The Final Debate Was a Lot Calmer: Trump Didn’t Melt Down; Biden Didn’t Fall Flat
The best part of the night is that it is over. The TV battles are all but over. Attempts at bullying and the rewrites of history perhaps are done. Maybe this was the last time Donald Trump and Joe Biden appear together on the same stage.
Hey, we’re already voting. Those last-second pitches and attacks felt like water off a duck’s back. Worse than obnoxious behavior may be irrelevant.
Basically, what we got in a calmer debate was a collision of visions.
Trump sees a business-dominant America, even in a pandemic, with fewer federal programs and individual responsibility to take care of oneself—except for areas where he has an interest like opposing abortion.
Biden embraces bigger government services, health care, environment and caring for the vulnerable.
The hard part was sitting still while they went at it, trying to remember that Hunter Biden isn’t running against Xi Jinping for U.S. president.
But what they mostly did was attack each other’s character.
Trump likely did not persuade new voters. Biden may have done so, but certainly did not lose any.
The hard part was sitting still while they went at it, trying to remember that Hunter Biden isn’t running against Xi Jinping for U.S. president. At some points, you wondered whether they could agree on the color of the stage.
The winners: The threat of the mute button and pre-debate coronavirus testing.
Losers were accuracy and any consistent belief in our institutions.
The biggest focus, of course, was on:
- each candidate’s demeanor
- how an infantile Trump would react to new rules to shut the microphones to ensure both could be heard
- whether Biden was ready for the inevitable questions about his son arising in recent days
- would Trump have a good answer for questions arising from disclosures that he paid more to the Chinese government in taxes than to our IRS?
A Reasonable Start
It started reasonably enough, with plenty of by-play. Trump seemed to have taken his politeness pills. It heated up over time.
The approaches to coronavirus predictably set the tempo once again: Trump praised himself and his government; Biden said anyone who allowed 220,000 deaths should not be returned to office.
Of course, neither guy can stop the pandemic, but they split on the role of leadership, which, after all, is the main job requirement. At issue here: Who’s got a plan?
In truth, at this point of the campaign replaying the past months seemed old.
Trump’s plan: Live with contagion, and open businesses quickly.
Biden: Employ rapid testing and make resources available to open businesses and schools.
The message to voters was to apply a truth test to all the issues being raised.
That truth front got difficult quickly since Trump turned national security questions to the Hunter Biden matter as if that has proved the most important issue of the election.
Biden effectively shoved several sharp attacks into his pre-planned remarks about security, though they were equally oblique at times.
Trump played his victim card again complaining about how he was spied on by the Obama administration, facts notwithstanding.
Biden insisted there was nothing unethical with his son’s dealings in Ukraine. There was similar foot-shuffling about Trump’s investments in China and elsewhere.
Truth was elusive. There was little understandable here for any voter tuning in for the first time. It certainly wasn’t dispositive to any vote choice. It was Biden who took the adult role here in returning the focus to policy-making.
On health care, there was discernible disagreement. The usual Trump promise of a non-existent plan was put forward as politicians might normally do–until Trump threw fracking into the mix for a confusing minute. Fracking is boring deep into the earth with water under high pressure to find oil.
Cherry-Picking Facts
Economics was a policy minefield, with each cherry-picking familiar facts, figures and emphases to underscore party differences.
Immigration statements reflected long-standing biases over issues like separating children from parents.
Trump’s easy answer: Blame Biden-Obama and then “coyotes,” paid guides who illegally bring migrants to our border. Trump overlooked his own policies to rip children from parents.
Biden’s answer was simpler: Blame Trump. Trump never showed a whit of caring about what has left 545 children from being reunited with family.
Race provided an invitation to empathy, with a plea to talk to Black parents. But Trump didn’t take the bait, choosing instead to make clear that he does not want America defined by its institutional racism, praising himself and mischaracterizing Black Lives Matter.
Biden offered a much more straight-forward, realistic picture of racism, and again said he erred in supporting a 1994 crime bill that boosted Black imprisonments.
Judge character in this race, said Biden, pointing to Trump and calling him a liar who has stoked the fires of racism.
Sure, said Trump, turning to Biden calling him a corrupt politician. Trump insisted he is not racist.
Then Trump stood on a record of ignoring climate change and eliminating environmental regulations as providing us with crystal clear water and protection of U.S. businesses.
Biden had to point out that science tells us that global warming is an existential threat to the planet.
As a debate, it was merely a repetition of what we know about each candidate, except for knocking down buildings and taking out windows.
Trump wants Success—for successful people.
Biden wants Unity, dignity and less divisiveness.
Trump’s best case: Joe, why didn’t you do it before?
Biden’s best case: Trump is ruinous to the country.