WASHINGTON: After more than a year of circling each other, Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden met on the debate stage Tuesday night in Ohio.
The 74-year-old president and the 77-year-old former vice president are similar in age, and they share a mutual dislike. But they differ starkly in style and substance. All of that was evident from the outset on the Cleveland stage.
Here are key takeaways from the first of three scheduled presidential debates before Election Day on Nov. 3.
TRUMP’S SERIAL INTERRUPTIONS
Trump is no stranger to going on offense, but his aggressive posture on stage left his Democratic opponent fighting to complete a sentence. Trump frequently interrupted Biden mid-sentence, sometimes in intensely personal ways.
Theres nothing smart about you, Trump said of Biden. 47 years youve done nothing.
While Trump played into his reputation as a bully, it may have been effective at breaking up the worst of Bidens attacks simply by talking over them.
Trump aides believed before the debate that Biden would be unable to withstand the withering offensive on style and substance from Trump, but Biden came with a few retorts of his own, calling Trump a clown and mocking Trumps style by asking, Will you shut up, man?
His supporters may have been cheered by Trumps frontal assault. Whether undecided voters, who watched the debate to try to learn about the two candidates, were impressed is another matter.
Moderator Chris Wallace was none too amused, delivering a pointed reproach to Trump for his interruptions. Frankly, youve been doing more interrupting, Wallace said, appealing to Trump to let his opponent speak.
TRUMP CAN’T ESCAPE THE VIRUS
Trump has wanted the election to be about anything but the coronavirus pandemic, but he couldnt outrun reality on the debate stage.
It is what it is because you are who you are, Biden told the president, referring to Trumps months of downplaying COVID-19 while he said privately he understood how deadly it is.
But Trump didnt take it quietly. He proceeded to blitz Biden with a mix of self-defense and counter-offensives. 200,000 dead? Bidens death toll would have been millions, Trump said. A rocky economy? Biden wouldve been worse. Biden wouldnt have manufactured enough masks or ventilators.
The kicker: There will be a vaccine very soon.
Biden fell back on his bottom line: A lot of people died, and a lot more are going to unless he gets a lot smarter.
For voters still undecided about whod better handle the pandemic, the exchange may not have offered them anything new.
QUESTION ABOUT COURT, ANSWER ABOUT HEALTH CARE
Trump defended his decision to nominate Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court just weeks before Election Day, saying elections have consequences.
Biden said he was not opposed to the justice, but said the American people have a right to have a say in who the Supreme Court nominee is.
But rather than litigate Republicans’ 2016 blocking of Merrick Garland to the high court, Biden quickly pivoted to the issues that will potentially come before the court: healthcare and abortion. Its an effort by the Democrat to refocus the all-but-certain confirmation fight for Trumps third justice to the Supreme Court into an assault on Trump and his record.
Biden said Barrett, who would be the sixth justice on the nine-member court to be appointed by a Republican, would endanger the Affordable Care Act and tens of millions of Americans with preexisting conditions, and would imperil legalized abortion. It was a reframing of the political debate to terms far more favorable to the Democrat, and one Trump played into. Trump said of the conservative Barrett, You dont know her view on Roe vs. Wade and he defended his efforts to try to chip away at the popular Obama-era health law.
Biden has tried to press Democrats to use the court confirmation fight as a rallying cry against Trump, and the debate discussion largely played out on his turf.
INVISIBLE WALLACE STRUGGLES TO CONTAIN TRUMP
Debate moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News tried mightily to hold his ground Tuesday after saying beforehand that it was not his job to fact-check the candidates, especially Trump, in real time.
But Wallace struggled to stop Trump from interrupting and at times seemed to lose control of the debate.
Mr. President, as the moderator, we are going to talk about COVID in the next segment, Wallace said.
Soon after: Im the moderator, and Id like you to let me ask my question.
Minutes later: I have to give you roughly equal time. Please let the vice president talk.
And when Wallace noted that Trump hasnt come up with his health care plan in nearly four years, Trump turned the question back on Wallace.
First of all, Im debating you and not him. Thats okay. Im not surprised.
Wallace said he wanted to be invisible.
Well, that was impossible.
RACIAL RECKONING
Trump said Biden was the politician who helped put millions of Black Americans in prison with the 1994 crime law. Biden called Trump the racist in the race.
Biden was quiet as Trump blitzed him as a tool of the radical left and a weak figure who opposes law and order. He pressed Biden repeatedly to name any police union thats endorsed him. He falsely accused Biden of wanting to defund the police.
Biden didnt capitalize when Trump refused to condemn armed militias, insisting: This is not a right-wing problem. This is a left-wing problem.
The former vice president tried to push back, but not until after Trump had made his arguments, including the misrepresentations.
Biden regained some footing mocking the presidents warnings about suburbs, saying, He wouldnt know a suburb unless he took a wrong turn. And perhaps revealing the thinking about allowing Trump the rhetorical upper hand, Biden said, “All these dog whistles and racism doesnt work anymore.
FAMILY BUSINESS
As expected, Trump found a way to bring up Hunter Biden, the former vice presidents son, and recycle allegations about the younger Bidens international business practices. Biden called Trumps litany discredited and fired back, I mean, his family we can talk about all night.
But Biden sidestepped any of the specifics of Trumps international business dealings and instead turned straight to the camera. This is not about my family or his family, Biden said as Trump tried to talk over him. This is about your family.
In a later exchange, Trump interrupted Biden when he was talking about his late son, Beau Biden, who died of cancer in 2015 after having served in Iraq.
I dont know Beau, I know Hunter,” Trump said.
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