The first TV duel between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was loud and flat in terms of content. Their wives led the brawlers out of the ring.
The first TV duel between incumbent US President Donald Trump (74) and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden (77) on Tuesday night in Cleveland was miles away from a well-mannered, dignified and substantive debate. Both politicians attacked each other personally and interrupted each other chaotically – even moderator Chris Wallace (72) couldn't change anything.
Wallace, who also moderated a presidential debate between Trump and then Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, 72, four years ago, brought up a number of issues including the Supreme Court, the coronavirus pandemic, the economy and the nationwide unrest that caused by the police murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others. In terms of content, however, the two didn't have much new to announce.
Personal attacks
Less than ten minutes after it had started, the debate had turned into an irritable back and forth. But Biden also leaned verbally out of the window: "I am not here to spread his lies. Everyone knows that he is a liar," was heard from him. When Trump kept replying to questions that Biden should have answered, Biden got really angry: "Shut up, man!" He also cursed Trump as "racists", "clowns" and "Putin's puppies".
But Trump also shared: Biden had achieved nothing in his life. In one of the bitterest arguments of the night, he attacked Biden's son Hunter, 50, accusing him of being kicked out of the military for cocaine use and of accepting questionable millions of US dollars from Ukraine. Biden then directed the conversation to his son Beau (1069-2015), who had died of cancer: "My son was in Iraq. He spent a year there. He was not a loser. He was a patriot. I'm talking about my son Beau Biden." Then Trump: "I don't know Beau. I know Hunter."
Led out of the ring by the wives
After the heated debate, the opponents were each replaced by their wives Melania Trump (50) and Dr. Jill Biden (69) led out of the election campaign arena. The first lady wore a black pantsuit over a white blouse, Biden's wife a dark green satin dress. The latter was the only one to keep mouth and nose protection on.
The discussion was not particularly well received by the audience. 69 percent of respondents to a CBS lightning poll were even upset about it. The duel was the first of three planned 90-minute discussions between the candidates ahead of the US election on November 3rd. In the coming week, Vice President Mike Pence (61) and California Senator Kamala Harris (55), Biden's runner-up, will face each other in a TV debate.