"Putin's Puppy" and "Threats to Ukraine Worth a Billion Dollars": How Trump and Biden's First Debate Went

A major political confrontation across the ocean, in brief.

Debates between the candidates for the country's presidency took place in the US ahead of the November elections. An hour and a half of discussion between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, however, did not go well: instead of discussing America's future and debating six of the most important issues for the country, viewers watching the live broadcast heard a dirty squabble with constant interruptions and insults. Despite all efforts, moderator Chris Wallace (the 72-year-old Fox News anchor) did not manage the situation very well, although perhaps this was to be expected — with the most “unpresidential” president in one corner, it could not have been otherwise.

About the elections

Donald Trump once again spoke out against voting by mail, calling on his supporters to be “very attentive” during the elections. Despite denials of possible fraud from FBI Director Christopher Wray, Trump again stated that he would not accept the election results if he saw “tens of thousands of ballot manipulations.”

Biden, in turn, said that Trump, by casting doubt on the legitimacy of the elections, is calling on people to refuse to take part in them. Biden asked voters to cast their ballots in any way convenient for them, since Trump, being “the worst president in US history,” “a liar” and “a clown,” cannot possibly remain in power.

From the army to Ukraine

When the conversation turned to the defense capability of the US and its army, Biden recalled Trump's words, who once called American servicemen “losers” and “suckers,” and his son Beau, who died in 2015 of a brain tumor. “He served in Iraq, — said Biden. — He spent a year there. He received a Bronze Star. He was not a loser. He was a patriot, and the people who died there were heroes.”

Trump responded that he did not know Beau, but knew Hunter — Biden's younger son, who was allegedly “kicked out of the army for using cocaine,” and who, according to Trump, “made a fortune in Ukraine, in China, in Moscow and many other places, as soon as his father became vice president.”

Trump, as expected, placed particular emphasis on Hunter Biden. The current US leader wondered how Biden's son had obtained a high position at Burisma Holdings — a Ukrainian energy company former Minister of Ecology Mykola Zlochevsky, on whose board of directors Hunter served from 2014 to 2019.

Trump again accused Biden of “threatening Ukraine with a billion dollars” in military aid in order to protect his son, after an investigation into possible money laundering at Burisma was launched by former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin.

Joe Biden denied all of Trump's accusations, except for the story about drugs, (“everyone knows that my son had problems with drugs, but he overcame them, and I am proud of him”), saying that no evidence base for these accusations had been found.

On recession and Putin

“When I was vice president (in the administration of Barack Obama — ed.), we inherited a recession, — said Biden. — I had to solve this problem. And I did. We left him a country with a rapidly developing economy, and he drove it into recession. He made the country sick, poor, more divided and more brutal.”

Biden also called Trump “Putin's puppy,” who can do nothing to hold the Russian leader accountable for the killing of American soldiers (according to a New York Times investigation, Russia paid the Taliban for killing servicemen of the international coalition with the US — ed.), while Biden himself “directly confronted Putin and made it clear to him that he was not ready to accept his terms.”

Trump did not react to these accusations from his opponent, again steering the conversation back to the topic of Hunter Biden.

On the racial problem in the US

Amid ongoing protests across the country, one of the most discussed topics of the debate became the question of the racist concept of white supremacy. When the moderator asked Trump to disavow these ideas and speak out against aggressive ultra-right organizations, he — atypically for a debate, but customarily when this topic is discussed — remained silent. “Someone has to do something about the Antifa movement and the left, because this is not a problem of the right, this is a problem of the left,” — said Trump.

Biden responded by calling Trump a racist who “cannot even say the word ‘law enforcement,’ for fear of losing all the support of the far left.”

On medicine and the coronavirus

When the conversation turned to the state of medicine in the country and the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden promised to restore the Obamacare program expanding health insurance, after which he sympathetically addressed TV viewers whose “kitchen tables sit empty.” He also said the incumbent president has no plan to fight the coronavirus, and recalled that this is “the same man who said it would all be over by Easter.” 

When Biden urged his rival to “come out of the bunker,” Trump said his administration had done a good job fighting the coronavirus, blamed China for its spread, and accused Biden of wanting to close US borders at the expense of domestic business.

What is the outcome of the debate?

6 out of 10 TV viewers surveyed by CNN named Joe Biden the winner of the debate. Only 28% of respondents voted for Donald Trump. CBS also recorded a Biden victory, but by a smaller margin (48% versus 41% for Trump).

Notably, at the same time Trump showed the best result on Telemundo, the second-largest Spanish-language TV channel in the US (66% versus 34% for Biden).

On the eve of the debate, Trump demanded that his opponent take a drug test either before or after the debate, which Biden refused to do.

According to the latest ratings, 45% of Americans are ready to vote for Trump, and 47% for Biden.