First Presidential Debate 2020: Trump paints Biden as 'socialist' in matters of healthcare, racism and economy
President Donald Trump had several moments of a verbal duel with Democratic nominee Joe Biden at the first presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday, September 29. The two clashed over issues like the coronavirus pandemic, race riots, healthcare, and economy while hurling insults at each other.
The debate moderated by Fox journalist Chris Wallace witnessed several segments and it was in the one dealing with the economy that saw both Trump and Biden tearing into each other. Trump claimed that despite getting battered by Covid-19, the economy was showing good signs of recovery and alleged that Biden’s viewpoints on the economy were harmful for the country’s economy as he was in favor of more shutdowns. The former vice president was of the opinion that the shutdown was important in the wake of the pandemic and Trump could not fix the economy till he handled the outbreak well.
Wallace then asked Biden about his economic vision and the 77-year-old reiterated his earlier stance that he will raise the corporate tax rates to 28 percent from 21 percent which he called “ridiculous” in the past. Trump has criticized Biden’s plan saying such a plan would be disastrous for the economy which is coming out of recession.
Arguments and counter-arguments
Wallace then turned to Trump, asking him about his “free-market approach” and questioned his claim that the economy was booming in his time. He also said that the last three years of former President Barack Obama saw more jobs (a million and a half) getting created compared to the first three years of Trump. Trump denied it saying the Obama-Biden administration saw the “slowest economic recovery since 1929.” He then slammed Biden saying that if he terminated his taxes, more companies would leave the country and the country would see a depression not seen in history. Biden responded to that saying the Obama administration inherited the economy at time of recession and passed a booming economy to Trump but he blew it. The arguments went on.
But Trump did not lose the opportunity to tag Biden as somebody close to the socialists and radical Left during the 90-minute debate. During arguments over medicare and race riots, the president even went to the extent of telling Biden “you just lost the Left” to convey the message that the former vice president is indeed a man backed by the Left against him. He also tried to paint Biden’s healthcare plan as the same as “Medicare for All” which was promoted by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and suspected by the right-wing camp as a socialist agenda. “You are going to extinguish 180 million people with their private health care that they are very happy with. You’re going to socialist medicine,” Trump, who mocked Biden earlier in the show saying his win over Sanders in the nomination race was not big, said.
Trump also tried to link Biden with what he claimed the Left-wing protests that have ravaged cities in the US in recent times, trying to discredit him in front of viewers. Even while speaking on the economy, the president tried to show his rival as a representative of the Leftist camp in a subtle way when the latter said on raising the corporate taxes. Biden also found himself in an uneasy situation on the question of the Green New Deal which he first said it would pay for itself but then changed stance minutes later saying he doesn't support it, making Trump mock him.