2020 Debate and Election Updates: Trump vs. Biden – The New York Times

Heres what you need to know:President Trumps fans watched the presidential debate in Katy, Texas. Mr. Trump implored his supporters to act as poll watchers, in line with his repeated attempts to undermine faith in the electoral process.Credit...Mark Felix/Agence France-Presse Getty Images

President Trump used his biggest television audience of the campaign to try to undermine confidence in the integrity of the election as no modern president has ever done, using the debate to urge his supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully and continuing to suggest, despite no evidence of widespread problems, that the vote would be fraudulent.

The barrage of accusations from a president who is behind in the polls and who refused, when asked by the moderator, Chris Wallace, to say whether he would pledge not to declare victory until the election was independently certified or urge his supporters to stay calm after the election alarmed scholars who study election monitoring around the world, who said the comments laid the groundwork for political violence.

This is the type of comment that international observers typically would latch onto as an attempt at foul play, said Judith Kelley, the Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, who has studied international election monitoring. As far as the rest of the world, this is the kind of comment we would expect in a more authoritarian environment. Certainly not in a country that purports to be a beacon of democracy.

Authorized election observers are typically trained to follow guidelines to ensure that they do not intimidate voters, she noted.

In an environment where we want both to de-densify the polling station environment to keep it as safe as possible from a public health standpoint, and an environment where there is ongoing civil unrest that has turned violent at times, Trumps urging is even more concerning, she wrote in an email.

Thomas Carothers, the senior vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that it is unprecedented in modern U.S. history having a sitting U.S. president attack the integrity of the election before an election there is no parallel.

Mr. Carothers said that the presidents call for his supporters to go into the polls to watch raised concerns about possible voter intimidation, noting that he had just spoken to a friend who had gone to vote early in Virginia only to be met by a small crowd of Trump supporters.

Mr. Trumps remarks, he said, threaten to make his supporters believe that if he loses, it is only because the election was not fair.

Hes preparing the ground for violent conflict over the election, and preparing the ground for a lack of legitimacy for the process, he said.

Rosa Brooks, a professor at Georgetown Law who organized a series of exercises in June aimed at identifying potential risks to the election and transition, said that election monitors and political violence experts would view the presidents language as a major early indicator of potential problems.

His rhetoric is dangerously and profoundly anti-democratic, she wrote in an email. Its the kind of language you might expect from a dictator, not from the supposed leader of the free world. His job should be to unite Americans and foster stability. Instead, Trumps comments increase the risk of political violence which is shockingly irresponsible from the president of the United States.

transcript

transcript

You have repeatedly criticized the vice president for not specifically calling out antifa and other left-wing Thats right. extremist groups. But are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups Sure. and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities, as we saw in Kenosha and as weve seen in Portland. Sure, Im willing to do that, but Then do it. Go ahead, sir. I would say, I would say almost everything I see is from the left wing, not from the right wing. So what are you, what are you saying Im willing to do anything I want to see peace. Then do it, sir. Say it. Do it. Say it. You want to call them what do you want to call them? Give me a name, give me a name. White supremacists and Go ahead, who would you like me to condemn? Proud Boys. Who? White supremacists and right-wing militia. Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. But Ill tell you what, Ill tell you what. Somebodys got to do something about antifa and the left, because this is not a right-wing problem, this is a left-wing His own F.B.I. director said the threat comes from white supremacists. Antifas an idea, not an organization Oh, youve got to be kidding. not a militia. Thats what his F.B.I, his F.B.I. director has said. Well then, you know what? Hes wrong.

President Trump refused to categorically denounce white supremacists on Tuesday night, diverting a question about right-wing extremist violence in Charlottesville, Va., and Portland, Ore., into an attack on left-wing protesters.

Are you willing, tonight, to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha and as weve seen in Portland? Chris Wallace, the moderator, asked the president.

