At least this was an actual debate.
For more than 90 minutes, the two presidential candidates mostly discussed the primary issues Americans care about in this election. Donald Trump continued to lie, mislead and misdirect Thursday night, but he didn’t interrupt, thanks to the Commission on Presidential Debates threatening to cut his microphone.
That significant adjustment allowed moderator Kristen Welker to expertly keep the proceedings on track from start to finish, and it gave former Vice President Joe Biden the opening he needed. He had Trump on the ropes the entire night, and at the very end he delivered the haymaker that should put an end to this repugnant presidency once and for all.
“What is on the ballot here is the character of this country. Decency. Honor. Respect. Treating people with dignity. Making sure that everybody has an even chance, and I’m going to make sure you get that.
“You haven’t been getting it the last four years,” Biden said, directly into the camera, to close the debate.
It was the final word of the night, and the mic-drop moment Biden was looking for. Donald Trump’s final opportunity to rescue his floundering campaign, in front of a national television audience, has come and gone. And the president is going out with a whimper.
Trump didn’t have much to offer during the second-and-final presidential debate, because what does he really have to offer? On the topic of COVID-19, the president said we’re turning the corner when all the scientists say the worst is yet to come. On healthcare, he claimed he’s going to protect Americans with pre-existing conditions as he fights to get the Affordable Care Act invalidated by the Supreme Court.
On China, Trump said Joe Biden is a stooge. But it’s the president who, we just found out, has a secret bank account there. Donald Trump blamed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for the stimulus fiasco, but the Democratic-led House of Representatives passed the Heroes Act more than five months ago. It’s the Republican-led Senate and Mitch McConnell who are failing the American people.
On race relations, Trump repeated his insanely bizarre belief that he has done more for the Black community since Abraham Lincoln. On climate change, he reiterated his absurd attack on windmills, and the president had no real answer for his abhorrent policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the border.
For much of the evening, Trump appeared defeated. He even complimented Welker at one point, after bashing her for days leading up to the debate. At the end, he skulked off the stage dejected, looking as if the fire had been snuffed out of him.
Quite to the contrary, Biden had one of the best performances of his political career. He was lively, passionate, and he delivered his message in a mostly coherent manner. There was none of the stammering and stuttering from the first debate.
The former vice president came out with the energy of a much younger man, as if emboldened by his giant lead in the polls. He easily deflected Trump’s false and nonsensical attacks, from shots at the former vice president’s son to unfounded claims about Biden’s supposed, “corruption.”
Biden told the American people that, unlike Trump, he will be a president for all of us.
“I’m going to make sure you’re represented,” Biden said. “I’m going to give you hope. We’re going to move. We’re going to choose science over fiction. We’re going to choose hope over fear.”
Biden’s strongest moments came while talking about the economy and stimulus, and then again when discussing child separation. The few times Trump tried to take the debate off the rails, Welker stepped in and guided it back on track.
With tens of millions of Americans having already voted, and most of us having already made up our minds, it’s hard to believe that there are many undecideds left to persuade. But, if they’re out there, it’s even more difficult to believe Trump won enough of them over to turn the tide in his favor.
“You know who I am. You know who he is,” Biden said.
The American people know. And that’s why Joe Biden is about to become our next president.