Joe Biden and Donald Trump
Chris Wallace of Fox News was the debate moderator. Topics discussed include, the Supreme Court nominee, Covid-19, racism, violence in U.S cities, climate change, the integrity of the election and the records that are tied around both candidates.
During the presidential election campaigns in the United States, it has become customary for the main candidates to engage in a debate. The debates are targeted mainly at undecided voters.
I. The 2020 Presidential Debate
For 90 minutes, tens and millions of people around the world watched the aspiring U.S presidential candidates insult and embarrass each other. A clear representation of incivility and toxicity from the two candidates.
A debate is, at heart, like a job interview, with the voters as the employer. Biden remembered to emphasize the employer's needs while Trump emphasized his own needs.
A coin toss determined who was to answer the first question and make their closing remarks first. Trump won the toss and went first.
Donald Trump
Both candidates got turns to answer a question for 2 minutes, after which the opposing candidate had 1 minute to respond and rebut his/her arguments.
We learnt something from Trump's debate style that relied heavily on the repetition of catch-phrases, like 'radical revolution' that sound ludicrous outside the confines of the 'right wing' echo chamber. The rhetoric is an effective strategy with those who already support him.
President Trump kept things focused squarely on himself. Trump spoke about his achievements, the endless grievances and bizarre conspiracy theories.
In contrast, Joe Biden has developed a different debate technique in his 42 years in politics and governance. Joe deploys an arsenal of smiles, chuckles and guffaws as lethal weapons. Biden relied heavily on his facial expressions
Biden is adept at knowing what to do when his opponent is speaking- a trick only a veteran debater can master. We now know when to step back and when to detonate our punch lines.
Joe made a point of keeping his focus on the voters, frequently addressing the camera, directly appealing to "You folks at home". Generally, we learnt that smiling and good eye contact suggests that one is truthful about what he/she is saying.
The debate was chaotic with each interrupting the other, although moderator, Chris Wallace said Trump was more disruptive. The pair argued about their previous job performances and went further to drag their families into the fight.
II. The Topics
The first question posed to both candidates by Chris Wallace was with regards to the Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney. The moderator wanted to know why Trump preferred Amy and why Biden doubts Amy's abilities.
Trump was blunt and straight to the point, he said, "I am the president and I have the authority to fill in a vaccancy on the Supreme Court". Biden argued that, a conservative court could repeal Obama Care and substitute the Affordable Care Act with nothing meaningful.
Trump was asked whether he would condemn white supremacists and militia groups. Instead of directly answering the question, Donald Trump went on to deflect and blame the months of violence in U.S cities on the 'left wing groups'.
Trump retaliated by bringing up Biden's son Hunter into the battlefield. Hunter's business dealings in China and Ukraine have been the focus of Republican criticism.
Trump claims to have built the greatest economy in U.S history. It's a claim he said repeatedly through out his presidency. Fair to say, the U.S economy was doing well pre-pandemic, with a declining unemployment rate.
Nevertheless, Donald Trump's annual economic growth was not the strongest under his watch. As a matter of fact, Trump is short of the 4 to 6 percent growth rate that he promised voters in 2016 he would deliver.
The audience expected Biden to raise Trump's federal tax evasion scandal of US$750. The fact that, the tax scandal report was published on the eve of the debate got Biden's campaign team thinking.
The team knew very well that, Trump had prepared a solid defense if Joe raised the issue. It was a calculated move not to raise obvious topics in a debate- something worth noting.
III. The Moderator
Chris Wallace was the moderator of the first of three scheduled presidential debates. Chris' role was to ask good questions on a variety of topics and to keep the candidates focused on those areas of discussion.
Moderating Donald Trump and Joe Biden is not easy!
The moderator was fairly good, despite being a registered Democrat. As expected, Wallace was not empowered to fact-check Donald Trump and Joe Biden, instead, Chris reminded us of professionalism 101, by striking a balance and not fear or favor the Democratic nominee.
Well, fact-checking candidates would lead to bias. After watching Chris, one can tell that, there is a huge difference between being a moderator in a debate and a reporter who is interviewing someone.
After all, the whole point of a presidential debate is to get the candidates debate one another and not the moderator. Fact-checking is critical, it's not only a matter of exposing issues, but the intention is to seek for clarity and justification from the candidates.
Mike Pence and Kamala Harris
The United States Vice President, Mike Pence will meet Joe Biden's running mate, Kamala Harris for one debate on October 7. Trump and Biden will thereafter face off in two more debates.
After watching the ice breaker, one can learn a lot from Trump and Biden's strength and weaknesses. We hope the remaining debates will be conducted in a more civilized manner.
