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| Presidential debate live: Trump tries to steamroll Biden in chaotic clash | Presidential debate live: Trump tries to steamroll Biden in chaotic clash |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Candidates faced off in Cleveland, Ohio, with Chris Wallace of Fox News moderating the bitterly personal showdown | Candidates faced off in Cleveland, Ohio, with Chris Wallace of Fox News moderating the bitterly personal showdown |
| Fact check: Biden calling soldiers “stupid bastards” | |
| Trump said Biden called soldiers “stupid bastards”. This is true – but it was a joke. During a 2016 speech in Abu Dhabi, Biden addressed troops and told them, “Notwithstanding what you may hear about me, I have incredibly good judgment. One, I married Jill. And two, I appointed Johnson to the Academy, I just want you to know that.” | |
| He was referring to Lt. Karen Johnson, of Wilmington, Delaware. After a pause, Biden said, “Clap for that, you stupid bastards.” | |
| The former vice president also praised the troops, saying that Americans “appreciate, but they don’t fully understand the incredible sacrifices you make for our country,” Biden added. He thanked the soldiers and their families. | |
| – Maanvi Singh | |
| Biden retweeted a picture of members of the far-right group Proud Boys celebrating Trump’s remarks tonight, saying, “This. This is Donald Trump’s America.” | |
| During tonight’s debate, Trump was asked to denounce white supremacist violence, weeks after two anti-racist protesters were shot and killed in Kenosha, Wisconsin. | |
| Instead, Trump told the far-right group Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” | |
| Members of the Proud Boys immediately celebrated the remark, saying they were “so happy” that Trump “basically said to go fuck them up.” | |
| The group also posted a picture of their logo with Trump’s “stand back and stand by” comment to social media. | |
| Trump has at least one positive review tonight -- from the Republican national committee. | |
| RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement, “For ninety minutes, President Trump made a confident, commanding and compelling case for his re-election while taking Joe Biden to task for supporting radical policies that would raise taxes, destroy jobs and make our communities less safe.” | |
| But even other Republicans who generally offer Trump praise, such as Chris Christie and Rick Santorum, said the president overplayed his hand tonight. | |
| More generally, many commentators have described the debate as a disgrace and primarily blamed Trump for the chaos of the night. | |
| Fact check: Voting | |
| Donald Trump made a number of false and misleading statements about voting. He implied fraud, as he as done before, in the New York primaries. In the congressional primary, Rep. Carolyn Maloney was declared a winner after six weeks. But the delays came because officials were unprepared to count so many mail-in ballots, and it took a while to process. He also said 30% and 40% of ballots are “lost.” That is just not true. | |
| The president often peddles misinformation about mail-in voting. Here’s my colleague Sam Levin’s in-depth explanation of how absentee voting works, and whether it’s prone to fraud: | |
| – Maanvi Singh | |
| Other seasoned political commentators offered similarly grim analyses of tonight’s debate. | |
| George Stephanopoulos of ABC News described the event as “the worst presidential debate I’ve ever seen in my life”. | |
| MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell said the debate was “a disgrace”. | |
| CNN commentator Van Jones said: “They say this was a circus. Circus workers reached out to my team. They say, actually, we take offense.” | |
| The first presidential debate concluded moments ago, and commentators are already describing the debate as a “dumpster fire” as a “shitshow”. | |
| “That was a hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck,” CNN anchor Jake Tapper said. “That was the worst debate I have ever seen. It wasn’t even a debate. It was a disgrace. And it’s primarily because of President Trump.” | “That was a hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck,” CNN anchor Jake Tapper said. “That was the worst debate I have ever seen. It wasn’t even a debate. It was a disgrace. And it’s primarily because of President Trump.” |
| CNN correspondent Dana Bash put it even more succinctly: “That was a shitshow.” | CNN correspondent Dana Bash put it even more succinctly: “That was a shitshow.” |
| Meanwhile, over on Twitter: Hillary Clinton has provided a moment of insight into her frustration during the 2016 debates. She was replying to Guardian US contributor Jill Filipovic, who speculated how Clinton must feel about Biden hitting back at Trump: | Meanwhile, over on Twitter: Hillary Clinton has provided a moment of insight into her frustration during the 2016 debates. She was replying to Guardian US contributor Jill Filipovic, who speculated how Clinton must feel about Biden hitting back at Trump: |
| To everyone’s surprise, Chris Wallace asked a question about the climate crisis, the first in a presidential debate in 20 years. | To everyone’s surprise, Chris Wallace asked a question about the climate crisis, the first in a presidential debate in 20 years. |
| Wallace noted the wildfires that have ravaged the US west and challenged Donald Trump over his environmental rollbacks. The president responded by saying he wants “crystal clean water and air” and calls the Paris climate agreement a “disaster.”. Trump blamed the fires upon poor forest management (scientists have made clear that rising temperatures are exacerbating wildfires). | |
| Wallace, incredibly, then pressed Trump twice on whether he accepts the reality of climate science. Trump initially repeated his answer on wanting clean air and water, before conceding greenhouse gases are having an impact “to an extent, yes”. | |
| Trump was asked why, then, he rolled back Barack Obama’s clean power plan and he said because it increased energy prices (it was never actually put into force so did not do this). In a back and forth with Joe Biden, Trump then falsely claimed that Democrats want to “take out the cows”.In response, Biden promised to create “millions of good-paying jobs” in clean energy and notes the huge financial damage caused by hurricanes and floods. “We are in real trouble,” said the former vice-president.Goaded by Trump over the Green New Deal, a plan put forward by leftwing Democrats, Biden distanced himself from it. “I don’t support the Green New Deal,” Biden said. “I support the Biden plan that I put forward.”This response will displease progressive climate activists but, overall, Biden had far more to say on climate than Trump, who was unusually subdued, as if he has conceded that anyone worried about global heating won’t be voting for him. | |
