2020 SEP 29 President Trump, Cleveland, Ohio; First Presidential Debate

September 29 PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE (Case Western Reserve University)

The first debate was held on Tuesday, September 29, 2020, from 9:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. EDT at the Samson Pavilion of the Health Education Campus (HEC), which is shared by Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland. Chris Wallace of Fox News moderated the debate. 

The debate was originally scheduled to take place in the Phillip J. Purcell Pavilion located within the Edmund P. Joyce Center at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, but Notre Dame withdrew as a host site on July 27, 2020, due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.

PRELUDE

Entering into the debate, Biden had a significant and persistent lead in the polls. Biden’s lead was compounded by a funding shortage in Trump’s campaign, with Biden’s campaign donations improving significantly.

Since Biden’s successful nomination in the Democratic primaries, Trump had attempted to cast doubt over Biden’s abilities, claiming that he was suffering from dementia and that he was taking performance-enhancing drugs in the primaries.

Trump called for Biden to be drug tested before the debate. Biden mocked the idea. Trump also claimed that Biden would use a hidden electronic earpiece for the debate, demanding that Biden’s ears be searched. Again, Biden declined.

Running up to the debate, Trump made repeated claims that the election would be rigged by means of voter fraud, especially with regards to mail in ballots.

When asked if he would commit to a peaceful transition of power, Trump said, “we’ll have to wait and see;” however, in a later press briefing, he said that he did believe in a peaceful transition of power.

In several instances, Trump called for his supporters to vote twice—in order to test safeguards against voter fraud —even though voting more than once is a felony.

In the weeks leading up to the debate, Trump became part of various controversies. Bob Woodward released his second book on the Trump presidency, based on 19 recorded interviews with Trump.

In one recording made in February 2020, Trump indicated that he understood the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic early on, which contrasted with Trump’s attempts to publicly play down the virus.

Trump confirmed that he downplayed the severity of the pandemic, saying that “I don’t want to create a panic.”

The New York Times published an investigation into Trump’s federal tax returns, which found that Trump had paid no tax at all in 10 out of 15 years studied, and only $750 in federal income tax for 2016 and 2017.

Additionally, they reported that his businesses lost money in most years. A few days before the debate, the US reached the milestone of 200,000 deaths from COVID-19. This number represented 20% of worldwide fatalities, despite the US having only 4% of the world’s population.

Two weeks prior to the debate, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died from cancer. Ginsburg was one of four Supreme Court justices who are commonly considered liberal; the other five justices are commonly considered to be conservative.

The day after Ginsberg’s funeral, Trump nominated conservative Amy Coney Barrett. Senate Republicans, under the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, moved swiftly, promising to vote on her nomination before Election Day.

The move was controversial, since the same Senate Republicans had refused to consider a Supreme Court nomination by President Barack Obama in an election year. 

FORMAT AND DEBATE

“Will you shut up, man” redirects here. For “Why don’t you shut up?”, the phrase uttered by King Juan Carlos I of Spain to Hugo Chávez, see ¿Por qué no te callas?

The debate was divided into six segments: “Trump’s and Biden’s records, the Supreme Court, the coronavirus pandemic, race and violence in cities, election integrity, and the economy”.

Each was approximately 15 minutes in length; Wallace introduced each topic and gave each candidate two minutes to speak, followed by facilitated discussion between them.

The allotted time was generally not upheld; Trump repeatedly interrupted and criticized Biden during Biden’s answers to the initial questions as well as during the facilitated discussions, and was chastised by Wallace several times for doing so.

On several occasions, Wallace pleaded with Trump to respect the rules and norms of the debate. At one point, Biden remarked to Trump, “Will you shut up, man?” Additionally, Biden called Trump a “clown” during the discussion about healthcare plans. 

At one point during the debate, Biden and Wallace pressed Trump to condemn white supremacy groups. When Trump replied “Give me a name…”, Biden responded with “The Proud Boys”.

Trump then said “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by, but I’ll tell you what, I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the Left, because this is not a right-wing problem, this is a left-wing problem.”

This remark was interpreted by some members of that far-right group, as well as others, as a call to arms. When asked about his position on police reform, Biden called for an increase in police funding.

He explained such funds would be used to hire psychologists or psychiatrists who would accompany police officers during 9-1-1 calls in order to defuse situations and reduce the use of force. 

Fact checkers challenged many of Trump’s statements. Trump falsely said that he “brought back (college) football”; he had commented on his wish for the conferences to play, but took no official action.

Trump also repeated the claim that he “got back” Seattle and Minneapolis from left-wing protesters, and continued to repeat conspiracy theories about voter fraud. He said, without evidence, that drug prices will fall “80 or 90 percent,” and exaggerated that he is making insulin at prices “so cheap, it’s like water”, despite insulin prices remaining fixed at about $300 per vial.

Trump falsely said that the U.S. economy before the pandemic was “the greatest economy in the history of our country”; in actuality, GDP growth was higher under Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Bill Clinton, and the unemployment rate was lower under Eisenhower. 

When Biden referred to Trump’s March 2020 remarks about injecting disinfectant to treat the COVID-19 virus, Trump claimed they had been made sarcastically. Trump then falsely stated that he brought back 700,000 manufacturing jobs; the overall number of manufacturing jobs is 487,000.

Biden falsely stated that, under Trump, the trade deficit with China grew and violent crime went up (only the national murder rate has increased since Trump took office).

Trump criticized Biden’s handling of the 2009 swine flu pandemic, a pandemic in which an estimated 60 million cases in the United States occurred, with an estimated death toll of about 12,000.

