Well, at least we can reasonably call Thursday night’s match-up between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden a “debate.” Unlike last time, Biden was actually able to answer the questions posed to him, though Trump still spoke more than his fair share.
As always, we highly recommend fact-checking any and all claims made during the debate. Many news organizations will do their own fact-checking and reporting, but we continue to prefer the nonpartisan sites such as FactCheck.org, PolitiFact.com and Snopes.com, as well as the Associated Press and NPR.
We applaud Kristen Welker for her performance as moderator. She kept much better control than her predecessor, Chris Wallace. Granted, both candidates were better behaved Thursday than previously and Wallace had the unfortunate privilege of being the first. It seems Walker learned from most of Wallace’s mistakes, though there were several times Trump got away with speaking well beyond his turn.
Trump’s performance was about par for the course. We learned nothing new from him: His talking points (and falsehoods) haven’t changed; when asked about long-promised plans, he was still unable to produce them; and he’s running the same line about releasing his tax returns that he’s been using since 2016. Speaking of which, there was an uncanny echo in Trump’s cries of “emails, emails, emails.” It’s like history is trying to repeat itself in hopes of changing the outcome.
This was not Biden’s best showing, but he held his own. He was occasionally flustered and tongue-tied, but he hit the major points he needed to hit. Some of them were stale, but this close to the election — after what feels like a decade of campaigning — there’s not really anything new to hear from either side.
Perhaps Biden’s most shining moment — and Trump’s biggest missed opportunity — was the final question. Welker tossed what should have been a softball to both candidates: At your inauguration, what would you say to the people who didn’t vote for you?
Welker even gave Trump first dibs. This would have been the ideal place to refute Biden’s claim from earlier in the evening that Trump always throws fuel on the fire. This was his moment to prove he could be presidential. Instead, he recycled the same tired diatribe about the greatest economy ever and the plague from China and so on. Is it worse to think he intentionally avoided the question or that he genuinely thinks those words would be reassuring to Americans who didn’t vote for him?
And then it was Biden’s turn. The former vice president looked directly into the camera and told the people of the United States: “I’m an American president,” whether you voted for him or not. For most of us, those words are a balm to a bruised and battered soul. After four years of continuous “us vs. them” and Trump’s repeated rambling about how awful “blue” states are, it’s comforting to once again see a future for a “United” States of America.
