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Post by Admin on Oct 22, 2020 19:46:04 GMT
On Thursday, October 22nd, at 9PM ET, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will face off for the final debate of the 2020 presidential campaign. The debate will be held at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Following Trump’s COVID-19 infection, the debate will be marked by a number of public health precautions. It will be held in person, but the candidates will be socially distanced and will not shake hands. The number of guests will be limited, and all guests will be required to wear masks.
Tonight’s debate will be moderated by NBC’s Kristen Welker, a rising star within the network. It’s Welker’s first time moderating a presidential debate, and she has been the subject of unrelenting public insults by the president in the days leading up to the event.
“Obviously, I don’t want to see my friend criticized in any way, but she’s tough and she can take it,” colleague Andrea Mitchell told The Washington Post, as part of an article on the unusual behavior. “I think it’s inevitable and it comes with the territory. And I think she’s ready for it.”
WHAT TOPICS WILL THE DEBATE COVER?
Welker has named the following six issues as the general topics for the debate, to be given roughly 15 minutes each.
Fighting COVID-19
American Families
Race in America
Climate Change
National Security
Leadership
HAVE THE RULES CHANGED SINCE THE FIRST DEBATE?
The first debate was widely criticized as unruly and unpleasant, driven in large part by persistent interruptions by Trump. In response, debate organizers will now give candidates two minutes of uninterrupted time to address each of the major topics, during which time their opponent’s microphone will be silenced. The opponent will be able to respond at the close of those questions, and crosstalk will be allowed after the opening statement has been completed.
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2020 5:04:44 GMT
Asked how he would address Americans who did not vote for him on his inauguration day if reelected, President Donald Trump said “success is going to bring us together,” and he believed his economic plan of cutting taxes and promoting deregulation would help the U.S. recover from the recession spurred in large part by the coronavirus pandemic. “If [Biden] gets in, you will have a depression the likes of which you’ve never seen, your 401Ks will go to hell, and it will be a very very sad day for this country,” Trump claimed of his Democratic counterpart. “Nobody has done more for the Black community than Donald Trump. And if you look, with the exception of Abraham Lincoln... nobody has done what I've done,” President Donald Trump said. Fact Check: abcn.ws/3m8XaqM“I will say I'm an American president. I represent all of you, whether you voted for me or against me,” Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden responded. He said he would prioritize science, growing the economy and dealing with systemic racism if elected president. “What is on the ballot here is the character of this country -- decency, honor, respect, treating people with dignity, making sure that everyone has an even chance,” Biden said. “I'm going to make sure you get that. You haven't been getting it the last four years.” Trump and Biden met for their second and final debate Oct. 22 at Belmont University in Nashville. The debate came less than two weeks before Election Day, as early voting numbers climb in several states across the country. |
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2020 19:23:57 GMT
President Donald Trump won the final debate against Democrat Joe Biden, but that’s not going to be enough to get him reelected, Republican pollster and strategist Frank Luntz told CNBC on Friday.
“You got to give Trump a minor victory because he’ll bring some [undecided] voters home, and it’ll close the race a little bit. But in the end, I think Joe Biden won the war,” Luntz said in a “Squawk Box” interview, predicting that Trump, with 11 days until the Nov. 3 election and more than 47 million votes already cast, does not have enough time to overcome Biden’s national and swing state polling leads.
Luntz said that even if the polls are wrong, as they were in 2016 when Trump pulled off an upset victory over Hillary Clinton, it’s “virtually impossible” for the president to win. Luntz, who predicted Clinton would win then, noted that polls four years ago were only off a few points but Biden’s lead in the 2020 race is wide enough to overcome any margin of error. Luntz also said that pollsters like himself have been much more cautious during this campaign cycle.
Luntz said the candidates’ answers to the final question — what they would say in their inaugural address to the Americans who didn’t vote for them — were indicative of why Biden looks to be unstoppable.
Trump went negative, arguing why Biden would be bad for the country rather than really answering the question. “If he gets in, you will have a depression the likes of which you’ve never seen. Your 401(k)s will go to hell, and it’ll be a very very sad day for this country,” the president said.
Biden went in the opposite direction, saying, “I’m an American president. I represent all of you. Whether you voted for me or against me, I’m going to make sure you’re represented. I’m going to give you hope.”
Luntz said Biden’s positive approach compared with Trump’s forceful but negative tone is the reason the former vice president’s message appears to be winning heart and minds of American voters. He also said he believes that America should know who won the presidency four days after Election Day.
The pollster said his focus group after the debate again voiced their dislike of Trump, as they did after the president’s and Biden’s dueling town halls last week. But Thursday night, they also continued to express concern over Biden’s policies. Luntz said Biden “made no effort to clarify” his proposals on things such as tax hikes and his positions on issues including the future for the Supreme Court.
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2020 23:06:05 GMT
“North Korea? We’re not in a war,” Trump said during Thursday’s presidential debate. “We have a good relationship. People don’t understand—having a good relationship with leaders of other countries is a good thing.”
That relationship has been accompanied by a number of strategic setbacks for the U.S., and for stability in East Asia.
Under Trump, North Korea has relentlessly pursued its military goal of being able to unleash a nuclear strike on the U.S. and its allies. Pyongyang is now believed to have a dozen or more nuclear warheads and an arsenal of several hundred short- and medium-range ballistic missiles capable of hitting South Korea, Japan, and U.S. military bases and territories in the region.
North Korea also has developed long-range missiles that experts say can strike every major city in the continental United States. On Oct. 10, the nation’s military rolled out a wide range of hardware, including four of the biggest intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) ever seen in North Korea. The ICBMs were hoisted atop truck-based launchers, which indicates they could be rolled into a remote area, blasted off at a moment’s notice, and strike adversaries with little warning.
The development was deeply concerning to defense analysts who say the new weapons could potentially overwhelm U.S. missile defenses, which include 44 ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California designed to shoot weapons out of the sky. “If each new North Korean ICBM can carry 3-4 warheads, we would need about 12-16 interceptors for each missile,” said Jeffrey Lewis, an analyst with the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies Middlebury Institute of Strategic Studies in a tweet.
Trump also asserted Obama tried to meet with Kim but was turned down because Kim “didn’t like him.” That’s not true, however. Obama refused to sit down with Kim unless he met specific preconditions related to Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.
Former Vice President Joe Biden criticized Trump for meeting with Kim without preconditions, saying “he’s legitimized North Korea,” a nation known as the “Hermit Kingdom” because it’s so ostracized by most of the world. “That’s like saying we had a good relationship with Hitler before he invaded Europe,” Biden said.
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