For Trump
The first debate was mediated by Chris Wallace from Fox News and that was probably the worst thing that could have happened to the first debate. The first 15 minutes of the debate, he let things slide, thinking it was some sort of Trump’s strategy, keeping things hot and keeping Biden on his toes, but later then decided to become a third party debater. Most of the garbage that was this debate, had a lot of untruths told by both of these grumpy old men, along with the so-called mediator running cover for Biden. Biden did not condemn antifa, Trump did not let Biden speak, Wallace did not let Trump speak, Biden suggested that all of America is racist, and no one changed their minds about both candidates.
Now to get one thing straight, Trump did not defend white supremacy. Don’t believe the media who says otherwise. The Proud Boys are not, I repeat, not a white supremacy group. They are a paramilitary group, whose founder clearly states that they’re not an alt-right group and dissociates them from getting too close to white supremacy groups. Here in the transcript from USAToday, the debate clearly has President Trump denounce white supremacy. He answered, “Sure, I’m prepared to do it. ”
The Vice President Debate was about as lackluster and boring as the others. During most of the debate we see Pence mostly dominate, not pulling back blows and responding quickly to Harris. There are many untruths here as well, although not as many as in the first debate. Most of the false claims came from the first Presidential Debate, in which they just said the same thing as their running mates, and attacked the opponent’s running mate.
Harris said that Trump’s tax law benefits the top 1% (it benefits most households), Pence said Biden is going to raise taxes (only for those who make over $400,000 a year), Harris claimed that Trump called COVID a hoax (he said that the Democrats finding faults in his administration’s plan for COVID a hoax), and Pence claimed Biden lost 200,000 jobs during his administration (the administration was inaugurated during the Great Recession).
The takeaway for this debate was that Pence just bulldozed Harris for most of the debate. When Harris tried to set herself up to debate Trump, she found that she couldn’t against Pence. When she talked about taxes, he came in, she said I’m speaking, and afterwards, didn’t know what to say next. The same thing happened when Pence asked about packing the court and she declined to answer. The fact checks were shown on FactCheck.org and The Washington Post.
Now, the Town Hall meetings are where Trump finally was right about the media. While Trump was being grilled and attacked by Savannah Guthrie during his town hall, it was clearly shown that Biden had tea time with George Stephenopolous. Everyone was horrified and angry that NBC dared show Trump at the same time as Biden at 8:00 pm on Oct.15, so they petitioned. Over 100 Hollywood stars like JJ Abrams, Ava DuVernay, Aaron Sorkin, and anyone who worked with NBC at some point in their lives petitioned, according to the Chicago Tribune. However, it didn’t work as it was shown at the same time anyway.
For some reason, it seemed everyone was content with how Savannah was in fact debating Trump on his answers more than asking questions, as if they somehow demanded that he be bullied into submission by the people. With questions focusing solely on white supremacy, taxes, and COVID-19, it was without a doubt, one of the hardest grilling Trump had during his presidency, according to the Washington Post.
Biden, on the other channel, was asked many questions as if he were a child. Not a single question about Hunter Biden, with some on other topics with no hard follow-up questions. He dodged the court packing question again and Stephenopolous just let him go, not a single follow-up question as to why he won’t answer about court packing. The media is not biased whatsoever, nope. Everyone is treated equally here.
Now, in the last debate, it seemed that the mediator for the debate, Kristen Walker from NBC, was better than the others. The first topic of the debate was COVID and Trump handled it well enough. He reminded the people that it was a worldwide pandemic, that even he got it and got better (being overweight and old), and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel showing that we are close to overcoming it.
Biden on the other hand, still kept blaming Trump on the empty seat at the kitchen table, claiming that everything was Trump’s fault and that he never should have been elected President. This narrative that the media also keeps running has no evidence that it’s true. Most of the worst COVID deaths are in states which are run by Democrats. In the first 13 states in which COVID deaths have been high, 5 are run by Republicans. That means that 7 of the highest COVID deaths by state are run by Democrats — but it’s still Trump’s fault that the people died.
Later, Biden tried to claim that Trump warned Wall Street about COVID-19 instead of the American people, with Trump firing right back about Biden’s corruption with Hunter Biden. Trump did exaggerate Hunter’s business deals but kept correcting himself later on. Many more false claims came from both candidates about the trade deficit, foreign policy, immigration issues and Green New Deal, according to FactCheck.org. However, at the end of the day, one of these two horrible candidates are going to be elected, and it’s only a matter of figuring out which is the lesser evil.
For Biden
While it is unclear as to what exactly people were expecting from the presidential debates this year, if the answer was a complete disaster, then they weren’t disappointed. From the very beginning of the first debate, Biden and Trump kept speaking over and interrupting each other, most of this coming from Trump’s side. While the moderator tried to keep everyone in line and move on from topics, there were many times when the president completely ignored him and continued talking.
One of the first topics discussed during the first debate was the coronavirus pandemic. Biden pointed out the number of people who died from COVID-19, while Trump kept arguing that he had done an excellent job handling it. Considering what Trump has said about masks not being necessary and reopening in the past, it wasn’t a huge surprise when it was revealed shortly after the night of the debate that he had gotten COVID-19 himself.
Another big topic of this debate focused on race. During this topic, Trump was given the opportunity to denounce white supremacy, and he refused to do so. Now, there should be no more doubt about exactly who he supports. He also proceeded to talk about his handling of the protests, which further affirmed how little he cares about the black community. Instead, Trump bragged that he had done more for the U.S. than any other president, a statement that is obviously false.
The second debate wasn’t much better. Although there was less chaos than in the first debate, there were still times when Pence repeatedly spoke over both Harris and the moderator. COVID-19 was still a major topic, where Harris pointed out the major death toll and Pence retorted that the Biden administration wouldn’t have done much better.
When asked about the ages of their running mates and their plans to deal with that, both candidates avoided the question and never ended up answering it. Pence kept going back to answer previous questions, which caused him to run out of time and go over on the next question. The highlight of the night for the internet was definitely halfway through the debate, when a fly landed on Mike Pence’s head.
The third presidential debate wasn’t as bad as the other two, mainly thanks to the moderator, Kristen Welker’s, good job at keeping the two candidates within the time limits. The debate was reminiscent of the first one with both Trump and Biden taking any opportunity to call each other out on their mistakes, rather than to answer the question directly.
Trump kept asking Biden why he didn’t achieve all the things he was planning to achieve during his time as Vice President, even though V.P.s don’t have as much authority as people might think. Another important moment came when Biden expressed his regrets regarding the 1994 Crime Bill, a rare action for candidates.
During this debate, there was another crucial moment that didn’t go in Trump’s favor. When asked about his health care plan after abolishing Obama Care, Trump revealed that he didn’t have a plan, but was instead going to, “Come up with better health care.” This moment is proof enough that Trump has no health care plan, as his only plan is to come up with a plan.
Some other moments to highlight included: Trump and Biden both claiming the other was taking money from Russia, Trump saying minimum wage should depend on states, and Trump proudly stating that he has done more for black people than any other person in the room, with the moderator Kristen Welker herself being a woman of color.
Overall, this debate should have proved even more to people that Trump barely has a plan, and that most of what he has said isn’t true. It’s true that Biden has made many mistakes himself, and it’s also true that Biden isn’t even close to the best choice for president. However, in this debate, it isn’t possible to be independent. When the two options for the leader of the country are two straight old white men with their fair share of problems, it comes down to who will be the better choice to make. As the debates have shown, Biden is that choice.
Article by Jose Salinas-Morales of Watkins Mill High School and Esther Markov of Walter Johnson High School
Photo by Anna Lee of Richard Montgomery High School