Presidential debate: Who won the Trump-Biden clash?

Americans have continued to make comments on the winner of the first Presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

The debate was the political equivalent of a food fight. Many commentators described it as chaotic and messy but to be fair, Joe Biden emerged the least covered in slop.

By CBS News’s count, Trump cut in on Biden a total of 73 times in the 90-minute encounter.

The interruption from Trump was mostly to haul insults but Biden also called him a clown.

Kudos to Fox News anchor and moderator of the night, Chris Wallace. He did a great job but had a hard time controlling both candidates.

Here are some key moments of the encounter hosted by the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

“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.

During the COVID-19 segment, Trump told Biden to stop using the word “smart” because there was nothing smart about him.

“You didn’t go to Delaware State (University). You graduated either the lowest or almost the lowest in your class.

“Don’t ever use the word smart with me because you know what, there is nothing smart about you”, Trump said.

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 quickly noted that the violence he had seen was from the left-wing.

Challenged to condemn them, he insisted that the opposition was responsible for the violent protests across the country and not white supremacists.

Trump renewed his attacks on the 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.

Biden dismissed the president’s threat, saying there was nothing he could do once the results were announced and he lost.

Coronavirus

The coronavirus was always going to be tough terrain and the topic came up early in the debate.

Trump defended his pandemic response that has resulted in more than 200,000 American deaths by saying the steps he’s taken prevented more deaths and suggesting Biden would have made things worse.

Biden’s reply was not expected but went well.

The Democrat looked directly at the camera, asking the viewers if they could believe Trump (polls indicate a majority of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the pandemic).

“A lot of people died and a lot more are going to die unless he gets a lot smarter, a lot quicker,” said Biden.

In another telling moment of the debate, Trump boasted about the size of his campaign rallies amid coronavirus. He then said Biden held smaller rallies because he couldn’t attract larger crowds.

“People want their places open,” Trump said.

“People want to be safe,” Biden countered.

That back-and-forth demonstrated a fundamental difference in the way the two candidates view the pandemic and whether the situation is getting better – or worse.

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