The first US presidential debate, held last night Tuesday 29 September at the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, was short of its expectations as both candidates of Republican Party, Donald Trump and Joe Biden of Democratic Party interrupting and insulting each other.
The 90-minute encounter was characterised by frequent interruptions, mostly from Trump, and insults, with Biden calling the President a clown.
Former vice-president and Democratic candidate Joe Biden got some talking points in, and at some points managed to chuckle, shake his head or say, “shut up man”.
“Will you shut up, man? This is so unpresidential”, Biden responded as Trump interrupted him while answering a question on the president’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Barrett.
At one point Trump hit Biden about his son Hunter Biden’s battle with drug addiction but Biden turned it into a genuinely human moment; admitting that, like many Americans, his son had problems with drug use.
During the COVID-19 segment, Trump told Biden to stop using the word “smart” because there was nothing smart about him.
As the debate got heated with Trump interrupting Biden, the moderator urged the President to allow his rival finish and then get the final word on the economy segment
“Biden responded: “No, it is hard to get any word in with this clown”.
One of the most remarkable moments was when the moderator asked the President if he was willing to condemn white supremacists and armed groups fueling violence in the country.
Trump said he was willing to do that but added that the violence he had seen was from the left wing.
Challenged to condemn them, he insisted that the opposition was responsible for the violence protests across the country and not white supremacists.
Trump reiterated his position on mail-in ballot, describing it as a disaster and adding that it would be a fraud on a scale never seen before.
Asked if he would refrain from declaring victory until the election results were officially announced, Trump said he would only “go along with that” if the exercise was credible.
However, opinion reveals that mostly Americans tuned in for the debate to root for their guy. According to a CBS poll, 73 per cent were watching as cheerleaders, while only 6 per cent were watching to make up their minds. Still, it’s hard to imagine that anyone who was not already decided and was relying on the debate to help them come to some resolution was able to glean much about policy.
According to a CBS poll, 48 percent said Biden won the debate while 41 percent said so of Trump. That may have been reflective of the opinions people had before turning on the debate.
