Once again tonight, I will be jotting down my thoughts (some serious, most sarcastic, and you get to figure out which is which!) through the course of the evening, or at least until I lose consciousness.
Working in our favor: there will be a mute button, at least for brief portions of tonight’s debate. Also, media reports suggest that President Trump recognizes that his regular interruptions didn’t play well during the first debate, so there is a chance that tonight he will tone it down and only occasionally blast an air horn while Biden is talking (which, let’s face it, would be less annoying).
Working against us: the debate commission rejected my recommendation that instead of Trump and Biden, we allow surrogates to step in: Original Chachi (Scott Baio) for Trump and 21st Century Chachi (John Stamos) for Biden. So it looks like we’re stuck with the O.G. nominees.
Prediction: by the time the debate is over, most Americans will be firmly convinced not to vote for Hunter Biden, Hillary Clinton, or Rudy Giuliani this year.
Refresh frequently during the broadcast to get my latest thoughts and to stave off a sudden-onset coma.
7:50pm: Apparently the big pre-debate story involves a former Hunter Biden business associate named Tony Bobulinski, regarding… mmmm, do they still make Boboli pizza crusts and sauce? Those were really good. Now I’m hungry. I wonder if I have time to make a homemade pizza before the…
No, never mind. Back to, umm, Bobo… Bubbles… something about Biden and a secret Chinese bank account? No, that’s not Biden. Wait…
OK, I’ll have to come back to that later. It’s almost debate time!
8:03pm: Moderator Kristin Welker is on stage and ready to go. President Trump wins the coin toss and has elected to receive.
8:04pm: Biden wears a mask as he walks out on the stage. President Trump does not. Welker asks both candidates to speak one at a time. Good luck with that.
8:05pm: First question is on coronavirus — Trump begins by claiming that 2.2 million people were projected to die (that is true — if literally nothing had been done to combat the virus, but it’s also true that projections were lower if there had been more of a coordinated response to the virus). Trump says there will be a vaccine in the next few weeks (unknown) and says “some people” would describe the medications he took as “a cure” (it’s not). He repeats his claim that “we’re rounding the turn” and “it will go away” (there is no evidence to support either claim).
8:08pm: Biden says “anyone who is responsible” for 220,000 deaths should not remain as President. Trump is not responsible for 220,000 deaths. But inaction has undoubtedly prolonged this crisis and added to the heartbreaking toll.
8:09pm: The microphone muting is already the best move the debate commission has made.
8:10pm: Trump admits his promise of a vaccine in a few weeks is “not a guarantee”. And Trump says his timeline is “more accurate” than science and public health experts who say it will be the middle of next year or later before that vaccine can be ready.
8:11pm: Trump continues to repeat his claim that Biden called the travel “ban” xenophobic. Biden did not. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/mar/27/donald-trump/fact-checking-whether-biden-called-trump-xenophobi/
8:14pm: Trump blames Gold Star families again for him catching the coronavirus, despite his own failure to socially distance or wear masks.
8:15pm: Trump says, “I take full responsibility” — and in the next sentence says, “It’s not my fault.”
8:16pm: Trump repeats his earlier lie. Biden opts not to respond. A little bit of interrupting here and there, but this is so far MUCH better than the first debate.
8:17pm: Biden says he’s not in favor of lockdowns, but also says restrictions may be needed in hot spots. He also got in a golfing jab at Trump. Trump responds that Democratic governors are shutting states down “and they’re dying, they’re dying”. Trump also says he wants to open the schools (“wanting” is not the same as having a workable plan). Trump says Biden will shut everything down if “one person in our massive bureaucracy” says to do so (again, there is no evidence to back up this level of hyperbole).
8:21pm: Biden attacks Trump’s dismissal of the risk to teachers. Trump replies that you can’t have people surrounded by Plexiglass all the time (personally, I don’t think we have enough Plexiglass around at the moment).
