Election updates: First president debate goes off the rails as both sides claim victory
The first presidential debate between Joe Biden and President Donald Trump quickly spun into a storm of personal attacks Tuesday night, at times devolving into a shouting match that made it hard for moderator Chris Wallace to be heard.
Biden called Trump a “fool,” “Putin’s puppy” and “the worst president” in American history. In one of the times Trump interrupted him, Biden snapped, “Will you shut up, man?”
Trump needled his opponent from the outset, calling him a “socialist,” taking shots at his family and repeatedly interrupting and speaking over him.
Trump was given an opportunity to condemn white supremacists, but he didn’t take it, a response that may energize the extremist group Proud Boys, one expert said. Biden also knocked Trump on his response to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying he needed to get “a lot smarter” on the issue.
Despite the raucous debate, which CNN’s Jake Tapper described as “a hot mess inside a dumpster fire,” both sides quickly claimed victory.
☕ The latest:
- Debate’s top moments: Tuesday night was full of testy exchanges. Here are our top moments of the night.
- Operation Legend: Trump promotes himself as the “law and order” president and has expanded a federal policing initiative across the U.S., but violent crime is far from dissipating in cities where the program was launched.
- Michael Flynn: A lawyer for Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor, told a federal judge Tuesday that she asked Trump not to pardon her client.
📊 What the polls are saying:
📆 34 days until Election Day, seven days until the vice presidential debate, 112 days until Inauguration Day, 93 days left in 2020.
🗳️ Voting: See USA TODAY’s Voter Guide for information on registering to vote, when your state begins voting and what the candidates think about the issues.
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Trump sidesteps call to condemn white supremacists
President Donald Trump was given an opportunity to condemn white supremacists during Tuesday’s debate. He didn’t take it, and his response has energized the Proud Boys, a known extremist group, one expert said.
Moderator Chris Wallace’s question came as Trump and Biden discussed the violence and social upheaval that has swept the streets of cities like Portland, Oregon, and Kenosha, Wisconsin, following a summer of protests.
When pressed to condemn white supremacists, Trump asked for the name of a specific group. Biden responded by naming the Proud Boys.
“Proud Boys – stand back and stand by,” Trump said. “But I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about antifa and the left.”
Megan Squire, a professor of computer science at Elon University in North Carolina who studies online extremism, told USA TODAY that she immediately went to the group’s social media channels.
“They reacted exactly as I thought they would,” Squire said. “They were extremely excited by what he said. They felt validated. They took it the same way everybody listening took it — that he was giving them a shout-out, basically.”
– Courtney Subramanian
Hillary Clinton admits she wanted to tell Trump to ‘shut up’
After a presidential debate rife with outbursts and attacks, Hillary Clinton confirmed she wished she could have told President Donald Trump to “shut up” when the pair debated in 2016.
The former nominee’s confession came after feminist writer Jill Filipovic tweeted that former Vice President Joe Biden’s off-the-cuff remark of “Will you shut up, man?” was “the line of the night.”
Filipovic later added, “I so feel for Hillary right now, because I’m positive she wanted to say that and couldn’t.”
“You have no idea,” Clinton replied.
– Camille Caldera
House commits to ‘peaceful transfer of power’ in resolution
By a lopsided 397-5 vote, the House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a nonbinding resolution affirming the House’s commitment to an “orderly and peaceful transfer of power” after the election.
Although the resolution did not mention President Donald Trump by name, it was introduced after he declined lat week to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he lost the election in November, provoking a backlash from both sides of the aisle.
“You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster,” Trump told reporters. “Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very a peaceful – there won’t be a transfer, frankly, there’ll be a continuation.”
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., who had introduced the measure, called Trump’s remarks “beyond unsettling” and the “sentiment of dictators and despots.”
The Senate passed a similar nonbinding measure last week without any objections from lawmakers.
– Nicholas Wu