On Sept. 29, President Donald Trump and Former Vice President Joe Biden had their first Presidential Debate for the upcoming election in November. Six topics were discussed but conversations escalated from both parties and media sources have described the debate as, “a disaster.”
During this debate, both candidates attacked each other’s personal life and past political contributions. 17% of people thought that the debate was informative according to CBS news and 69% were annoyed by the debate.
During this debate, numbers were given and fact-checkers at CBS news gave a few of those they checked. When discussing the topic of COVID-19, President Trump mentioned that teenagers are not high risk for COVID-19 and fact-checkers stated that this information was misleading and that they in fact are due to the recent cases.
On the other side, Vice President Biden states that there are 100 million people
who have a pre-existing condition and fact-checkers stated this was partially true related to COVID-19. The moderator mentioned the filibuster to Vice President Joe Biden, and he did not answer the question, President Trump tried pushing for an answer, Biden still refused to answer because “it would cause another debate.”
Another interesting moment that occurred was when medical insurance was brought up. Medical Insurance in the country has been an ongoing difficulty for many citizens to obtain and pay for, in the four years of his presidency Trump has not come up with a comprehensive plan to replace the Affordable Care Act as he has mentioned he would do.
Here, Trump discussed that he will make drug prices come down, making it more affordable for the people. Notably, he says that insulin will be, “so cheap like it’s water.” President Joe Biden was asked to explain his addition to the Affordable Care Act to make a public option and some people fear this would end private insurance. Biden stated it will not end private insurance but given to “those who are so poor that they can qualify for Medicaid.”
Vice President Joe Biden called President Trump a clown and at one point told him he is the worst President this country has had. In a later topic, President Trump brought up Biden’sson who had a drug addiction.
All and all this debate was not informative on how the country will move forward and gave the people of this country little hope for the future as disappointed statements (and memes) swiftly circulated on social media platforms.
Different news outlets had their own opinion on how the debate ended. CNN news anchor Jake Tapper said, “Well that was a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a train wreck. That was the worst debate I have ever seen; it wasn’t even a debate, it was a disgrace.”
The next debate is on Wednesday, Oct. 7 with Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris at 9:00 PM EST.
If you have not registered to vote or need more information about voting registration, please visit www.vote.org and support your candidate.
Jennifer Tellez
Reporter