With the upcoming presidential election only a week away, this past Thursday marked the last presidential debate of the season. Spectators were thankful for a much less chaotic affair than the first debate, due to the newly implemented ability to mute one nominee while the other spoke. To be fair, there was a hefty dose of personal attacks between the two candidates, but overall, viewers were able to get a sense of the major policy differences between the two, and their stance on important issues.
Of particular importance to many viewers was the corruption scandal that plagues former vice president Joe Biden. President Trump implored Biden to come clean with the American people about the revelation that his son, Hunter, and brother, Jim, are involved in financial dealings with foreign corporations that benefit the family to the tune of millions of dollars annually. Biden’s non-response and obfuscation of the facts only raises red flags to those inclined to follow the money, and the media is once again illustrating their complicity in covering up high-level financial crimes that bring the integrity of our political system into question.
One heavily debated topic was how each candidate would handle the Coronavirus pandemic in the coming months. Trump and Biden could not have discussed more contrasting plans. Biden claimed that America is headed for a “dark winter” unless we cultivate a better plan for handling the virus. He said that if he were elected, he would establish national standards for reopening schools and businesses, and he would provide appropriate funding for this to happen. He also wants to invest in rapid and frequent Coronavirus testing throughout the country, particularly in virus “hotspots.”
Trump, on the other hand, claimed that a vaccine will be arriving “within weeks,” and that the country is “rounding the corner” of the disease. This is a striking remark, considering that the country has seen a recent spike in cases and the midwest has seen record-breaking numbers of cases in the past few days. Trump claims that lockdowns have caused more harm than good, and that the country should reopen. “We’re learning to live with it,” Trump said. “We have no choice.”
There was a stark contrast between the candidate’s plans for health care in the future, but both candidates support the morally bankrupt insurance industry at all costs. Trump bragged about his success in passing legislation to eliminate the requirement of health care under the Affordable Care Act. Trump said, “I’d like to terminate Obamacare, [and] come up with a brand new, beautiful health care.”
Biden, meanwhile, advocated for “Bidencare,” and described it as “Obamacare with the public option.” It will cost a lot–specifically around $750 billion–but, “Bidencare” will supposedly protect people with preexisting conditions, lower insurance premiums, reduce drug prices, and end unexpected medical billing. Trump responded by calling his plan “socialized medicine,” but Biden pushed back against this, saying that he supports private insurance. He also mentioned, somewhat off-hand, that he beat Bernie and his other rivals because he disagreed with them about health care. Biden is struggling to gather support from Sanders’ loyalists, and the former vice president is caught between the progressive wing of his party and moderate members that prefer the status quo on a variety of topics.
To the chagrin of his handlers, Biden allowed Trump to drag him into a debate on energy, and Biden’s acknowledgement that his administration would transition away from oil shocked the President and the moderator, as Kristen Welker responded with, “Why would you do that?” Biden’s response that he would do away with oil because it is an industry that causes pollution is a winning stance for environmentalists, but from a strategic standpoint, this admission was a monumental gaffe that could cost him much needed support in swing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.
There was also an argument about raising the federal minimum wage rate. Biden wants to fight for $15 an hour, because “…anything below that puts you below the poverty level,” he said. Trump believes this issue should be left to the individual states to decide. “Some places, $15 is not so bad. In other places, other states, $15 is ruins,” Trump said.
The debate took an interesting and notable turn when the topic of immigration was discussed. Biden rarely ever criticizes the Obama administration, but he did so repeatedly on Thursday night. While attacked for doing nothing to solve the problems while in office for 47 years, including eight in the White House, Biden said he was not the president at the time, essentially throwing Obama under the bus and insinuating that Obama was responsible for their administration’s failures.
When Trump asked about deportations and family detention during the Obama administration, Biden responded by saying, “[The Obama Administration] made a mistake. It took too long to get it right.” But, he hopes to counteract this mistake by proposing new immigration legislation within the first 100 days of office–if he were to be elected. The new legislation would provide a pathway to citizenship for roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants who are already living in the country. He also said he will immediately recertify people protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program–a program that Trump has repeatedly fought to end.
Trump responded to questions about immigration by describing the American border as a “strong border,” with hundreds of miles of new barriers, and tougher imigration and enforcement policies. When the moderator, Kristen Welker, asked Trump what his administration is doing to reunite the 500 children who were lost at I.C.E imigration camps with their parents, he responded: “We’re trying very hard.” He didn’t outline any specifics of what they were doing, which left many viewers questioning the authenticity of this statement and feeling unsatisfied with his answer.
It is also important to note the candidates’ responses to climate change. Biden called climate change an “existential threat to humanity,” and said that he would push the nation towards more renewable sources of energy, such as solar and wind. He claimed this would create jobs and boost the economy, as well.
In response to the issue of climate change, Trump responded with one of the most outright false statements that we have heard in the past four years of his presidency. He claimed that his administration has done “an incredible job environmentally.” Seconds later though, he criticized renewable energy sources, claiming that windmills are too expensive and kill birds. The Trump Administration has already reversed nearly 100 environmental rules, pulled America out of the Paris Climate Accord, and Trump himself has claimed that climate change is a hoax. In short, he is not benefitting our environment.
It would be partisan not to mention the other blatantly false statement from Trump during the last presidential debate. Trump claimed, “I am the least racist person in this room.” Biden scoffed at this remark, as well as hundreds of viewers at home. The President is decidedly unpopular with the Black electorate. In September, Gallup reported that Trump’s job approval rating among Black Americans hovers at 11%. According to a January Washington Post poll, more than 8-in-10 black Americans believe that Trump is a racist.
In just the two debates alone, Trump has made three notably racist remarks. Firstly, the president refused to condemn the violence of far-right and white supremacist groups during Black Lives Matter protests this summer, when moderator Chris Wallace, of Fox News, repeatedly asked him to. Secondly, Trump questioned whether Biden would have won the Democratic nomination if senator Elizabeth Warren had not dropped out of the race, and called her “Pocahontas” while doing so. And lastly, he once again referred to the coronavirus pandemic as the “China plague.”
President Trump seems to be running out of time to mount a comeback, and Biden has a hefty lead in national and state polls. As of Oct. 26, Biden is favored to win the election. Forecasts say that Trump has a one in six chance of winning the election. 53% of the popular vote belongs to Biden, while 45% belongs to Trump. While this may seem hopeful for those looking for change, polls in 2016 were very similar, and the electoral college race is extraordinarily tight.
Thankfully, the debates are over. The presidential nominees will find out on Nov. 3 whether they have been elected to lead our country in turmoil out of the trenches of the Coronavirus pandemic, the rising poverty rate, and the systematic racism that affects much of the American population.
