here is the character of the country, decency, honesty, respect. …I’m going to make sure you get that,” adding that it’s not something Americans have gotten “in the last four years.”

Biden hits Trump hard on race

Following Trump’s repeated claim that he’s “done more for Black” Americans than any president except Abraham Lincoln, Biden unleashed a torrent against the president. “Abraham Lincoln here is one of the most racist presidents we’ve had in modern history. He pours fuel on every single racist fire,” he began.

“Started off his campaign coming down the escalator saying he’s going to get rid of those Mexican rapists. He’s banned Muslims because they are Muslims. He’s made everything worse across the board. He says about the Poor Boys, last time we were on stage, ‘stand down and stand ready.’ “Come on. This guy is a dog whistle about as big as a foghorn.”

Biden and Trump spar over climate change

Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement on climate change when it took office in 2017.“I will not sacrifice tens of millions of jobs, thousands and thousands of companies because of the Paris accord,” Trump said.

“It was so unfair,” Trump said. China, Russia, and India would be allowed to continue polluting while the US would have been required to invest billions in transitioning to renewable energy sources, he said.

Biden said the US has “to move toward a net-zero emissions” by phasing out the fossil fuel economy. “Climate change, global warming is an existential threat to humanity. We have a moral obligation. We are told by all the leading scientists in the world,” Biden said.

Biden said his plan to shift the US to clean energy is endorsed by environmental groups and labor unions because it would create new jobs.

Moderator job well done: Analysis

Kudos to moderator Kristen Welker of NBC for keeping this final debate of 2020 on track. Her questions were well-considered, her tone remained neutral and respectful, and she knew when to get out of the candidates’ way. Moderating a presidential debate has become an increasingly thankless job, but Welker showed it can still be done.

Microphones and muted tone: Analysis

For all the advance talk about muted microphones, the interruptions in this debate have been minimal, especially compared to the first Trump-Biden encounter. Muting the mics was probably a good idea, if only as a deterrent to bad behavior. But the real change here is in Trump’s tone, which is considerably more subdued than the last time.

Trump says he is champion of Black community

Moderator Kristen Welker asked both candidates if they understood why Black parents have to have the so-called ‘talk’ with their young people growing up. “Do you understand why these parents fear for their children?” Welker asked.

“The fact of the matter is, there is institutional racism in America. And we have always said – we’ve never lived up to it – we hold these truths to be self-evident, all men and women are created equal. Well guess what we have never ever lived up to that,” Biden said.

Trump turned the question into an attack on Biden for the 1994 Crime Bill that Biden authored which “put 10s of thousands of Black men in jail.”
“Nobody has done more for the Black community than Donald Trump,” Trump said, claiming credit for bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation passed by Congress in 2018.

“I had to twist so many arms. It was not a pretty thing,” Trump said.

Biden high point: Analysis

Joe Biden’s righteous indignation over the separation of immigrant children from their parents at the US-Mexico border was a stand-out moment in this debate.

Biden seemed to be channeling the revulsion many Americans feel about recent revelations that more than the parents of more than 500 of these kids cannot be tracked.

Biden has an emotional authenticity that serves him well on the debate stage.

Trump to Biden: ‘I ran because of you’

A discussion on race devolved into a fight over character. Trump looked at Biden and said the reason he ran for president in 2016 was that he didn’t think very highly of President Obama and Vice President Biden’s eight years in the White House.

“I ran because of you,” Trump said.

Biden responded by saying “You know his character, you know my character. … The character of the country is on the ballot.”
Trump then tried to pivot back to the unfounded allegations about Biden’s family’s business dealings in Ukraine and China.

“If this is true, then he is a corrupt politician. So, don’t give me this that he’s an innocent baby,” Trump said. “He’s a corrupt politician.”

Minimum wage fact check

On the minimum wage, Trump said he would consider raising it, but said he’d like to see a state option because it could increase job losses by squeezing small businesses. Biden countered that raising the minimum wage would not lead to job losses.
Last year, the Congressional Budget Office projected that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 would boost the wages of 17 million workers who would earn less otherwise, and an additional 10 million workers who would earn slightly more than $15 an hour.
But the CBO also said 1.3 million workers would become jobless in that scenario.

Trump, Biden spar over migrant children

Trump was asked about a report that hundreds of missing migrant parents who were separated from their children and he defended his immigration policies. “The children are brought here by coyotes and lots of bad people… and they use them to get into our country,” Trump said. He added that migrant children “are so well taken care of” and accused Biden and former President Barack Obama of doing “nothing except build cages”. Biden argued that the Trump administration is deliberately separating migrant children from their parents “at the border to make it a disincentive.

“They got separated from their parents,” Biden said, adding it “violates every notion of who we are as a nation.” “Kids were ripped from their arms… and now they can’t find them,” he said. “It’s criminal.”

Trump against $15 minimum wage, Biden in favour

Trump and Biden diverged on the question of a $15 minimum wage. Biden said he supports a federal minimum wage while Trump said the wage should be left up to states.

“I think it should be a state option. Alabama is different from New York. New York is different from Vermont. Every state is different,” Trump said

He claimed many businesses would have to fire employees if the federal government mandated a $15-and-hour minimum wage.

Biden responded that first responders risking their lives and making minimum wage during the pandemic should be paid at least $15 an hour.

“Anything below that puts you below the poverty level and there is no evidence that when you raise the minimum wage businesses go out of business,” he said.

Biden: ‘No way’ Trump can protect pre-existing conditions

Biden disputed Trump’s claim that he’ll protect pre-existing conditions if the Affordable Care Act is repealed. “There’s no way he can protect pre-existing conditions. He’s been talking about this a long time. He hasn’t come up with a plan,” Biden said before connecting the repeal of the Affordable Care Act to the pandemic.