Sure. Im willing to do that, said Mr. Trump, but quickly added, Almost everything I see is from the left wing. Not from the right wing.

When Mr. Wallace pressed on, the president asked, What do you want to call them?

White supremacists and right-wing militias, the moderator replied, as Joseph R. Biden Jr. mentioned the Proud Boys, a far-right group that has endorsed violence.

Proud Boys, stand back and stand by, Mr. Trump said. But Ill tell you what. Ill tell you what. Somebodys got to do something about antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem. This is a left-wing problem.

When Mr. Biden pointed out that Mr. Trumps own F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, had said that antifa was an idea, not an organization, the president replied, Oh, youve got to be kidding. (Mr. Wray also said this month that racially motivated violent extremism, mostly from white supremacists, had made up a majority of domestic terrorism threats.)

The presidents words prompted celebration by members of the Proud Boys. Within minutes, they were posting in private social media channels, calling the presidents comments historic. In one channel dedicated to the Proud Boys on Telegram, a private messaging app, group members called the presidents comment a tacit endorsement of their violent tactics.

In another message, a member commented that the group was already seeing a spike in new recruits.

Mr. Biden noted that the group was celebrating Mr. Trumps remark, pointing in a retweet to some of the comments being made.

Twitter and Facebook both suspended the Proud Boys from their platforms in 2018. Since then, the group has continued to expand its numbers on other social media platforms, and has become more visible at protests.

transcript

transcript

Last nights debate and this election is supposed to be about you, Tiffany, about you and all the people I grew up with in Scranton and people in Youngstown and Claymont, Del., and all the people who make a difference. You know and does any president, does your president understand at all what youre going through, what so many other people are going through? Question is, does he see you where you are and where you want to be? Does he care has he tried to walk in your shoes to understand whats going on in your life or does he just ignore you, and all the folks all over America who are in a similar situation? Ill always tell you the truth. Ill always care about you, whether you vote for me or not. If elected, Im not going to be a Democratic president. Im going to be an American president. Whether you voted for me or not, Im going to be your president. And Ill never forget the people, the working people of this country, because thats where Ive come from. And that, if given just half a chance, the American people can do anything.

ALLIANCE, Ohio A day after a staggeringly contentious first debate, Joseph R. Biden Jr. sought again to put President Trump on the defensive on Wednesday by courting some of the voters who propelled him to the White House in 2016.

In his most vigorous day of campaigning in months, Mr. Biden embarked on a train tour that was to bring him to Pittsburgh as well as a host of smaller towns in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania where in 2016 Mr. Trump won over working-class white voters who had traditionally voted for Democrats.

Mr. Biden began the tour with a speech at Clevelands Amtrak station, where he was introduced by a teacher whose husband worked at the General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio, that closed last year.

Mr. Biden said the debate on Tuesday night was supposed to be about you and all the people I grew up with in Scranton, his Pennsylvania hometown.

Does your president understand at all what youre going through, what so many other people are going through? Mr. Biden asked. The question is: Does he see you where you are and where you want to be? Does he care? Has he tried to walk in your shoes, to understand whats going on in your life? Or does he just ignore you and all the folks all over America who are in a similar situation?

After his speech, Mr. Biden boarded a chartered Amtrak train and headed to his next stop, the town of Alliance in northeast Ohio, where he kept up his criticism of Mr. Trump.

What I saw last night was all about him, he said. He didnt speak to you or your concerns or the American people even once.

Taking questions from reporters, Mr. Biden said Mr. Trump did what I expected him to do last night. He called the debate a wake-up call for all Americans, and said the way Mr. Trump conducted himself was a national embarrassment.

For 90 minutes, he tried everything to distract everything possible, Mr. Biden said. It just didnt work.

Mr. Biden has been open in his ambition to win over voters who supported President Barack Obama and himself before flipping to back Mr. Trump, honing a populist economic message that casts the contest as a choice between Scranton and Park Avenue.