| The first presidential debate concluded with Chris Wallace asking both candidates if they would commit to urging calm and avoiding declaring victory until the election results are independently verified. | The first presidential debate concluded with Chris Wallace asking both candidates if they would commit to urging calm and avoiding declaring victory until the election results are independently verified. |
| Trump avoided making that commitment, saying he was worried about widespread fraud, even though voter fraud is very rare. | Trump avoided making that commitment, saying he was worried about widespread fraud, even though voter fraud is very rare. |
| “I am urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully,” Trump said. | “I am urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully,” Trump said. |
| Biden did commit to urging calm and avoiding declaring a premature victory, emphasizing all ballots in the race must be counted. | Biden did commit to urging calm and avoiding declaring a premature victory, emphasizing all ballots in the race must be counted. |
| With that, the tense and unruly debate concluded. The blog will have more reactions and analysis coming up, so stay tuned. | With that, the tense and unruly debate concluded. The blog will have more reactions and analysis coming up, so stay tuned. |
| Joe Biden has claimed that Trump suggested nuking hurricanes to stop them in their path, which Trump immediately denied. You can read the Guardian’s write up of the report here. It’s based on claims made by unnamed sources who were present in a White House meeting when Trump apparently said “we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can’t we do that?” | |
| Fact check: fires in the west | |
| Donald Trump again made odd statements about the dead leaves on the forest floor and evaded Chris Wallace’s question about whether he believed the climate crisis was driving the fires. | |
| For clarity on what is driving the fires, please see my recent explainer: | For clarity on what is driving the fires, please see my recent explainer: |
| Read more here: | Read more here: |
| – Maanvi Singh | – Maanvi Singh |
| Trump reiterated that the widespread voting by mail in this year’s elections would represent a “fraud”, even though there is no evidence for that. | |
| The president claimed Americans may not know the results of the election for “months”, although election officials of both parties have not echoed that concern. | |
| Biden responded: “He’s just afraid of counting the votes.” | |
| The final portion of the debate focuses on election integrity, and Biden focused his answer on encouraging Americans to vote. | The final portion of the debate focuses on election integrity, and Biden focused his answer on encouraging Americans to vote. |
| “Show up and vote. You will determine the outcome of this election. Vote, vote, vote,” Biden said. | “Show up and vote. You will determine the outcome of this election. Vote, vote, vote,” Biden said. |
| Biden referenced Trump’s attacks on voting by mail, which the president has claimed (without evidence) will be vulnerable to widespread fraud. | Biden referenced Trump’s attacks on voting by mail, which the president has claimed (without evidence) will be vulnerable to widespread fraud. |
| Biden noted Trump himself has voted by mail in recent years, saying: “He sits behind the Resolute Desk and sends his ballot to Florida.” | |
| Trump attacked Biden for his climate policies, claiming his proposals would cause economic catastrophe. | Trump attacked Biden for his climate policies, claiming his proposals would cause economic catastrophe. |
| When asked whether he supported the Green New Deal, Biden said he did not because he has his own climate plan. | When asked whether he supported the Green New Deal, Biden said he did not because he has his own climate plan. |
| “I support the Biden plan that I put forward, which is different than what he calls the radical Green New Deal,” Biden said. | “I support the Biden plan that I put forward, which is different than what he calls the radical Green New Deal,” Biden said. |
| The Democrat argued his climate plan would pay for itself because of the revenue it would generate. | The Democrat argued his climate plan would pay for itself because of the revenue it would generate. |
| Interruptions, crosstalk, shouting over each other – whatever you want to call it, it’s all happening tonight between Trump and Biden. It’s led some people to call for the two candidates’ mics to be controlled by the network in the next debates: | |
| The debate has shifted toward the climate crisis, with moderator Chris Wallace asking the two candidates about the recent devastating wildfires along the west coast. | |
| Trump echoed past comments blaming the fires on poor forest management, even though climate experts say the fires are primarily driven by record levels of drought and heat, which have been attributed to climate change. | Trump echoed past comments blaming the fires on poor forest management, even though climate experts say the fires are primarily driven by record levels of drought and heat, which have been attributed to climate change. |
| I’m at the Glory Days Bar and Grill in Seal Beach, in southern California, where a local Republican women’s group has organized a debate watch party. | |
| Trump supporter Sally Cohen, 78, from Huntington Beach, said she is most concerned that Trump gets fair questions. She no longer trusts Fox News to be fair, and believes many on the network have moved left. | Trump supporter Sally Cohen, 78, from Huntington Beach, said she is most concerned that Trump gets fair questions. She no longer trusts Fox News to be fair, and believes many on the network have moved left. |
| For Trump, she said. “I think the challenge for him is not to call names,” like labeling Biden “Sleepy Joe”. She wants Trump to stay calm. | |
| Cohen said she had called Trump campaign members in Washington last week to ask about a photograph she had seen on Twitter claiming that Joe Biden might be using an earpiece to be fed answers. | Cohen said she had called Trump campaign members in Washington last week to ask about a photograph she had seen on Twitter claiming that Joe Biden might be using an earpiece to be fed answers. |
| Conspiracy theories about Biden using an earpiece have been spread by QAnon conspiracy theorists, as well as Trump staffers. | Conspiracy theories about Biden using an earpiece have been spread by QAnon conspiracy theorists, as well as Trump staffers. |
| Lily Green, 56, who emigrated to the US from Peru, said she feels that Trump has kept his promises, especially on the economy. She’s in the real estate business in southern California. “I have never made more money than I have now. I’m busier than ever, even with the pandemic.” |