“He’s already cost the American people with his terrible handling of COVID,” Biden said. “All the people with COVID are going to have pre-existing conditions, what are they going to do?”

Trump misfires on scandal allegations: Analysis

“Trump’s attempt to pin a scandal on Joe Biden is badly misfiring,”.“The problem is that the vast majority of viewers won’t have any idea what Trump is talking about. Trump supporters get it, but those are voters the president already has. Trump’s imperative in this debate is to expand his base – yet he’s preaching to the choir.”

Biden: Trump has ‘legitimised’ North Korea

Moderator Kristen Welker asked Biden and Trump what they would do about North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles. Biden argued that Trump “legitimized North Korea” through his friendly relationship with Kim Jong Un and compared it to making nice with Hitler before World War II.

“What does he do? He embraces guys like the thugs like North Korea and the Chinese president and Putin and others and pokes his finger that of all our friends, all of our allies,” Biden said. Biden said he would only meet with North Korean leader Kim Jung Un if he agreed to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.

Trump responded that Kim ”didn’t like Obama” and suggested that the US was on the road to war before Trump became president. “We’re not in a war, we have a good relationship,” Trump added Trump responded that the Obama administration Biden had been part of “left me a mess”.

“There was a very dangerous period the first three months. They left me a mess and Obama would be the first to say it,” Trump said, adding his outreach to Kim averted a potential nuclear war.

Biden challenged Trump to release his tax returns

“You have not released a single solitary year of your tax returns. What are you hiding? Why are you unwilling to? Foreign countries are paying you a lot. Russia is paying you a lot. China is paying you a lot. And your hotels and all your business all around the country, all around the world,” Biden said.

Trump responded that he has spoken to his accountants about releasing his tax returns when the audit of them is complete. “I get treated very badly by the IRS, very unfairly. But we had a deal done, as soon as we’re completed with the deal, I want to release it,” Trump said.

Biden mocked Trump’s answer. “He’s been saying this for four years. Show us. Just show us. Stop playing around,” Biden said.

Trump goes there on Biden corruption allegations

Trump has been going after Biden all week about unfounded allegations that Biden had surreptitious dealings in China and Ukraine, so it wasn’t a surprise he brought them up on the debate stage tonight.

“You were vice president when some of this was happening,” Trump alleged. “I think you owe the American people an explanation… you need to clean it up and talk to the American people.” Biden responded saying, “I have not taken a penny from any foreign source in my life,” and then brought up a New York Times report that revealed Trump has an account in a Chinese bank.
Biden then went after Trump on his taxes pointing out, “I have released 22 years of my tax returns. You have not released a single solitary year of your tax returns.”

A civilised beginning: Analysis

The first half-hour of this debate has been remarkably civilized. But the comity seems unlikely to last. Ninety minutes is a long stretch of time on live television, and as the night wears on, the candidates may find it more difficult to remain polite.

Trump says he’s ‘not knocking’ Anthony Fauci

When asked to respond to his comment that Dr. Anthony Fauci and others were “idiots” regarding their advice on coronavirus, Trump launched into a laundry list of Fauci flip-flops.

“He did say don’t wear the masks” before recommending masks, Trump said, before saying that Fauci “is a Democrat” and that he’s “not knocking him … but Anthony said ‘don’t wear the masks.’”

Trump slams Biden on pandemic shutdown

Trump accused Biden of wanting to keep the country shutdown during the pandemic, saying, “All he does is talk about shutdowns.”

“Democratic governors, they’re shut down so tight and they’re dying,” Trump added suggesting that states run by Republican governors are doing better economically.
“We have to open our country. It’s a massive country with a massive economy,” Trump said, again accusing Biden of wanting to shutdown “the country” altogether.
“He wants to close the country if one person in our massive bureaucracy wants to shut it down.”

Biden responds to Trump’s coronavirus strategy

“He says we are learning to live with it. People are learning to die with it. You folks at home will have an empty chair at the kitchen table in the morning,” Biden said. “Learning to live with it? Come on. We’re dying with it, because he’s never said it’s dangerous,” Biden said. Debaters typically receive plenty of coaching before they step on the stage. Although Trump does not engage in traditional debate prep, he does seek out strategic advice from trusted advisers.

The advice he received for this debate was to dial back his aggression–in these early minutes of the debate, Trump seems to be heeding those who told him to rein things in.

Biden says Trump should be held responsible for COVID-19 deaths

“Anyone who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as President of the United States of America,” Biden said. “The expectation is that we will have another 200,000 Americans dead between now and the end of the year,” Biden said.

If elected, Biden said he would encourage mask wearing, provide for nationwide rapid testing, set national standards for reopening schools and businesses “and give them the wherewithal to do that”.“I will take care of this. I will end this. I will make sure we have a plan,” Biden said. “As Trump and Biden discuss the pandemic, a last-minute production change in this debate bears mention: the plexiglass barriers that had been set up onstage as a precaution against coronavirus transmission were removed a few hours before air-time.

“This decision was made after both candidates tested negative, and in consultation with Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health. Both campaigns agreed to the change.”

Trump’s coronavirus plan: ‘It will go away’

Donald Trump was asked the first question of the debate: “How would you lead the country” on coronavirus moving forward, and he didn’t offer many specifics other than, “we have a vaccine that’s coming… within weeks” and that the virus “will go away”. Trump talked about his “personal experience” contracting the virus saying, “I had it and I got better.”

Despite the number of cases rising and the death toll continuing, Trump said, as he has said repeatedly, that “we’re rounding the turn, we’re rounding the corner” on the pandemic.