Watch 4 Key Moments From Trump at the First 2020 Debate

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/30/us/politics/trump-debate-video.html

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President Trump’s first debate appearance with Joseph R. Biden Jr., his Democratic rival, was marked by 90 minutes of interruptions, accusations and, at times, flat-out false statements. Here are some of the more memorable moments.

Mr. Trump has always been ambivalent about masks as a tool for curbing the spread of the coronavirus; he has reluctantly come to accept them only recently. But even as the president said at the debate on Tuesday night that he wore masks at times, reaching into his pocket to suggest that there was one there, he continued to challenge their effectiveness. “They’ve also said the opposite,” he retorted when Mr. Biden talked about experts’ advocating the use of masks. And he mocked Mr. Biden for wearing one.

It was a curious stance for two reasons: One, the consensus of health officials is that masks are critical in curbing the pandemic. Members of the president’s own family were wearing them when they walked into the Cleveland debate hall.

It’s also a questionable political calculation. There was a time when Republican strategists thought they could portray Mr. Biden as weak for wearing a mask. But Mr. Biden has regularly worn one in public, with no signs of political damage. No surprise: Polls show that a solid majority of Americans — including a sizable number of Republicans — support mandatory mask wearing.

Mr. Trump, seizing on an answer Mr. Biden gave in a television interview earlier this year, said his Democratic opponent would close down the country in response to the coronavirus pandemic. (Mr. Biden actually said he would defer to scientists on whether to close down parts of the economy.) This goes to a central point of difference between Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden, and a question that has divided Republicans from Democrats: What is more important, curbing the epidemic or rescuing the economy?

Mr. Trump has long believed that his road to re-election is the economy. He has sought to portray Mr. Biden as a proponent of strict policies that would keep people locked down at home and unable to go to work. And the economy is the one issue where Americans in poll after poll say they prefer Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump repeatedly mocked Mr. Biden for, as he put it, failing to say the words “law enforcement” or “law and order.” One of Mr. Trump’s dominant attacks on Mr. Biden is to portray him as a captive of the left wing of his party, and in particular, a champion of policies that would undercut law enforcement. Mr. Trump has attacked Mr. Biden in ads that depict the demonstrations that have spread across the nation this summer, and he has warned that a Biden presidency would lead to a spike in crime and disorder.

Mr. Trump was trying to drive a wedge between Mr. Biden and those on the left wing of the party, who, the president said, “have you wrapped around their finger.” Polls suggest he has not been successful with this line of attack, and Mr. Biden used this moment to specifically say that he does not support defunding the police.

This was one of those moments in which it appeared that Mr. Trump was debating Chris Wallace, the determined (if at times presidentially besieged) moderator. Mr. Wallace, the host of “Fox News Sunday,” noted that Mr. Trump had called on Mr. Biden to condemn antifa, the loosely organized left-wing political movement. Mr. Wallace asked if Mr. Trump would condemn white supremacist groups that have been involved in often violent demonstrations around the country.

First Mr. Trump suggested he would condemn them, saying: “I’m willing to do anything. I want to see peace.”

“Say it,” Mr. Wallace implored.

But Mr. Trump never did so, rejecting a suggestion by Mr. Biden that he denounce in particular the Proud Boys, a far-right, white extremist group. Instead, he told the group to “stand back and stand by.”

Mr. Trump has recoiled at criticizing even his most extreme supporters, including white supremacists. But it is notable that he did not seize this opportunity to modulate his position in front of such a large audience and with a clear political need to expand his appeal beyond his base.