Coronavirus
At the time of writing, 40,000 Americans are in hospital receiving treatment for the coronavirus, and a further 16,000 have died since the last debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on September 29. In fact, in the time that has passed since, Trump himself has contracted the virus.
When confronted with the fact that over 220,000 Americans have now died from COVID-19, Trump said that, if not for his decision to “close up the greatest economy in the world for this virus that came from China”, 2.2 million Americans would have died. He instead chose to focus on the micro successes, pointing to the fact that the mortality rate is down by 85% and that spikes in Florida, Texas, and Arizona have now been contained.
Moreover, he said that he has been “congratulated by the heads of many countries in terms of what we’ve been able to do”, lamenting that Biden apparently called his decision to close the border to China “xenophobic”, a point which Biden has refuted on multiple occasions. He also suggested that the current situation would have looked much worse under a Biden presidency, criticizing the VP’s handling of the H1N1 crisis under Obama.
Seeking to offer some optimism, the president said that “vaccine is coming, it’s ready”, and that the military would distribute it through ‘Operation Warp Speed’. When he was asked to provide a guarantee that the vaccine will available by the end of the year, as he has done on a number of occasions already, he said, “It’s not a guarantee, but there’s a good chance.” Furthermore, he said that the virus will “go away” as the US is “rounding the corner”.
Speaking on his own experience with the virus he once again falsely claimed that he is now “immune”, and that he had “learned a lot” and now “studied” and ‘understood’ the virus. Nevertheless, in spite of his own personal experience with COVID-19, he said that Americans were going to have to “learn to live with it”. He declared, “We have to open our schools. We have to open our nation, or we’re not going to have a nation,” and, “The cure cannot be worse than the problem itself.”
Biden decried how the President’s policies had led to the deaths of 220,000 Americans and said that “Anyone who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain President of America”. Further, he warned, “The expectation is that we’ll have another 200,000 dead by the end of the year,” as Trump has “no plan”.
When asked about his own plan, Biden said he would “encourage everyone to wear a mask all the time”, implement rapid testing, expand contact tracing, and establish national standards to open up schools and businesses by giving them the resources to do so.
When the moderator put it to him that only 40% of Americans have indicated that they would be willing to take a coronavirus vaccine, Biden said that he would address this by making the process “totally transparent”.
However, when he was asked whether he would consider new shutdowns if scientists recommend it, Biden was not as clear, saying that he would “shut down the virus, not the country”. He went on to say, “If you have a reproduction rate in a community that’s above standard, then do not open until you get it under control.”
Biden then criticized Trump for closing the border too late and for praising Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s transparency during the early days of the outbreak. In fact, Trump even said that the US owes China a “debt of gratitude”. He also lambasted the Trump administration for not sending American observers to Wuhan and said that Trump knew how dangerous COVID-19 was but didn’t want to tell the American people because he didn’t want them to panic.
Election Interference and Personal Entanglements
The US’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced on Wednesday that Iran and Russia were stepping up their efforts to influence the upcoming presidential election and that they had already obtained American voter registration data and revealed that Iran was sending intimidating messages to Florida voters. This is particularly concerning given the impact of Russian meddling on the 2016 election.
On the reports, Trump said that he is as concerned as anyone, claiming that Russia and Iran would not want him to maintain his incumbency. He proclaimed, “There has been nobody tougher on Russia than Donald Trump,” pointing to how he has pressured NATO allies to contribute an additional $420 million per year. The president also suggested that it was ironic for the Democrats to speak about election interference, repeating his long-trumpeted claim that the Democrats spied on his 2016 electoral campaign.
Biden said, “whoever interferes in the US election will pay a price” as it is a tantamount to an assault on “American soveriegnty”. The former VP then asked Trump why he hasn’t spoken to Russian leader Vladimir Putin about election interference or about Russia placing bounties on the heads of American soldiers in Afghanistan.
