President Donald Trump and his White House challenger Joe Biden clashed over Covid and race while trading corruption charges, in their final live TV debate.
On the pandemic, Mr. Biden would not rule out more lockdowns, while Mr. Trump insisted it was time to reopen the US.
Mr. Trump cited unsubstantiated claims Mr. Biden personally profited off his son’s business dealings. The Democrat brought up Mr. Trump’s opaque taxes.
Mr. Biden has a solid national lead with 11 days to go until the election.
But the margin is slimmer in the handful of states that could vote either way and ultimately decide the outcome.
More than 47 million people have already cast their ballots in a record-breaking voting surge driven by the pandemic.
What was the overall tone?
Thursday night’s primetime duel in Nashville, Tennessee, was a less acrimonious and more substantive affair than the pair’s previous showdown on 29 September, which devolved into insults and name-calling.
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Following that political brawl, debate organisers this time muted microphones during the candidates’ opening statements on each topic to minimise disruption.
But the 90-minute debate, moderated by NBC’s Kristen Welker, saw plenty of personal attacks between the opponents, whose mutual dislike was palpable.
In their closing argument to voters, they offered starkly different visions for the nation on everything from shutting down the country to tackle coronavirus, to shutting down the fossil fuel industry to confront climate change.
What did they say about coronavirus?
Nowhere was the distinction between the two candidates more apparent than in their approach to the pandemic.
Asked about his support for more lockdowns if the scientists recommended it, Mr. Biden, a Democrat, did not rule it out.
But Mr. Trump, a Republican, said it was wrong to inflict further damage on the economy because of an infection from which most people recover.
“This is a massive country with a massive economy,” said the president. “People are losing their jobs, they’re committing suicide. There’s depression, alcohol, drugs at a level nobody’s ever seen before.”
Mr. Trump, 74, declared that the virus is “going away” and that a vaccine would be ready by the end of the year, while Mr. Biden warned the nation was heading towards “a dark winter”.
The president said: “We’re learning to live with it.” Mr. Biden, 77, countered: “Come on. We’re dying with it.”
Mr. Biden laid blame for the 220,000-plus American deaths from the pandemic at Mr. Trump’s door.
“Anyone who’s responsible for that many deaths should not remain president of the United States of America,” he said.
What did they say about race?
During a back on forth on race relations, Mr. Trump said: “I am the least racist person in this room.”
He brought up the 1994 crime bill that Mr. Biden helped draft and which Black Lives Matter blames for the mass incarceration of African Americans.
But Mr. Biden said Mr. Trump was “one of the most racist presidents we’ve had in modern history. He pours fuel on every single racist fire.”
He added: “This guy is a [racial] dog whistle about as big as a fog horn.”
What did they say about corruption?
Mr. Trump brought up purported leaked emails from Mr. Biden’s son, Hunter, about his business dealings in China.
But Mr. Biden denied the president’s unfounded insinuation that the former US vice-president somehow had a stake in the ventures.
“I think you owe an explanation to the American people,” said Mr. Trump.
Mr. Biden said: “I have not taken a single penny from any country whatsoever. Ever.”
The former vice-president referred to the New York Times recently reporting that Mr.
Trump had a bank account in China and paid $188,561 in ptaxes from 2013-15 to the country, compared with $750 in US federal taxes that the newspaper said he had paid in 2016-17 when he became president.
“I have many bank accounts and they’re all listed and they’re all over the place,” said Mr Trump. “I mean, I was a businessman doing business.”
What happened in the climate debate?
The two clashed again on energy policy, as Mr. Trump asked his challenger: “Would you close down the oil industry?”
“I would transition from the oil industry, yes,” said Mr. Biden, adding, “because the oil industry pollutes significantly.”
He said Big Oil had to be replaced by renewable energy over time with the US moving towards net zero emissions.
“Basically what he’s saying is he’s going to destroy the oil industry,” said Mr. Trump. “Will you remember that, Texas? Will you remember that, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Ohio?”
The Biden campaign afterwards said their candidate had been talking about ending oil subsidies.
What was the immigration row about?
The two again argued when Mr. Trump was asked about his policy of separating hundreds of children from undocumented immigrant adults at the southern US border.
The president pointed out that migrant children were also detained under the Obama administration.
“Who built the cages, Joe?” he said, referring to the chain-link enclosures where unaccompanied migrant children were held during the Obama-Biden administration.
But the former vice-president said the Trump administration had gone further by cruelly separating families and the practice was “criminal”.
BBC