When Biden mentioned that Trump should get “a lot smarter”, Trump said, “Don’t ever use the word smart with me, don’t ever use that word. There’s nothing smart about you, Joe,” and incorrectly claimed that Biden forgot where he went to college, referring to a video in which Biden talks about announcing his first Senate campaign on the campus of Delaware State University. 

RECEPTION AND AFTERMATH

A post-debate CNN/SSRS poll found that 60% of debate-viewers thought that Biden had won and 28% thought Trump had, with a margin of error of six points.

According to a CBS News poll taken following the debate, 48% of people thought Biden won, 41% of people thought Trump won, while 10% considered it a tie, with a margin of error of three points. In the same poll, 83% of the respondents believed the tone of the debate was negative, while 17% believed it was positive. 

The debate was widely criticized by commentators and journalists. It was called “a hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck” and a “disgrace”

(CNN’s Jake Tapper); a “shit show”

(Dana Bash); “mud-wrestling”

(ABC’s Martha Raddatz); “the worst presidential debate I have ever seen in my life”

(ABC’s George Stephanopoulos); and “the single worst debate I have ever covered in my two decades of doing this job” (CNN’s Chris Cillizza).

The New York Times editorial board called the debate “excruciating” and wrote: “After five years of conditioning, the president’s ceaseless lies, insults and abuse were no less breathtaking to behold.”

The Washington Post editorial board called the debate “a disgrace” and demonstrated that “Trump’s assault on democracy is escalating.”

ABC White House correspondent Jonathan Karl said that Trump “came across as a bully” in the debate.

According to the Washington Examiner, some conservatives criticized Wallace for an alleged bias against Trump due to Wallace’s frequent interruptions of Trump.

After moderating the debate, Wallace described his performance as moderator as “a terrible missed opportunity” and remarked that he had not been prepared for Trump’s behavior.

In response to the failure of the debate and subsequent criticism, the Commission on Presidential Debates indicated that it would modify future debates to encourage a more civilized and orderly discussion.

While Biden said that he was open to changes, Trump rejected the idea, suggesting that changes would erode his advantage. Despite criticism of his moderation, the CPD defended Wallace’s moderation ability commending his “professionalism and skill”. 

Trump’s “stand by” remarks received criticism. Rick Santorum, a former Republican senator, later said that it was a “huge mistake” by Trump not to condemn white supremacy properly during the debate.

Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade criticized Trump for not condemning white supremacy, saying that Trump “ruined the biggest layup in the history of debates” by not doing so.

Trump’s team disagreed with these criticisms, arguing that Trump has “continuously denounced” white supremacists and did so twice during the debate. The day after the debate, Trump said, “I don’t know who Proud Boys are, but whoever they are, they have to stand down.”

On October 1, Trump said on Sean Hannity’s show: “I’ve said it many times, and let me be clear again: I condemn the KKK. I condemn all white supremacists.

I condemn the Proud Boys.

I don’t know much about the Proud Boys, almost nothing.

But I condemn that.” Researcher Rita Katz, executive director of SITE Intelligence Group, told The Washington Post that Proud Boys memberships on Telegram channels grew nearly 10 percent after the debate.

Proud Boys merchandise featuring the phrases “stand back” and “stand by” appeared online after the debate and was subsequently banned from sites including Amazon Marketplace and Teespring; it remained available on eBay as of October 1. 

The debate had a total of at least 73.1 million viewers on television, according to Nielsen ratings.

It was the third most watched debate in U.S. history, behind the first debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016 (84 million), and the only debate between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in 1980 (80.6 million).

The television viewership declined 13% compared to the debate for the first presidential debate of 2016, but an unknown number of people watched or listened to the debate via live-streaming or radio, so the total audience likely surpassed the 2016 record. 

Original Source: en.wikipedia.org

US presidential debate: all you need to know about the face-off in Cleveland  

Here’s what you need to know.

WHEN IS THE DEBATE?

It will begin at 9pm US eastern time (ET). The event will run until 10.30pm ET.

WHERE IS IT?

At the Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Ohio has been a swing state over the past two decades, but Trump won there by eight points in 2016. The state is seen as trending towards becoming more solidly Republican, due to its whiter, older population compared with the rest of the US.

WHO’S MODERATING?

Fox News host Chris Wallace will be the man in charge. The Fox News channel has been fawning in its coverage of Trump for the past four years, but Wallace is seen as a relatively independent, straight journalist.

Wallace won praise for an interview with Trump in July, when he challenged Trump over the coronavirus death count and memorably dug into Trump’s claim to have aced a cognitive test. He’s no favourite of Trump – who on Thursday baselessly claimed Wallace is “controlled by the radical left”.

WHAT’S THE FORMAT?

The debate will have six 15-minute segments. It will run for 90 minutes, with no breaks for commercials. There will be no opening statements, and the first question will go to Trump.

Wallace said he’s hoping to let the debate flow. He isn’t expected to factcheck either candidate – it would be a mammoth, time-consuming task – and has said he will strive to be as “invisible as possible”.

What about coronavirus precautions?

The podiums will be further apart than usual, and Biden and Trump won’t shake hands before or after.

According to CNN 60 to 70 people are expected to be in the audience, way below the usual number at a presidential debate.

WHAT’S UP FOR DEBATE?

Wallace was in charge of selecting the six topics, and they were announced by the Commission on Presidential Debates last week.

THEY ARE:

• The Records of President Trump and Former Vice-President Joe Biden.
• The Supreme Court.
• COVID-19.
• The Economy.
• Race and Violence in our Cities.
• The integrity of the Election.

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Date-stamped: 2020 SEP 29 | Time-stamped: 06.00 BST | Author: Adam Gabbatt; @adamgabbatt | Article Title: US presidential debate: all you need to know about the face-off in Cleveland | Article Link: theguardian.com