Photos by Gage Skidmore
By Dalton Grijalva
Leading up to this debate between Democratic nominee Joe Biden and Republican President Donald Trump, the two parties have never been more divided, at least not in modern times. At a time when we are experiencing a global pandemic and city-wide rioting, red vs blue is the understatement of the century. This wasn’t a debate: it was a shouting match between two old men. It begs the question: why exactly do we let people who are going to die soon make the decisions for our nation?
What was in a lot of talking points was how Biden would handle Trump in the debate. Trump has attacked Biden for his incoherent sentences, often mocking his cognitive ability and giving him the demeaning nickname ‘Sleepy Joe.’
In turn, Biden called him a clown, which I actually thought was funny considering Trump’s luxurious spray tan.
One thing was for sure: moderator Chris Wallace was in for a crazy 90 minutes.
The debate started off with the nomination of Barret to the Supreme Court. If this was a boxing match, then there was no feeling it out; just slugs thrown by each candidate as they slung insult upon insult at each other. Some examples:
Biden after being interrupted: “It’s hard to get any word in with this clown,excuse me, this person.”
Trump after Biden criticized his Covid-19 response: “You graduated either the lowest or almost the lowest in your class. Don’t ever use the word smart with me …because you know what? There’s nothing smart about you, Joe.”
Biden referencing Trump’s frequent golfing: “get out of your bunker and get out of the sand trap.”
Trump: “We’ve done a great job, but I tell you, Joe, you could never have done the job we’ve done. You don’t have it in your blood,”said Trump
The next topic was Covid-19, with Trump praising his handling of the pandemic and Biden heavily criticizing it, accounting for the 7,000,000 confirmed American Covid-19 cases and 200,000 American deaths, according to the CDC. Trump was quick to respond, saying “there would be more dead if you were in office,” calling his handling of the H1N1 epidemic a disaster even though only 1,400 known Americans lost their life due to that strand of Flu.
Ironically, the president would get Covid- 19 just a few days later.
The third point of contention was the economy. “Before Covid came in — the greatest economy in history, the lowest unemployment numbers,” Trump Said. “Everything was good. There was unity going to happen.”
Biden throughout the debate would look directly at the camera and talk to the American people. “Under this president we become weaker, sicker, poorer, more divided and more violent.” Biden said.
Perhaps what was most damning for President Trump was when Wallace brought up the issue of race and asked Trump if he would denounce and condemn White Supremacists who would not add to the further violence of the current riots
“Sure, I’m willing to do that,” Trump said. “But I would say almost everything I see is from the left wing, not from the right wing.”
When the Proud Boys were brought up by Biden as an example of a White Supremacist group, Trump said, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by … Somebody has got to do something about antifa and the left,” which started a social media storm of vocal support from the hate group.
Then there are Trump’s tax returns, which were leaked by The New York Times and showed that he only paid $750 dollars in federal income taxes in the year 2016. Biden, in a power move, released his the day of the debate, paying nearly $300,000 himself in 2019. Don’t worry though, the IRS is almost done with his audit. It’s just taking a few years.
This debate needed a mic cancelling button so each candidate could speak then rebuttal. Chris Wallace was treated like a substitute teacher with the amount of interruptions. Apparently the next presidential debate will have more rules, but as Wallace said, “to be continued.”
The undercard of Senator Kamala Harris and the good cop to Trump’s bad cop, Vice President Mike Pence, was more reserved but far more memeable.
Key issues that were brought up included the pandemic, which Harris rightfully said there was a poor handling of, even bringing up the super spreader rose garden event. Allegedly, more than two dozen people associated with the event tested positive, all because they wouldn’t wear a mask.
This is our leadership.
Another key moment is when Pence asked if they would pack the Supreme Court, to which Harris did not directly answer.
Pence would not, however, let Harris finish multiple times and repeatedly went over his allotted time. Harris’s facial expressions said it all, but considering her annoyance was actually very reserved.
The true shining moment of the debate was the fly that landed on the Vice President’s head as well as his left eye looking as though it was going to explode out of his head. I’m almost certain that he could very well be a deadite.
President Trump is refusing a virtual debate at the moment even though the man has Covid but I guess when you have access to Walter Reed and the best medical care our tax dollars can pay for, those 210,000 people who are dead can go fuck themselves.
America, our nation, is burning both literally and figuratively. These candidates will shape the future of our nation for years to come. We have the power to see the change in our country by voting. That being said the future is uncertain and these people are the best we got which absolutely sucks.
A quote that makes me think of all four of these crazy wack-ass people comes from the movie Billy Madison. “At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”