The U.S. presidential candidates squared off Tuesday night in their first televised debate before the November election.
It was a chance for President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden to discuss their visions for the country.
But the two spent much of the 90-minute debate talking over one another trying to get their points across.
After several interruptions by President Trump during the first segment, Biden clearly had enough.
“Will you shut up, man,” said Biden to Trump, who continued to interrupt the Democratic nominee until the moderator ended the segment.
“That was really a productive segment, wasn’t it,” Biden added before telling Trump to “keep yapping, man.”
Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday struggled at times to keep things orderly.
At one point, Wallace had to raise his voice in order to get the attention of Trump and Biden.
“I think that the country would be better served if we allowed both people to speak with fewer interruptions,” said Wallace.
COVID-19 Pandemic
The presidential candidates discussed six main topics, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of Tuesday, the United States reported more than seven million cases of the virus and more than 200,000 deaths.
When asked why Americans should trust him over his opponent to deal with the crisis, Biden said Trump has no plan.
“40,000 people a day are contracting COVID. In addition to that, between 750 and 1,000 people a day are dying. When he was presented with that number, he said it is what it is. Well, it is what it is because you are who you are,” said Biden.
“If we would have listened to you, the country would have been left wide open. Millions of people would have died, not 200,000, and one person is too much. It’s China’s fault, it should have never happened,” said Trump.
Other topics included the economy, the Supreme Court, the integrity of the election, and race and violence in U.S. cities.
Why Should You Lead The Country?
Both candidates were also asked why they should be elected to lead the nation for the next four years.
Trump said he has done more in the past three-and-a-half years than any other administration has done.
“Before COVID came in, [we had] the greatest economy in history, lowest unemployment numbers, everything was good … then what happened, we got hit, but now we’re building it back up again,” said Trump.
Biden said the United States has become poorer, more divided, and more violent under President Trump’s leadership.
“When I was vice-president, we inherited a recession. I was asked to fix it, I did. We left him a booming economy and he caused a recession,” said Biden.
Voters in the U.S. will head to the polls on Nov. 3.
