Trump, Biden clash in final debate on COVID-19 response, health care, race
Highlights from the final presidential debate before Election Day.
President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, faced off in the final presidential debate of the 2020 election cycle from Belmont University in Nashville on Thursday night, marking the candidates’ last chance to pitch themselves to tens of millions of voters in primetime before Nov. 3.
The stakes were high: Trump needed to make his case as polls show him trailing nationally and in several battleground states key to his reelection hopes. At the same time, Biden had a platform to solidify his lead and avoid any major mistakes with Election Day just 12 days away.
Biden spent the week hunkered down in Wilmington, Delaware, to prepare -- what he's done before other debates -- while Trump had seemingly done less to prepare, telling reporters on Wednesday, "I do prep, I do prep," without elaborating. Earlier this week Trump said that answering journalists' questions is the best kind of preparation.
Thursday's debate was supposed to be the candidates' third matchup but is instead the second of only two presidential debates this election. Trump refused to participate in the second debate when it was moved to a virtual format following his COVID-19 diagnosis. The candidates ultimately participated in dueling town halls instead.
Top headlines:
Trump: People 'learning to live' with COVID-19; Biden: People 'learning to die with it'
Trump and Biden have contradictory views on the president's handling of the pandemic with Trump asserting he's done better than any other world leader and Biden claiming he's done "virtually nothing."
Trump's insisted again that the pandemic is "going away," touting his administration's efforts on therapeutics and vaccines.
"I don't think we're gonna have a dark winter at all," Trump said. "I say we're learning to live with it. We have no choice. We can't lock ourselves up in a basement like Joe does," drawing a laugh from Biden.
Biden emphasized the lives already lost, making a direct appeal to those at home.
"Number one, he says that we're, you know, we're learning to live with it. People are learning to die with it," Biden said. "You folks home who have an empty chair at the kitchen table this morning, that man or wife going to bed tonight and reaching over to try to touch their -- out of habit where their wife or husband was is gone. Learning to live with it? Come on."
When Trump threatened that Biden would shutdown the country if elected, causing massive economic depression, Biden said, "I'm going to shut down the virus, not the country."
In his first answer, Biden attacks Trump for his handling of COVID-19
In response to a question on how he would lead the country out of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden cited the more than 220,000 Americans who had died from the virus.
"Anyone who's responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America," he said.
Biden went on to say that Trump doesn't have a plan for dealing with the virus. He called for mask wearing, and a national policy on mask wearing, more testing and a national policy on reopening schools and businesses.
"I will take care of this. I will end this," Biden said to close out his first answer. "I will make sure we have a plan."
Trump takes first question on COVID-19, repeats virus is 'going away'
Trump tackled the first question on the coronavirus pandemic but stuck to his stance the pandemic is "rounding the corner" and "going away."
"Since the two of you last shared a stage, 16,000 Americans have died from COVID," Welker said. "So please be specific, how would you lead the country during this next stage of the coronavirus crisis?"
"As you know, 2.2 million people modelled out were expected to die," Trump began. "We closed up the greatest economy in the world in order to fight this horrible disease that came from China."
He went on to draw from his personal experience contracting COVID-19, downplaying its side effects and touting the country's therapeutics.
"I can tell you from personal experience that I was in the hospital. I had it. And I got better," Trump said. "And I will tell you that I had something that they gave me, a therapeutic, I guess they would call it, some people could say it was a cure. But I was in for a short period of time and I got better very fast or I wouldn't be here tonight. And now they say I'm immune. Whether it's four months or a lifetime, nobody has been able to say that, but I'm immune."
"It will go away and as I say, we're rounding the turn. We're rounding the corner. It's going away," he added.
Debate is underway
The final presidential debate has kicked off from Belmont University in Nashville marking Trump and Biden's final chance to pitch themselves to voters in primetime ahead of Nov. 3. The audience of roughly 200 people in stadium-style seating applauded as the candidates took the stage.
There was a last-minute change to remove the plexiglass partitions placed between the two candidates after Dr. Anthony Fauci weighed in and each tested negative for COVID-19. They remain socially distanced with at least 12 feet of space between them.
The first question from moderator Kristen Welker, NBC News White House correspondent, was on COVID-19 and went to the president.
Biden's mic will be muted while the president answers, and Trump's mic will follow suit when it's the former vice president's turn to weigh in.
"On behalf of the voters, I'm going to ask you to please speak one at a time. The goal is for you to hear each other and for the American people to hear every word of what you both have to say," Welker said.