The Presidential Debate

By: Sam Sperling, or Samantha Sperling. Sam S. Sam.

Edited By: Vivian Lin

For late September, 2020. 1st edition

The 2020 election is coming up and the first presidential debate was held on September 29, in Cleveland, Ohio. Donald Trump is a Republican, and Joe Biden is the Democratic nominee. If you watched the debate, you might agree that it was a mess for several reasons.

Trump’s almost constant interruption was like listening to a 5-year-old screaming. 75% of the interruptions were by Trump, but both candidates did interrupt each other with insults and name-calling. Chris Wallace, the moderator had an amazing amount of patience but was unable to fully control the debaters.

Trump could have improved staying on topic. When Biden brought up the military, how Trump calls them “losers,” and Biden mentioned that his son was in Iraq and how his son spent a year there, that he wasn’t a “loser”, Trump asked, “Really?”. He asked Biden if he meant Hunter. When Trump was asked what he would do about climate change, the President just started rambling on about “crystal clear waters.” He didn’t say what his plan would be to deal with the problem.

Something Biden could have improved on was answering the court-packing question. He didn’t answer the question about whether the Democrats would try to increase the number of justices to include more liberals. But, other than not answering the question clearly, he was great. I think Biden did great looking at the camera and it was like he was speaking directly to the people watching the debate on TV or online. He kept reminding the viewers that this election and the issues are about the American people.

Both candidates were disrespectful and called each other names. Trump accused Biden of forgetting where he went to college. He suggested that Biden isn’t very smart. Biden called Trump a clown, a racist, and told the President to, “Shut up, man!”, a great move on Biden's side.

Thinking about this debate, I felt Joe Biden won, but both debaters could have done a much better job. Hopefully, the next presidential debate will be more organized and professional. In the next debate, I want to hear more about their plans for this country in the next four years.