There are limits to that goal: According to a recent New York Times/Siena College poll of Pennsylvania, Mr. Trump has double-digit leads over Mr. Biden among white voters without four-year college degrees and among rural voters.

But the same poll showed why the Biden team sees an opportunity: Mr. Trump, who won Pennsylvania by less than a percentage point in 2016, is underperforming with those voters now, and Mr. Biden has a chance to cut further into his margins.

How much time he intends to devote to that effort remains an open question: Amid the pandemic, Mr. Biden has been deeply cautious about campaign travel, causing concern among Democrats in both Ohio and Pennsylvania. But in recent weeks he has stepped up his schedule.

A longer-shot victory in Ohio, which Mr. Trump carried by eight points in 2016, is the stuff of Democratic dreams, while the surprise defeat Mr. Trump dealt Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania is a source of nightmares for many Democrats who are still wary of believing polls showing Mr. Biden with a stable lead there.

Katie Glueck reported from Alliance, and Thomas Kaplan from Washington.

President Trumps refusal to explicitly condemn white supremacy and right-wing extremist groups during the first presidential debate drew muted concern from some Republicans on Capitol Hill, as the highest-ranking Republican in the House sought to defend his remarks.

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the lone Black Republican in the Senate, said he believed Mr. Trump had misspoken and that the president should clarify his remarks.

I think he misspoke, I think he should correct it, Mr. Scott told reporters. If he doesnt correct it, I guess he didnt misspeak.

Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota sought to equate right-wing extremists with groups on the left, even though the F.B.I. and the Homeland Security Department have singled out white supremacists as the primary domestic terrorism threat.

Mr. Trump should have made it very clear that theres no room for people on the far left or the far more far right when it comes to antifa or these white supremacist groups, Mr. Rounds said. I was hoping for more clarity.

Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House minority leader, defended Mr. Trumps answer, arguing that the president has been very clear that hes against anybody for committing violence in the streets and pointing to a recent pledge by the president to classify both the Ku Klux Klan and antifa as terrorist organizations.

Pressed by reporters, Mr. McCarthy chafed at the suggestion that Mr. Trump should have explicitly denounced specific right-wing extremist groups.

How many times does he have to say it, if the question is, Would you denounce it and the answer is yes? Mr. McCarthy said. He did that.

When Chris Wallace, the debate moderator, asked Mr. Trump Tuesday whether he would condemn white supremacy and distance himself from extremist groups, Mr. Trump replied, Sure. But when Mr. Biden mentioned the Proud Boys, a far-right group, Mr. Trump refused to condemn them and instead suggested they stand back and stand by.

Senator Todd Young, Republican of Indiana, lamented on Wednesday that we didnt get great clarity from the debate last night about the differences in vision of the future of this country, and I did think that that was unfortunate.

He would not address Mr. Trumps remarks specifically, but made a point of personally condemning white supremacy. I think that all of these groups are equal, and I condemn them on the strongest terms and we need to remain one nation under God.

On the other side of the Capitol, Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a sharp rebuke of the comments on MSNBCs Morning Joe, calling the moment the capstone of really a sad night for our country and accusing Mr. Trump of intimidating voters.

Ms. Pelosi also expressed concern that Mr. Trump would cause chaos by questioning the election results, after the president said during the debate Tuesday night that he was counting on a conservative Supreme Court to determine the victor.

He wants to cause chaos, take it to the courts; when he takes it to the courts, prolong the process, she said. What is this?

Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Trumps Supreme Court nominee, participated in her second day of private meetings with senators on Wednesday, sitting down with Republicans eager to approve her confirmation before the general election on Nov. 3.

Judge Barrett received unanimous praise from the handful of Republican senators she met with on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. The effusive support for Judge Barrett, who was confirmed to the appeals court in Chicago in 2017, underscored the likelihood that Senate Republicans would succeed in completing the confirmation process in about a month.

Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, was the first senator to meet with Judge Barrett Wednesday, joking that after being quizzed in college, he was looking forward to the opportunity to return the fire to turn the tables, if you will to ask a question or two of a former law professor.

He added, Im sure well have a very interesting and informative opportunity to speak with each other.

Mr. Romney, like several senators on Tuesday, declined to answer a question about whether Judge Barrett should recuse herself from any election-related cases that appear before the Supreme Court if she is confirmed.

Judge Barrett is also meeting with Senators Tim Scott of South Carolina, Todd Young and Mike Braun of Indiana, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, John Cornyn of Texas and Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi.

Seven female Republican senators also held a news conference to rally support for Judge Barrett, arguing she should be celebrated for being a woman of faith with seven children and saying they were defending her from what they viewed as unfair personal attacks.

Folks, this is what a mom can do, Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa said.

Senator Martha McSally of Arizona condemned what she said was the hypocrisy were seeing from some of the media and the left attacking her for being a mom.

Asked for evidence of the unfair attacks on Judge Barrett, Republican staff members referenced a 2017 comment from Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, that the dogma lives loudly within her, an apparent reference to her Catholicism. They did not produce evidence of attacks on her motherhood.

Noticeably absent from the news conference were Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who have urged the Senate to wait until after the presidential election to vote on a new Supreme Court justice.

A few Democratic senators, including Senators Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Cory Booker of New Jersey, have indicated that they will speak with Judge Barrett before hearings begin next month, even as several of their colleagues have said they plan to boycott the usual courtesy meeting. They are fiercely opposed to filling the seat when voting is underway in many states, accusing Republicans who refused to consider President Barack Obamas Supreme Court nominee in 2016 of rank hypocrisy.

The best thing we can do is basically expose this process for what it is, Ms. Klobuchar said on Tuesday.

With little power to block the nomination, Democrats have sought to frame the confirmation battle as a referendum on health care, given that the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case that could overturn the Affordable Care Act in the days after the election.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, on Tuesday successfully set up votes on legislation that would prevent the Justice Department from moving to strike down the Affordable Care Act, ensuring that Senate Republicans would have to vote on health care legislation before the election.

