The last of three presidential debates was held on Thursday, October 22, and I think it’s safe to say that this was the most unusual year for the debates. The first debate was held on September 29 and received a lot of criticism from both parties. Viewers had a hard time watching as Donald Trump and Joe Biden bickered on stage for 90 minutes. Throughout the night, Biden could hardly get a word out without Trump speaking over him. It became so frustrating that Joe himself even lashed out and finally said “Will you shut up, man?”
Things took a turn preceding the second debate when Trump tested positive for COVID-19. The plan was to switch to a virtual debate for the safety of everyone involved, but the President refused. The two candidates ended up doing their own separate town hall debates on different new channels. Biden’s debate was aired on ABC and collected a total of 14.1 million views, while Trump’s was aired on three new channels and collected a total of 13.5 million views.
Joe Biden’s town hall was very calm and professional as he thoughtfully answered every question asked, and even stayed after to directly answer more of the people’s questions. Trump’s on the other hand, contained a lot of arguing with the moderator, Savannah Guthrie, as she corrected him whenever he gave false information. This outraged a lot of Republicans since they are not used to Trump being held accountable by anyone, let alone a woman.
The third and final debate was held on Thursday, October 22, and went a lot different than I was expecting. After the first debates’ events, the Commission on Presidential Debates decided to mute the candidates’ microphones when their opponent is speaking their uninterrupted two minutes. This made the debate go much smoother than the first one, but there were some interesting things said. For example, in regards to coronavirus, Trump said “It will go away and as I say, we’re rounding the turn, we’re rounding the corner. It’s going away.”
The opposite of that is happening right now, as the United States is facing record-breaking spikes of COVID-19 cases nation-wide.
Overall, the 2020 presidential debates didn’t provide much information on Trump’s behalf, besides the fact that he is incapable of respectfully having a discussion with someone. Biden however, delivered a lot of clarification about his plans for health care, taxes, and coronavirus.