Trump also remarked that Biden had received $3.5 million dollars from Russia and was close to the former mayor of Moscow. On the topic of his own relations with Russia, which was the subject of his impeachment trial, he said, “I never got any money from Russia,” and said, “there was no collusion.” Biden rejected Trump’s claims, saying, “I have not received a penny from a foreign source ever in my life,” and instead deflected to recent reports about howTrump has bank accounts in China, pays taxes in China, and is being paid by Russia. Trump responded to this by saying that he has “many bank accounts”.
At the same time, Biden also asked why Trump has not released his taxes, and said that “nothing was unethical” about his or his son’s dealings with Ukraine or Burisma. Instead, he chose to focus on how Trump allegedly pressured the Ukrainian government to open an investigation into the former VP.
China and North Korea
Trump said “China is paying” for its currency devaluation, dumping, and its complicity in the coronavirus crisis. He praised himself for his 25% tariffs on Chinese steel and said how his protectionist measures have aided American farmers.
Biden said that he would make China play by “international rules” and reduce its aggression and growing assertiveness, particularly in the South China Sea, by partnering with like-minded nations. On an economic front, he said he would seek to reduce the US’ trade deficit with the East Asian giant.
Moving on, the moderator commented that North Korea recently unveiled a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and has continuted to develop its nuclear arsenal despite international pressure and sanctions. In fact, even Donald Trump’s apparent friendship with Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un has not acted as a deterrent force.
Trump qualified his success on North Korea by saying that “there is no war” and that he has a “very good relationship” with Kim, despite Obama supposedly telling him that Pyongyang would be his biggest problem while in office.
Biden, on the other hand, was confronted with the fact that North Korea conducted four nuclear tests while Obama was in office. In response, he said that any talks with North Korea or meetings with Kim would be contingent on the country’s commitment to nuclearization. He said that this would be achieved through cooperation and military maneuvers with South Korea to pressure and “control” North Korea”. Likewise, he criticized Trump for “legitimizing” the North Korean regime, whose leader he described as a “thug”.
Healthcare
The nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court is now nearing its final stages, which potentially paves the way for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare, to be repealed. The ACA currently provides coverage to 20 million Americans, and Barrett’s confirmation could potentially leave them without health insurance.
Without referring specifically to Barrett’s nomination, Trump said “Obamacare is no good”, and that to remedy the situation he has “terminated the individual mandate”. Trump did not reveal the details of his plan to replace Obamacare, but said that it would be “much better”.
He went onto say that Biden was seeking to take 180 million Americans off of their “great” private health care plans through “socialized medicine”. Biden rejected Trump’s claims about “socialized medicine”, saying that his plan instead focuses on a public option, wherein anyone who does not want to opt in doesn’t have to. He was clear in saying that he doesn’t support a government takeover of healthcare. However, anyone who qualifies for Medicaid but doesn’t have the finances for it will be automatically enrolled in it. At the same time, his plan will reduce premiums and drug prices.
Economy and Stimulus Plan
Millions of Americans have now fallen into poverty as a result of the coronavirus-induced economic crisis. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday that though she was hopeful about reaching a deal with Republicans regarding COVID-19 relief, it was unlikely that such an agreement would be struck before the presidential election next month. Earlier in the day, Senate Democrats blocked a GOP coronavirus stimulus bill worth $500 billion. Trump said that any delays to the approval of a stimulus plan is because “Nancy Pelosi doesn’t want to approve it,” even though “we’re ready, willing, and able”.
Both candidates were also asked whether they support a federally-mandated $15 an hour minimum wage, a plan which Trump has recently said he supports. However, during the debate, Trump backtracked and said that such a plan could harm small businesses and force them to fire workers due to an increase in costs. Biden rejected this assertion, saying, “There is no evidence that when you raise the minimum wage businesses go out of business.” The former VP said that he backs a $15 wage but that it must be done in tandem with bailouts for small businesses.
