If you haven’t turned on the tele today, we don’t blame you. The first US Presidential debate of the general election is currently taking over most of our channels and to be honest, it feels like a Saturday Night Live skit.
Whilst it was meant to be an opportunity for each side to appeal to undecided voters and reiterate their policies and visions for the country, it ended up being a playground argument with finger pointing, butting in and a lot of head shaking.
Topics debated were: who should appoint the next Supreme Court justice, health care, systematic racism, the handling of COVID-19 and… each other’s families?
We heard Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News more times than we expected trying to rein in the candidates, mainly Trump as he frequently interjected during Biden’s time to speak.
Biden became increasingly frustrated at the interjections during a question on health care early on in the night, leading him to say:
“Will you shut up, man?”
It came as Trump accused Biden of trying to abolish private health care and being a “socialist”. Biden hit back saying he would expand Obamacare and continue to have private insurance under his administration.
“I am the Democratic Party right now,” Biden said. “The platform of the Democratic Party is what I, in fact, approved of.”
As for Trump’s stance on healthcare, he offered no details but said he had a plan claiming he would help protect Americans with preexisting conditions.
Personal attacks were not left at the door as the candidates started questioning each other’s intelligence (we’re surprised there were no bad grammar calls made.) As Biden interrogated Trump over the 200,000 deaths that have resulted from the coronavirus pandemic he told voters it was only going to get worse:
“A lot more are going to die unless he gets a lot smarter, a lot quicker.”
To which Trump responded:
“Did you just use the word ‘smart?’ Don’t ever use the word smart with me.”
He started rambling about Biden’s academic history insisting “there’s nothing smart about you, Joe.”
Further on in the COVID-19 discussion, Biden called Trump a “fool” for his handling of the pandemic, having rallies with large crowds and doing little to encourage the public to wear masks.
“He has been totally irresponsible in the way he has handled the social distancing, the people wearing masks — basically encouraging them not to.
“He’s a fool on this.”
While Trump bit back with Wallace struggling to keep the situation under control, Biden said:
“It’s hard to get any word in with this clown, excuse me, this president.”
Just last week as Trump announced he was nominating Amy Coney Barrett to take Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s vacant seat, the White House showed no social distancing methods nor wore any masks.
It wasn’t the first time Biden called Trump a clown during the debate. Earlier, Biden directly addressed the camera saying, “folks, do you have any idea what this clown’s doing?” while Trump rambled about US health care.
Social media is currently having a field day:
“This clown— I mean Mr President” pic.twitter.com/zW9YY5Ks3L
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) September 30, 2020
called him a clown…CALL HIM A BITCH JOE TALK YO SHIT CMON
— first-mate prance (@bocxtop) September 30, 2020
LOL At Biden straight up calling Trump a clown #PresidentialDebate2020 pic.twitter.com/IRyN7aXOHo
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) September 30, 2020
Me when Biden calls Tr*mp a clown pic.twitter.com/PDgssaupQt
— han (@wttfhan) September 30, 2020
pov: you’re watching the #Debates2020 and Biden calls Trump a clown pic.twitter.com/3kRfzAi21G
— #Blasian2020 (@shortBlasian) September 30, 2020
Who knows how this juvenile scuffle will end in November, perhaps a wedgie?
Image: BBC and Sky News