NEW YORK, : US President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden Thursday night faced off in their final presidential debate before the Nov. 3 election, trading accusations on everything from the coronavirus pandemic, to the economy and even the \u201ccaging\u201d of children of migrants crossing the border from Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The televised encounter, which took place in Nashville, Tennessee, was aided in part by a mute button that allowed each candidate to speak uninterrupted for two minutes about each of the six topics before the two men could go back and forth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The pressure was on Trump, who entered the 90-minute matchup trailing Biden by 10 points nationally in CNN\u2019s Poll of Polls, as the former vice president is also edging Trump in key battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin \u2014 all of which the President won by narrow margins in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump showed more discipline as the debate opened, adopting a muted tone as he fielded questions on the pandemic during the first segment. Advisers had lamented that his aggressive approach in the first debate, where he regularly interrupted Biden and challenged the debate moderator, Chris Wallace, was ineffective and turned off undecided voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The absence of disruptions yielded a more substantive debate, but the coronavirus, which has killed more than 221,000 people in the United States, loomed over the proceedings as it has throughout the campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnyone who\u2019s responsible for that many deaths should not remain president of the United States of America,\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump, who has put his stewardship of the economy at the center of his campaign, defended his approach to the outbreak and said the country could not afford to close businesses again despite fresh surges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re learning to live with it,\u201d said Trump, who has played down the virus for months. \u201cWe have no choice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLearning to live with it?\u201d Biden retorted. \u201cCome on. We\u2019re dying with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two men, who have shown a clear dislike for one another, also frequently lobbed attacks at one another in a preview of what is likely to be a hostile final 10 days of the campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the first segment, Trump repeated many of his usual overly optimistic statements about the trajectory of the virus, insisting new rising cases would soon be \u201cgone\u201d and that a possible vaccine was on the way and would be available in a matter of weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt will go away and I say we\u2019re rounding the turn, we are rounding the corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is going away,\u201d Trump said of the coronavirus, a remark that his administration\u2019s own health officials have contradicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden frequently shook his head or openly laughed as Trump spoke, ending answers with an exasperated \u201ccome on\u201d throughout the debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He repeatedly slammed Trump on his response to the virus, accusing him of having no plan to address the pandemic and taking zero responsibility for the deaths in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnyone who\u2019s responsible for not taking control \u2026 anyone who\u2019s responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America,\u201d Biden said at the outset of the debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two went on to spar over policy on health care, immigration, climate change and criminal justice reform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump insisted that he would release a health care plan that would ultimately protect Americans with preexisting conditions despite providing no proof of such a plan, even as the Supreme Court weighs a case brought by his administration to overturn the Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration\u2019s signature health care law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump faced questions on his comments criticizing \u2018Black Lives Matter\u2019 movement as a symbol of \u201chate\u201d and his sharing of a video of a man shouting \u201cwhite power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He highlighted his administration\u2019s work on criminal justice reform and repeated his oft-used claim that he has done more for Black Americans than any other president with the \u201cpossible exception\u201d of Abraham Lincoln.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden cited Trump\u2019s ban on travel from Muslim-majority countries and his comments during his first presidential run referring to some Mexican immigrants as \u201crapists,\u201d arguing \u201che pours fuel on every racist fire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president was also on the defensive over new reporting that hundreds of migrant children separated from their families at the border during his administration still had not been reunited with their parents. But he caused a fresh headache for himself when he mocked immigrants who show up for their court hearings as those \u201cwith the lowest IQ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnly the really \u2014 I hate to say this \u2014 but those with the lowest IQ, they might come back,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The debate was its most contentious during exchanges about the foreign business dealings of Biden\u2019s son, Hunter, something the president\u2019s allies have sought to make a central issue in the final weeks of the campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was Biden who first brought up Trump\u2019s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, accusing him of being a \u201cRussian pawn\u201d and receiving false information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump then leaned into criticism of Hunter Biden over his foreign business dealings, an attack he has practiced at his campaign rallies over the last week and that his campaign telegraphed with one of its guests at Thursday\u2019s debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the vice president of the United States and his son, his brother and his other brother are getting rich. They\u2019re like a vacuum cleaner,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president has seized on a New York Post report that said Hunter Biden sought to connect a Ukrainian businessman with his father, then the vice president, and subsequent dealings Hunter Biden allegedly had in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have not taken a penny from any foreign source, ever, in my life,\u201d Joe Biden said, seeking to turn the issue around on Trump, citing the president\u2019s impeachment for pressuring Ukraine to investigate him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is no evidence of any wrongdoing by Biden related to his son\u2019s business dealings, though some government officials have acknowledged there was minimally a conflict of interest while Biden was vice president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hunter Biden also acknowledged that he regretted his involvement with a Ukrainian gas firm when his father was vice president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Biden again argued that the attacks against him and his family are part of a Russian disinformation scheme, Trump appeared to be in disbelief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou mean the laptop is now another Russia, Russia, Russia, hoax?\u201d Trump said. \u201cYou have to be kidding me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of Trump\u2019s allies believe that hitting Biden over his family\u2019s business dealings could drive down his favorability ratings. But other conservatives worry that the attacks are inconsequential to most voters and that Trump is wasting his time with less than two weeks until Election Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump used his closing remarks to focus on policy, saying a Biden administration would increase taxes and raise regulations, and he repeatedly questioned why Biden did not act on key issues during his decades in the Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his own closing remarks, Biden offered a message of unity and hope, saying that the \u201ccharacter of this country\u201d is on the ballot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The debate represented Trump\u2019s last major opportunity to significantly shift the trajectory of the race. While Trump managed to avoid a clear self-inflicted wound like last debate, when he declined to clearly condemn white supremacists, it was unclear that his performance would be enough to single-handedly change his fortunes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Polls show Biden with a lead over Trump nationally, though the race remains close in some key battlegrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Millions of people have already cast their ballots as early voting opens up across the country. Polls have consistently shown Biden with steady leads in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan and narrow leads in Florida and Arizona, even as Trump tries out new lines of attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump won each of those states in 2016, and can ill afford to lose more than a couple of them next month if he is to retain the presidency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both candidates will return to the campaign trail Friday for the final stretch of the race, with Trump in Florida and Bide delivering remarks in Delaware.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK, : US President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden Thursday night faced off in their final presidential debate before the Nov. 3 election, trading accusations on everything from the coronavirus pandemic, to the economy and even the \u201ccaging\u201d of children of […]<\/p>\n
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