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transcript

The last four years, you have promised to repeal and replace Obamacare, but you have never in these four years come up with a plan, a comprehensive plan Yes, I have. to replace Obamacare. Of course I have. Well, Ill give you We got rid of the individual mandate. Im going to give you an opportunity Excuse me. I got rid of the individual mandate. Im not here to call out his lies everybody knows hes a liar. But you agreed Joe, youre the liar. I want to make sure You graduated last in your class, not first in your class. I [laughs] God. I want to make sure Mr. President, could you let him finish, sir? The question is, the question is A lot of new Supreme Court justices, radical left Will you shut up, man? One of the big debates we had with 23 of my colleagues trying to win the nomination that I won were saying that Biden wanted to allow people to have private insurance still. They can, they do, they will, under my proposal. Thats not what youve said, and its not what your party has said. That is simply a lie. Your party doesnt say it your party wants to go socialist medicine. My party is me. Right now, I am the Democratic Party. And theyre going to dominate you, Joe, you know that. I am the Democratic Party right now. The platform of the Democratic Party Not according to Harris. is what I, in fact, approved of. Is it true that you paid $750 in federal income taxes each of those two years? Ive paid millions of dollars in taxes, millions of dollars of income tax. Let me just say something, that it was the tax laws. I dont want to pay tax. Before I came here, I was a private developer, I was a private business people. Like every other private person, unless theyre stupid, they go through the laws, and thats what it is. Im going to eliminate the Trump tax cuts. Good. And were going to, Im going to eliminate those tax cuts OK. and make sure that we invest in the people who in fact need the help. People out there need help. But why didnt you do it over 20, the last 25 years? Because you werent because you werent president screwing things up. You were a senator Youre the worst president America has ever had. Come on. You have repeatedly criticized the vice president for not specifically calling out antifa and other left-wing Thats right. extremist groups. But are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups Sure. and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities, as we saw in Kenosha and as weve seen in Portland. Sure, Im willing to do that, but Then do it. Go ahead, sir. I would say, I would say almost everything I see is from the left wing, not from the right wing. So what are you, what are you saying Im willing to do anything I want to see peace. Well, then do it, sir. Say it. Do it. Say it. You want to call them what do you want to call them? Give me a name, give me a name. White supremacists and Go ahead, who would you like me to condemn? Proud Boys. Who? White supremacists and right-wing militia. Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. But Ill tell you what, Ill tell you what. Somebodys got to do something about antifa and the left, because this is not a right-wing problem, this is a left-wing His own F.B.I. director said the threat is Are you questioning No, I think masks are OK. You have to understand, if you look, I mean, I have a mask right here. I put a mask on, you know, when I think I need it. Tonight as an example, everybodys had a test, and youve had social distancing and all of the things that you have to but I wear masks when needed. When needed, I wear masks. OK, let me ask I dont wear masks like him every time you see him, hes got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from he shows up with the biggest mask Ive ever seen. Masks make a big difference. His own head of the C.D.C. said if we just wore masks between now if everybody wore masks in social distance between now and January, wed probably save up to 100,000 lives. It matters. And theyve also said the opposite. Theyve also said No serious person said the opposite. The fact is that there are going to be millions of people because of Covid that are going to be voting by mail-in ballots, like he does by the way. And this is all about trying to dissuade people from voting, because hes trying to scare people into thinking that its not going to be legitimate. As far as the ballots are concerned, its a disaster. A solicited ballot, OK? Solicited is OK. Youre soliciting, youre asking. They send it back. You send it back. I did that. This is going to be a fraud like youve never seen. The other thing: Its nice, on Nov. 3, youre watching and you see who won the election. And I think were going to do well, because people are really happy with the job weve done. But you know what? We wont know, we might not know for months because these ballots are going to be all over. Now that millions of mail-in ballots have gone out, what are you going to do about it? And are you counting on the Supreme Court, including a Justice Barrett, to settle any dispute? Yeah, I think Im counting on them to look at the ballots, definitely. I dont think well I hope we dont need them in terms of the election itself, but for the ballots, I think so. I am urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully because thats what has to happen. I am urging them to do it. I am urging my people I hope its going to be a fair election. If its a fair election Youre urging them what? I am 100 percent on board. But if I see tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated, I cant go along with that. Heres the deal: They count the ballots. As youve pointed out, some of these ballots in some states cant even be opened until Election Day. And if theres thousands of ballots, its going to take time to do it. No one has established at all that there is fraud related to mail-in ballots, that somehow its a fraudulent process. Its already been established. He has no idea what hes talking about. Heres the deal. The fact is, I will accept it, and he will too. You know why? Because once the winner is declared, after all the ballots are counted, all the votes are counted, that will be the end of it.

The first presidential debate between President Trump and Joseph R. Biden Jr. unraveled into an ugly melee on Tuesday, as Mr. Trump hectored and interrupted Mr. Biden nearly every time he spoke and the former vice president denounced the president as a clown and told him to shut up.

In a chaotic, 90-minute back-and-forth, the two major party nominees expressed a level of acrid contempt for each other unheard-of in modern American politics.

Mr. Trump, trailing in the polls and urgently hoping to revive his campaign, was plainly attempting to be the aggressor. But he interjected so insistently that Mr. Biden could scarcely answer the questions posed to him, forcing the moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News, to repeatedly urge the president to let his opponent speak.

Will you shut up, man? Mr. Biden demanded of Mr. Trump at one point in obvious exasperation. This is so unpresidential.

Yet Mr. Biden also lobbed a series of bitingly personal attacks of his own.

Youre the worst president America has ever had, he said to Mr. Trump.