8:23pm: Trump says we “understand” the disease and “we have to protect our seniors” — but many younger people have gotten ill and some have died (and there is currently a six-year-old child hospitalized in Sangamon County with the virus).
8:24pm: Trump says he gets along with Dr. Anthony Fauci, whom he called a “disaster” just a couple of days ago. He also says that Fauci also said coronavirus will just “go away.” Dr. Fauci begs to differ: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/510816-fauci-says-virus-may-never-be-eradicated-contradicting-trump
8:26pm: Moving on to election security. Biden says anyone who interferes with our elections “will pay a price.” He says Trump hasn’t said anything to Putin about Russian interference. Biden also brings up Rudy and the laptop story before Trump does, suggesting Rudy is being used by Russian assets (smart move to pre-emptively throw that into the mix? We’ll find out…)
8:28pm: Trump claims Biden got $3.5 million from Putin, then says his family got the money. Trump says he never got money from Russia. Eric Trump begs to differ: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/05/eric-trump-russia-investment-golf-course
Trump also appears to mistakenly say that Russia and China want Biden to lose. That may be true, but I don’t think that’s what Trump wanted to say. [CORRECTION: I misheard that. Trump was claiming that DNI Ratcliffe was telling him that Russia and China want him, Trump, to lose. That assessment, though, contradicts years of intelligence findings about foreign election interference.]
8:30pm: OK, it’s Hunter time! Biden responds with Trump’s secret Chinese bank account. Biden also says he’s released his tax return — and asks what Trump is hiding. Trump says he still wants to release his taxes (“as soon as the audit is done”), and also claims he “pre-paid” his taxes. Trump also adds the IRS to the gargantuan list of people and entities that treat him unfairly (including the media, women, his own cabinet, and coronavirus, among others).
8:35pm: Trump says if he spent a million dollars, he could find a lot of dirt on Biden. Would that be anywhere near Obama’s long-form birth certificate?
8:36pm: Trump decides to go into Hunter Biden’s background — on what planet is this among the issues of greatest concern to American voters? Also, from CNN’s Daniel Dale, fact-checker extraordinaire: “It is not true Hunter Biden did not have a job when he was appointed to Burisma board in 2014 (or before Joe was VP). He was a lawyer at a firm, an adjunct prof at Georgetown U, chairman of the board of World Food Program USA, and CEO of investment firm Rosemont Seneca Advisors.”
8:42pm: For all of Trump’s complaints about no foreign policy in the debate, there’s a LOT of questions about foreign policy in this debate.
8:45pm: Trump says it’s better to have Kim Jong-Un writing “love letters” than to have him dislike our president. Biden responds that Kim didn’t like Obama because Obama was tougher on him. Trump says Obama left him “a mess” in North Korea. And now… the economy.
8:47pm: Trump brags that he ended the individual mandate of Obamacare (this, of course, was the mechanism by which coverage for pre-existing conditions could be paid for). He then insists that he will have a better health care plan that protects pre-existing conditions, but after four years still has not offered a single detail of how that plan would work. He also claims that Biden would “terminate” private health care plans. Again, from Daniel Dale on Twitter: “Trump is just lying when he says Biden would get rid of private health insurance for 180 million. Biden has vocally rejected a Sanders-style “Medicare for All” that’d eliminate most private plans. He wants to let people enter a Medicare-like “public option” if they choose.”
8:51pm: For the first time, I started watching Trump while his mic is muted. He keeps looking at the camera, doing a Jackie Gleason-style slow burn. I predict a lot of memes coming from that.
8:52pm: Trump repeats that Biden wants socialized medicine — just after saying he had 47 years and didn’t do it. (?) And then… fracking?
