Gloves (and masks) come off as Biden and Trump debate

Amid a pandemic that has claimed the lives of over 200,000 Americans, a tax scandal that has engulfed President Donald Trump’s campaign and an ensuing Supreme Court battle, the representatives of the Democratic and Republican Parties faced off on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020. The debate was moderated by Fox News Sunday anchor, Chris Wallace, and the topics covered in the debate included the records of President Trump and Vice President Biden, COVID-19, race relations and more.

Before the debate, the New York Times reported that Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2017. The President denied the report in the debate, saying he has paid millions of dollars in income taxes, to which Biden replied, “release your taxes.”

Wallace lost control throughout the debate, as Trump and Biden constantly spoke and yelled over each other. On one occurence, The President tried to speak over both Biden and Wallace and in response, Biden stated “Will you shut up, man?”

Regarding race relations, Trump called racial sensitivity training “racist” and later refused to condemn white supremacists. He said, “Proud boys, stand back and stand by. But I'll tell you what...somebody's got to do something about Antifa and the left.”

The opinionated Trump later focused on Biden’s years in public office, stating that, “In 47 months, I’ve done more than you’ve done in 47 years.” The President also tried to attach Biden to the left’s plans to pack the Supreme Court and pass the Green New Deal. Biden responded, “The party is me, right now. I am the Democratic Party.”

The Commission on Presidential Debates plans to update their format after repeated interruptions by both candidates that upended the first debate. Both the Biden and Trump campaigns published responses to this news.

Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign’s communication director, stated, “President Trump was the dominant force and now Joe Biden is trying to work the refs.” Biden’s deputy campaign manager, Kate Beddingfield, said that Joe Biden is looking forward to answering questions in the town-hall-style debate, where he would, “be focused on answering questions from the voters there, under whatever set of rules the commission develops to try to contain Donald Trump’s behavior.”

The next presidential debate will be a town-hall style debate moderated by Steve Scully of C-SPAN, and will take place on Thursday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. MST. The only vice-presidential debate is next week, Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m MST, with Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris D-CA facing off.