Immigration
A recent report revealed that as a result of the family separation policy at the US’ southern border, which targeted over 5,500 families, the parents of more than 500 children have not yet been located.
Referencing the report, Trump said that his administration is “trying very hard” to reunite the children with their parents, but seemed to be more focused on how the cages at border detention facilities were placed by the Democrats. He said that under his presidency detainees are now “so well taken care of” and are in “facilities that are so clean”.
Trump appeared to suggest that such policies are forced upon the US as children are “brought over by coyotes and cartels” and “lots of bad people”. In fact, he doubled down and suggested that the people coming in were “rapists and murderers”, and it is for this reason that he has ensured that the US now has “as strong a border as we’ve ever had”.
Biden, on the other hand, said the family separation policy “violates every notion of who we are as a nation”, describing it as “criminal”. The Democratic nominee did concede that the Obama administration failed to deliver immigration reform, which was a key electoral promise, and presided over record deporations and family detentions. To rectify this “mistake”, he said that he would offer a pathway to citizenship to over 11 million undocumented residents and would ensure that DACA children, who arrived to the US as children, would have their status re-instated.
Race
Both candidates were asked whether they recognize that parents of color must prepare their children for an unjust country, where they may be taergeted simply for the color of their skin.
When the question was posed to Trump, he said he does recognize this reality, but quickly deflected to how Biden co-sponsored a crime bill in 1994 that essentially describes Black communities as “super predators”. He went on to say, “Nobody has done more for the Black community than Donald Trump, with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln,” adding, “I am the least racist person in this room.” He lauded how his adminisrtation had approved long-term funding for historically black colleges and universities and established criminal justice and prison reform.
Biden acknowledged that there is “institutional racism in America” and that this affects all people of color, regardless of their financial status. He said that the US has been constantly “moving the needle further and further forward” on racial inequality but that President Trump has undone some of this progress. He said that this gap can only be bridged by investing in education, healthcare, and entrepreneurs in these communities.
The former VP spoke disparagingly of Trump’s negative characterization of Black communities, remarking that Trump had asked for the Central Park 5 to be put to death, and also denounced him for being “one of the most racist presidents we’ve had in modern history”, adding that “he pours fuel on every single racist fire”. Speaking on his own record, Biden said that the Obama administration had reduced the federal prison population by 38,000, and commuted the sentences of a further 1,000 prisoners.
He conceded that he had made mistakes during the 80s and 90s in co-sponsoring crime bills that led to the mass incarceration of Black Americans. However, he said that he has learned from the experience and now believes that a more effective approach to drug and alcohol use is treatment rather than imprisonment.
Climate Change
President Trump has pulled the US out of the Paris Climate Accords and rolled back a number of environmental regulations. During the debate, he defended these policies,
He said the he “loves the environment” and that his administration has implemented the Trillion Trees Program, which has supposedly ensured that the US has the “cleanest air” and the “cleanest water” and the “best carbon emissions numbers we’ve had in 35 years”. He also defended his decision to walk away from the Paris Accords, saying that the signatories were not following the terms of the agreement anyways, and that it would have cost trillions of dollars, “tens of millions of jobs , and thousands and thousands of companies”. Ultimately, he said that any commitment to the environment could not come at the cost of the impact to the US economy.
Biden, on the other hand, said that he would rejoin the Paris accords on day 1 and assured that his environmental plan would come with the promise of millions of jobs . On this front, he said he would invest in 50,000 charging stations on highways for electric cars, and retrofit 4 million existing buildings and 2 million existing homes. He cited a study by a Wall Street firm that his plan will create 18.6 million jobs, which is supposedly 7 million more than Trump’s plan, and generate $1 trillion more in economic growth than under Trump.
The biggest revelation of the night when Biden said that he would “transition away from the oil industry, because it pollutes, significantly” and stop offering federal subsidies to the indsutry and instead provide these subsides to the solar and wind industry.