Trump, Biden Clash Over Pandemic and Corruption
By Stefan J. Bos, Special Correspondent Worthy News
(Worthy News) – Warning of “a dark winter” Democrat Joe Biden condemned U.S. President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic at their Thursday’s final debate.
But Trump leveled corruption accusations at Biden and his family, ahead of upcoming presidential elections on November 3.
The night in Nashville opened with a clash over the president’s handling of the coronavirus that authorities claim killed more than 225,000 Americans and cost millions of jobs.
Some polls suggested it is the campaign’s defining issue for voters, and Biden declared, “Anyone responsible for that many deaths should not remain president of the United States of America.”
However, Trump told Biden: “If you were here, it wouldn’t be 200,000 people, it would be 2 million people. You didn’t want me to ban China, which was heavily infected… If we would have listened to you, the country would have been left wide open.”
CORRUPTION CASES
Trump also repeated his accusations that Biden and his son Hunter engaged in unethical practices in China and Ukraine.
He referred to an apparent trophy of emails first obtained and published by The New York Post newspaper and banned on social media.
The story claimed Hunter Biden discussed leveraging his connection to his father to boost his pay from a Ukrainian natural gas company.
Biden denied wrongdoing and suggested the president should instead publish his tax returns and reveal connections of his family’s international real estate and hotel businesses.
Trump also defended his management of the economy during what critics view as the nation’s most deadly health crisis in a century, And he promised that a vaccine would be ready in weeks.
NO LOCKDOWN?
“It will go away,” said Trump, staying with his optimistic assessment of the pandemic. “We’re rounding the turn. We’re rounding the corner. It’s going away.”
“We can’t keep this country closed. This is a massive country with a massive economy,” Trump said. “There’s depression, alcohol, drugs at a level nobody’s ever seen before. The cure cannot be worse than the problem itself.”
They also clashed over climate change and energy. Trump said it was “big news” when Biden suggested he would phase out the oil industry to make way for more cleaner energy.
“Are you listening?” he asked the oil states of America, including Texas.
Biden made clear he wants to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and promote electric vehicles with tens of thousands of necessary facilities.
MILLIONS VOTE
Final debates often play an outsized role in electoral outcomes. But Thursday night’s showdown was different from those past.
More than 47 million people have already cast their ballots as part of a pandemic-era rise in early voting. In an election dominated by a polarizing president, far fewer undecided voters remain than at this point in 2016.
In a visual reminder of the pandemic that has rewritten the norms of American society, plexiglass had been installed onstage Wednesday between the two men. But in the hours before the debate, they were removed.
The debate, moderated by NBC’s Kristen Welker, was a final chance for each man to make his case to a television audience of tens of millions of voters.
Both sides seemed calmer than during their previous quarreling encounter.
MUTED MIKE
In a controversial attempt to prevent interruptions this time, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that Trump and Biden would each have his microphone cut off while his rival delivered an opening two-minute answer to each of six debate topics.
The mute button did not figure in the open discussion portion of the debate.
The roughly 200 attendees had their temperatures checked before entering the venue, and everyone was required to wear a medical mask at all times.
Trump entered the stage without a mask, Biden took it off later.
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