By Lamin Njie
President Donald Trump was all over Joe Biden giving his democratic rival less wriggling room to state why Americans should put him in office.
Joe Biden on Tuesday night – under American time and Wednesday morning in The Gambia – went up against Trump in the first of three scheduled presidential debate showdowns – where they sparred over the future of America.
Commission on Presidential Debates brought the two men on one stage for the first time since their Democratic and Republican parties gave their blessing for them to be their candidates in the November 3 election.
Fox News journalist Chris Wallace who moderated the debate however struggled throughout for control – as Trump employed a tactic of not letting Joe Biden get away with anything or putting his ideas out smoothly by frequently interrupting him.
‘Mr President, I’m the moderator in this debate and I would like you to let me ask my questions’, an out-of-sorts Wallace said 10 minutes into the debate.
The two men in the one-hour-and-thirty-minute debate differed greatly on Wallace’s topics. The first topic was on Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barett for justice of the Supreme Court.
“We have a phenomenal nominee respected by all. Top top academic good in every way. She’s going to be good as anybody that had served on the court,” Trump speaking first at the start of the debate said of Barret.
Joe Biden who didn’t have much to complain about the integrity of Barret placed his argument along the line of Americans having the right to have a say in who their Supreme Court nominee is.
“When they (Americans) vote for United States senators and when they vote for the president of the United States, they’re not gonna get that chance now because we’re in the middle of an election already. Elections have already started. Tens of thousands of people have already voted.
“And so the thing that should happen is we should wait. We should wait and see what the outcome of this election is. I’m not opposed to the justice, she seems like a very fine person,” Biden said but then going further by saying Trump was rushing Barret’s appointment in a bid to get rid of the affordable care act.
The debate then degenerated into chaos when Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden as Biden beat about the bush about a question regarding either supporting ending the filibuster or packing the Supreme Court by filling the late Justice Bader Ginsburg’s place.
“”That is not the issue, the issue is the American people should speak, you should go out and vote,” Biden said as Trump repeatedly asked ‘Are you gonna pack the court?’
“He doesn’t wanna answer your question,” Trump then said to which Biden replied: “I’m not gonna answer the question.”
“Why wouldn’t you answer the question?” Trump again chimed in as Biden tried to continue speaking.
“Would you shut up, man?” Biden told Trump.
America has struggled with the coronavirus pandemic and both men charged at each other over the issue.
“The president has no plan. He hasn’t laid out anything. He knew all the way back in February how serious this crisis was, he knew it was a deadly disease. What did he do? He’s on tape acknowledging he knew it. He said he didn’t tell us, to give people a warning of it because he didn’t to panic the American people,” Biden said as he preceded his comments on the crisis with over 200,000 people dying and over seven million getting infected.
“You don’t panic, he panicked,” Biden looking right into the camera continued and then said elsewhere: “I laid out in July what we should be doing. We should be providing all the protective gear possible, we should be providing the money the House should pass in order to be able to go out and get people the help they need, to keep their businesses open, open schools that cost a lot of money.”
Trump on his part argued: “If we would have listened to you, the country would have been left wide open. Millions of people would have died, not 200,000 and one person is too much. It’s China’s fault, this should have never happened.”
The debate also see the duo argue over the economy, racism, climate change and mail-in voting.
Joe Biden also carved out his own strategy during the debate: looking right into the camera and speaking directly to Americans.
At one point, he said: “Show up and vote. You will determine the outcome in this election.”
Held in Cleveland, Ohio the debate resonated to as far as in The Gambia with scores staying up late to watch the showdown – and some Gambians were left thinking candidates in next year’s Gambia elections should also debate.
“I believe that Gambia has been under the dark for many decades in terms of exhibiting its true political culture and the type of matured electorate we possess. However, holding debates in this new dispensation would not only be part of the benchmark we are setting to effect ‘system change’ but significantly it would be part of the solution to allow voters in choosing the right candidate for the right reasons,” Assan Touray who is based in UK told The Fatu Network.
Lamin Sabally also watched the debate and he said: “The US presidential debate is going increasingly chaotic and super peppery. Democracy is sweet. Is Gambia ready for its own debate in 2021 with President Barrow on stage?”
Tuesday’s debate was held under strict public health guidelines designed by the Cleveland Clinic which is serving as health security adviser to the commission for all the debates.
Debate is one perfect moment for voters to compare and make informed choices about the candidate that they think best fit for office, Dr. Mitchell McKinney an expert on presidential debates in America said.
“But it is the only time on the debate stage where the major party candidates come together side by side, and voters really value that opportunity to compare the candidates.
“And as I say, under equal conditions, where in a general election debate, we expect to hear equally from the candidates in a debate, and voters tend to think of this as the debate moment as a useful credible form of campaign communication, as opposed to the candidates ads, as opposed to the candidates controlled convention addresses, or their stump speeches, or perhaps their media appearances on partisan media or their chosen media network, if you will,” Dr McKinney who is a Professor of Communication and Director of the Political Communication Institute at the University of Missouri said.
While there is no requirement that candidates in US election should debate, it has become a campaign tradition since 1976, according to Dr McKinney.
“And sometimes candidates have refused. Jimmy Carter refused until just nine days before his election with Ronald Reagan who turned in a very strong debate performance and went on to win in a landslide,” he said.