8:53pm: “When he’s talking about a public option, he’s talking about socialized medicine.” So socialism is optional? Trump also keeps invoking Bernie Sanders; Biden responds, “He’s a confused guy.” Trump says Biden tried to hurt Social Security years ago. In fact, Biden did support higher SS taxes, in a bipartisan bill that was signed by President Reagan. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/10/16/fact-check-joe-biden-okd-social-security-taxes-wants-savings-reform/5896512002/
8:56pm: Trump says the lack of a new stimulus deal is Nancy Pelosi’s fault. Biden responds that the roadblock is with the Senate GOP.
8:58pm: Trump says the House relief bill was a “bailout” for “badly-run Democrat cities and states.” Biden says as President, he would be a “proud Democrat,” but would work for all states, red or blue — and says without a relief bill, there will be layoffs and problems in both red and blue states.
9:00pm: Trump says he would consider raising the federal minimum wage to $15… “to an extent,” and then says it should be a state option. So, in fact, he would not consider raising the federal minimum wage. Biden says there is no evidence that raising the minimum wage forces businesses to close. Two differing viewpoints on this: https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/workforce/wage-hikes-force-large-scale-restaurant-closings-study-finds
And: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/20/minimum-wage-increases-arent-a-job-killer-small-business-survey.html
9:03pm: Biden attacks on family separation. Trump says Obama-Biden started the policy. But the current 500+ children whose parents can’t be located happened on Trump’s watch. Trump also says the children — who have been separated from their parents, perhaps forever — are “so well taken care of.”
9:04pm: Biden concedes past mistakes in the Obama administration on immigration, but says this time he would be President, not vice president.
9:05pm: Let me just say again, the microphone muting has been a blessing. And kudos to President Trump for the obvious conscious decision not to constantly interrupt. He comes off better, and the debate has been infinitely more informative as a result.
9:11pm: Trump repeats his claim that Biden called Black offenders “superpredators.” This is false. https://www.bet.com/news/national/2020/09/30/joe-biden-donald-trump-lie-super-predator.html
Trump also says he’s done more for Black people than any other President since Lincoln. LBJ (Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act) begs to differ. Biden responds with the Central Park Five.
9:14pm: Trump asks why Biden didn’t do things four years ago (when Biden was Vice President). But Biden is talking about things that Trump hasn’t done (when Trump is currently President). Trump responds, “They’re” calling you a corrupt politician (at this point, the “They” is Giuliani and the New York Post) and tries again to shoehorn the “laptop from hell” (again, Giuliani’s characterization) into the debate.
9:16pm: Trump says the first time he heard of Black Lives Matter, it was people making offensive chants about police. He also says he’s “the least racist person in this room.” (He adds, “I can’t see the room because it’s so dark” — I hope he’s talking about the level of illumination in the room.) Biden then botches his response, referring to the “poor boys” (actually, Proud Boys) and mistakenly saying Trump told them to “stand down” (Trump specifically did not tell them that, instead telling them to “stand back and stand by”). [ADDENDUM: Dammit, Joe, now I’m hungry for poor boys.]
9:24pm: Biden says we have a “moral obligation” to deal with climate change, and says four more years of Trump will put us “in real trouble”. Trump responds by going after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who last time I checked is not the Democratic nominee for President.
9:28pm: Trump claims we went to war with other nations “because we needed their energy” and also again claims that wind power “kills all the birds.” Gazillions of birds are still alive and beg to differ.
9:35pm: Asked what he would say to unite the nation if he wins a second term, Trump responds, Don’t vote for Biden, he’ll destroy America. Asked what he would say if he wins, Biden responds, I will be President for all of you.
Tonight’s winner: Kristin Welker, easily the best moderator of the debate season. Runner-up, the American people, since we don’t have to endure any more presidential debates. End result: it’s very unlikely that anything tonight moved the meter one iota for most voters. One caveat: right now, Team Trump is frantically trying to figure out if they keep trying to make Hunter Biden happen, or shift their closing argument to “Biden’s going to destroy the oil industry.” And at this point, I would say it’s a tossup.
Now… GO VOTE!