The presidents bulldozer-style tactics represented a significant risk for an incumbent whos trailing Mr. Biden because voters, including some who supported him in 2016, are so fatigued by his near-daily attacks and outbursts. Yet the former vice president veered between trying to ignore Mr. Trump by speaking directly into the camera to the voters, and giving in to temptation by hurling insults at the president. Mr. Biden called Mr. Trump a liar and a racist.

Mr. Trump peppered his remarks with misleading claims and outright lies, predicting that a coronavirus vaccine was imminent when his own chief health advisers say otherwise, claiming that his rollback of fuel-efficiency standards would not increase pollution and insisting that a political adviser, Kellyanne Conway, had not described riots as useful to Mr. Trumps campaign, even though she did so on television.

And even as he went on the offensive against Mr. Biden on matters of law and order, Mr. Trump declined to condemn white supremacy and right-wing extremist groups when prompted by Mr. Wallace and Mr. Biden. When Mr. Wallace asked him whether he would be willing to do so, Mr. Trump replied, Sure, and asked the two men to name a group they would like him to denounce.

President Trump on Wednesday morning continued his angry and misleading tirade from Tuesday nights debate, tweeting false and exaggerated accusations about Joseph R. Biden Jr.

In one tweet, Mr. Trump claimed that Mr. Biden refused to use the term law and order during the debate even though the Democratic nominee used the term several times.

Mr. Trump insisted in another tweet that Mr. Biden wants to Pack the Supreme Court, even though the former vice president repeatedly refused to say whether he supports that idea; that Mr. Biden wants no fracking, overstating his rivals plan for limits on the practice; and that the Second Amendment is DEAD if Mr. Biden is elected, a clear exaggeration of his position.

The tone of the presidents tweets mirrored the aggressive approach he took during the debate, interrupting and heckling Mr. Biden throughout the proceedings.

Nobody wants Sleepy Joe as a leader, including the Radical Left (which he lost last night!), Mr. Trump tweeted, attempting to drive a wedge between Mr. Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders, who lost the Democratic nomination to the former vice president. He disrespected Bernie, effectively calling him a loser!

The unedifying spectacle of Tuesday nights presidential debate produced some shock, some sadness and some weariness among both Americas allies and its rivals on Wednesday.

As President Trump bellowed, blustered and shouted down both the moderator, Chris Wallace, and his opponent, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and as Mr. Biden responded by calling Mr. Trump a clown, many wondered if the chaos and tenor of the event said something more fundamental about the state of American democracy.

Of course, the ultimate arbiter will be the American voter, said Ulrich Speck, an analyst with the German Marshall Fund in Berlin. But there is a consensus in Europe that this is getting out of hand, and this debate is an indicator of the bad shape of the American democracy.

There was always a sense among allies that in America, despite political disagreement, there is one republic, and conflict will be solved by debate and compromise, and that power was married to some kind of morality, Mr. Speck said.

But that view is being questioned now, he said: The debate was really no debate at all, but two people pursuing their strategies.

John Sawers, a former British diplomat and head of a risk analysis firm, said simply: My own response is that it makes me despondent about America. The country we have looked to for leadership has descended into an ugly brawl.

THE UPSHOT

In the wake of Tuesdays messy debate, we got a different kind of survey: a so-called instapoll of people who agreed to watch it. These surveys are quirky, but they do a decent job of helping us gauge a debates effect. This time, the news was generally good for Joseph R. Biden Jr.

CNNs viewer poll found that Mr. Biden decisively won the debate, 60 percent to 28 percent, while CBS News and an early cut from a Data for Progress poll found far closer seven- and 12-point margins for Mr. Biden.

Instant-reaction poll subjects do not represent the overall electorate: They have agreed to take a poll before a debate, agreed to take a poll afterwards, and presumably watched the debate itself. Pollsters have to decide whether or how to undo those biases.

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2020 Debate and Election Updates: Trump vs. Biden - The New York Times

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