Jalil Afridi
Washington DC: Due to continuous interruption by US President Donald Trump during first Presidential Debate, former vice president and Democratic party presidential candidate, Joe Biden told Trump “will you shut up.”
The moderator and host of the show, Chris Wallace on more than a dozen occasions had to either stop Donald Trump from interrupting Joe Biden or had to tell Donald Trump that his time for answer was over.
Presidential debates are considered very important in US elections and these debates are watched by close to 100 million people. Through these debates’ candidates have an opportunity to speak directly to the people from different political beliefs and affiliations.
While defending his desire to appoint a Supreme Court Judge, whose seat recently got vacated due to the death of Justice Ruth Ginsburg, President Trump said that he was appointed as president for four years therefore it was his right to appoint a judge on the said seat. On the other hand, Joe Biden said that “people have the right to vote” therefore suggesting that US elections were about to take place in a month and during such crucial time the said decision was not “appropriate” and that it could have been delayed till after the elections.
Regarding health care plans, Joe Biden said that in almost four years of Trump as president, he was unable to introduce a single plan in health sector and the only thing that he is after is the Obama Care, which provides free health care to more than twenty million people. Donald Trump replied by saying that during his presidency prices of drugs have been reduced tremendously and that he believes that Obama Care is a disaster. “I don’t even know why they called it Obama Care” Trump added while criticizing the tenure of former president Barrack Obama and Vice President, Joe Pence.
Joe Biden took a jab at President Trump when the issue of Corona virus was discussed. Joe Biden said that more than two hundred thousand Americans have died due to Corona virus and still president Trump has no plan. “He does not know when the vaccine will be coming, he is not helping the small businesses which closed down.” Biden added. Trump said that he was talking to the CEO’s of companies like Johnson and Johnson and Pfizer and the vaccine to fight Corona virus will soon be available in the market. “If I had listened to your plans, these figures would have been doubled” Trump said. Biden replied by saying that President Trump does not believe his own scientists and that is the reason why more than seven million Americans has been affected by Corona virus.
Trump said that it was true that economy got a big hit due to Corona but now the economy has started improving. “New York looks like a ghost town; we have got to open up the markets” Trump further added to make his point of view make sense.
Moderator of the show, Chris Wallace asked Donald Trump very straight forward that he paid only 750 dollars in federal income tax for the year 2016 and 2017. Donald Trump in his reply stated that he paid million in taxes and that the loop holes in tax system were introduced by the Obama administration in which Biden was the vice president. President Trump also said that he has brought manufacturing industry back to the United States and that economy has been doing great under his leadership.
Contradicting Trump, Joe Biden said that Trump had inherited a great economy from his previous government with President Obama and that the only thing Trump knew was to take advantage of the tax system and being a billionaire, he does not know what an average American is feeling right now.
Biden further said that Trump has divided the American nation and he is promoting hatred. Regarding the rights of African American, Joe Biden said that Trump is disastrous for African American community.
“There is systematic injustice against African Americans but it does not mean we have walked away from the racial problem” Biden added.
Donald Trump on the other hand while talking about the racial problems in America said that it was Biden’s government who had called African Americans “super predators”. Trump also said that Biden does not care about the law enforcement officials when it comes to violent protest. “We can’t let protesters destroy other people’s businesses” Trump said while defending the way he handled the racial protests across America.
Joe Biden on the other hand called Donald Trump “racist” and said that he used force against peaceful protesters right in front of the White House. Joe Biden accused Donald Trump of looking down upon people who are of different race, color and religion.
The moderator Chris Wallace at one point asked President Trump whether he condemns White Supremacy, to which Donald Trump gave a lengthy reply instead of saying yes or no.
Regarding economy, Donald Trump said that no president has done more work than him and his administration. “We are rebuilding our military, taking care of veterans and I had to fill 128 vacancies of judges which they (Biden & Obama) had left open” Donald Trump said while highlighting his achievements.
In his reply Joe Biden said that it was his first government which had inherited a recession due to the .com bust and within couple of years he rebuilt the economy. “We gave him great economy which he has now ruined due to his bad policies and judgements on Corona.” Biden said.
Joe Biden also accused Donald Trump of ruining foreign relations of America. “I looked in the eyes of Russia when I had to tell them something, but Donald Trump was hiding from American people that Russia was paying bounties to the Taliban for killing US soldiers in Afghanistan.”
Regarding environment issue, Joe Biden said that if he becomes the president, he will be rejoining the Paris Accord, will encourage renewable energy, create more charging stations for electric vehicles, stop the cutting of forests and invest into funds which are related to environment and global warming. “15% of the environment damage is done by us, how can we ignore it.” Biden added while defending his previous government policies with regard to protecting and taking care of the environment related issues.
Donald Trump in his reply said that China, Russia and India equally damage the environment so why should it be just the US spending money on environment related issues.
Regarding integrity and legitimacy of upcoming elections due to balloting being made through US Postal Service, Joe Biden said that there is no problem with mailing of the ballots because safety of the American people due to Corona is the most thing and therefore, he will accept the results even if the counting takes several days after the elections to announce the final results.
On the other hand, Donald Trump said that balloting through mail is going to prove disastrous and the results might take months to announce. This is not going to end well, Trump added in his final remarks.