2020 presidential Debate Coverage Debate night breakdown by topic

The first presidential debate: September 29, 2020

The first presidential debate between our two presidential candidates this election season quite honestly, left a lot to be desired. Between the constant interruptions and insults it was hard for either candidate to get a word in edgewise on real policy. There were six topics during this debate

1. The supreme court-​ (Former vice President Biden and President Trump whether or not

Trump should be allowed to replace RBG so close to the election and whether or not Biden plans on “packing the court”)

2. The Covid 19 pandemic-​ ( Biden claimed that he would have had a better plan for preventing this pandemic from being as widespread and deadly as it has become whereas trump deflated onto Biden claiming that he would not have handled it as well as he did and then blaming China for American deaths. Reopening, vaccines and stimulus bills were also discussed with Trump arguing that shutting down the country for safety concerns is doing too much damage to the economy and ridiculed masks as well as defending his large rallies, while Biden hammered down the importance of fixing the covid crisis before focusing on the economy.

3. Economy-​ the important questions asked during this segment were on bidens tax plan if he were to be president. Where he said that he would raise taxes on richer individuals and big businesses to stimulate the economy and provide for lower income families during and after the pandemic

4. Race-​ Trump was asked about his ending of racial sensitivity training in federal agencies both biden and trump were asked if they thought there was systemic unjust against black americans and people of color in this country. Of course Biden agreed that there was and Trump denied it entirely.Biden also spoke about he planned to “reimagine” policing in ways such as supplementing local law enforcement with more psychologists and social workers to decrease violence against civilians. This was also the segment where Trump's infamous “ stand back and stand by” statement was quoted, in reference to the far right group “ proud boys.

5. Who would be a better president-​ Trump touted his economy, which he arguable inherited from Obama and the amount of federal conservative judges he was able to install. Biden actually brought us his record as he partially led the economic comeback from the recession of 2008.

6. Climate change-​ Trump plans to tackle forest management in california to combat forests fires. Joe biden proposed 2 trillion dollars green jobs, limits on fracking and ending the use of fossil fuels by 2035 and zero net emissions of greenhouse gasses in 2050

The second presidential Debate: October 22nd 2020

This debate was overall a lot better considering how the first one went. Both candidates were a lot more controlled and a lot less interruptive.

There were 6 topics of debate

1.Response to coronavirus:​ Trump opened up with his plan for distributing the whatever new vaccine is being developed by his administration as well as discussing the “minimal” spikes throughout the country. Biden opened up by criticizing Trumps response to the first few waves of the virus as well as his constant belittling of the virus in general.

Biden said “I'm going to shut down the virus not the economy” but admitted that more shutdowns were needed to handle the virus and also talked about the need for supplement for low income families and small businesses.Trump said “ the cure cannot be worse than the problem itself, and hammered on the apparent need for schools and businesses to rebuild the economy.

2.Election interference/ Foreign policy : Biden strongly asserted that “any country no​ matter who it is that interferes in american elections will pay a price”. Trump touted his record of being tough on Russia before accusing Biden of taking money from foreign powers leading to an argument about corruption. Biden also said that he would make China play by the international rules. Whereas Trump claimed that his administration has a legacy of being hard on China.

3.Healthcare: Trump was asked what he would do to address the loss of health care for​ millions of people if the Affordable Care Act is overturned by the supreme court. Trump answered by defending his stance that the ACA is a failure and once again claiming that he will come up with a “much better healthcare plan”.

Bidens plan seems to depend on building on top of Obama care by incorporating a public option for those who cannot afford private insurance. However he stands by the fact that he does not want to take away private insurance.

4. Economy- ​ Trump was asked about another relief bill to help citizens who may have​ fallen into poverty during this recession. Trump deflected and blamed the democratic speaker of the house for the hold up. Biden was then asked if his supporting a $15 dollar minimum wage was appropriate considering we are in a recession and small businesses are already hurting. Biden retorted that it was in fact appropriate because they would be providing support to said small businesses as well. Trump countered that the raising of the minimum wage should be left up to the states.

5. Immigration: ​ President Trump was asked about the over 300 immigrant children that​ have not been able to reunite with their parents as a result of his zero tolerance illegal immigration policy. He did not actually answer the question, but as of today vice president biden has committed to creating a task force to reunite said children with their parents. He also said he is going to try and rectify the mistakes of the obama biden administratration and try and implement more pathways towards citizenship for undocumented immigrants and DACA dreamers.

5.Race:​ Biden expressed his sentiments for parents of color in this country and stated that communities if color needed to be provided with better healthcare, better economic opportunities and more opportunities to create generational wealth. President Trump touted his record of criminal justice reform and prison reform as well as his relationships built with HBCU presidents. Biden went on to say that he will try and reverse the damage of his 1994 crime bill towards black communities.

6.Climate Change: When questioned about the climate, President Trump defended​ pulling out of the Paris climate accord and said that under his administration this country now has some of the best carbon emission standards( which is very much a stretch) and reiterated that he thinks industry should come before a real climate change response. Vice president Biden explained that his plan for a response to climate change will not only hopefully help save the planet but also create new jobs. For instance he plans on investing in 50,000 charging stations for electric cars, and retrofitting buildings and homes to be more energy efficient. He claims his plan will create millions of jobs and says both economists, climate analysts and labour groups back his plan.