© REUTERS / Jim Bourg / PoolTrump and Biden in the second presidential debate, October 22, 2020
Trump scored a decisive win in the final debate, as Biden, although lobbed softballs, teetered. The former VP rested his case on "character," despite recent exposures of a global influence-peddling scheme undertaken in his name.
In the second and last 2020 presidential debate, held at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, Joe Biden and President Donald Trump answered questions about fighting Covid-19, American families, race in America, climate change, national security and leadership. As skewed as most topics were toward Democratic wheelhouses, Trump managed to do well in nearly all of the segments, securing what can only be seen as a victory, especially considering the odds against him.
Amid
growing allegations about Biden's involvement in an international graft scheme fronted by his son Hunter Biden, Trump nevertheless had long odds in a debate moderated by Kristen Welker, an
ardent Democrat.
Trump not only faced a political opponent, he also faced the narratives of a mainstream media that has been an unabashed accomplice intent on destroying his presidency for the last four years, and is now hell-bent on foiling his re-election bid. In the end, Trump managed to pull a rabbit out of his hat by posting a solid performance and shaking Biden with the allegations of corruption, while holding his own or outright winning on most topics.
Comment: The evening was a litany of stumbles by Biden:
'Kids in cages'
Democratic nominee Joe Biden was put on his heels after attacking President Donald Trump's immigration policies, forced to acknowledge that former president Barack Obama's detention of children at the border was a "mistake."
"They used to say I built the cages. They had a picture in a certain newspaper... of these horrible cages. They used to say: 'Look at these cages, President Trump built them,'" he said, adding: "Then it was determined they were built in 2014 - that was him," pointing at Biden across the stage.
He had eight years to do what he said he was going to do. We got rid of catch-and-release, we got rid of a lot of horrible things that they put in and that they lived with... He did nothing except build cages to keep children in.
Mask wearing
Biden has floated the idea of a national mask mandate multiple times, though he's also said he isn't sure if the president has the authority to enact such an order. At Thursday's debate, moderator Kristen Welker did not follow up after Biden's "mask" comment about any potential mandates.
Lockdowns
Joe Biden's plans for fighting Covid-19 became a jumbled mess in his final debate face-off with Donald Trump, as he first pledged to stop the virus without a national lockdown, then reiterated that he won't rule out a shutdown.
Trump vowed to avoid any future shutdowns on a national basis, saying businesses and schools need to be kept open. "We have to open our country," he said. "We're not going to have a country. You can't keep this country closed. This is a massive country with a massive economy. You can't do this. People are losing their jobs. People are committing suicide."
Trump added: "The cure cannot be worse than the problem itself, and that's what's happening. And [Biden's] going to close down the country."
On being called out on Biden's record on criminal
justice reforms
President Trump took a jab at his electoral challenger during the Thursday debate, asking, "Why didn't you get [criminal justice reform] done? ... You know why, Joe? Because you're all talk and no action."
Biden was quick to defend the former Democratic administration's supposed inaction on the issue, saying he and former president Barack Obama's "had a Republican Congress," which hindered any reform.
Online users were understandably giddy to point out such an obvious falsehood, and called Biden a liar.
And in his most glorious gaffe, Biden
directly contradicted himself regard a policy statement that is on the record multiple times:
Biden has faced a lot of scrutiny when it comes to his views on the oil industry. He denied once again at Thursday's debate that he has ever said he is for banning fracking, despite multiple videos of him during the primaries saying just that. Edited clips of those moments were tweeted out by the president on Thursday night.
Comment: Here is the full 37 minutes of raw footage: