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Five minutes into the debate, I thought Trump trying to draw attention away from the hundreds of thousands of American citizens that’ve died under his watch by saying Biden let thousands of American soldiers (who signed up to do something Trump never did, risk their life for this country) die under his watch. I was grossly mistaken. Before I even get into the worst of it, let me just say that while there was mistakes on both sides, the more childlike of those two candidates was the current President of the United States; constantly interrupting, fighting with the moderator (who someone needs to check in on, because he was really trying his best to keep that fiasco under control), and using very personal attacks in a political debate. I’m going to go through the “highlights” in chronological order, but some things certainly stand out more than others. Trump wants to cut health care, claiming that because him, insulin is cheaper than water, ask any diabetic and they will tell you that’s very untrue; on the other hand, Biden has a plan to help expand Medicare for those who need it, and people can keep their private insurance if they want to. When asked about his response to covid, Trump deflects by saying we don’t know China and Russia’s numbers, and bringing up the Swine Flu, which resulted in 14,000, not 200,000 deaths, he also claimed that we are weeks away from the vaccine, but I think we all remember his “it’ll all be over by Easter” claim. One of many rather personal attacks comes after Biden says a lot more people are going to die if Trump doesn’t get smart, to which Trump starts attacking Biden’s education and college, saying “don’t you ever use the word smart with me,” if you thought this was personal and uncalled for, just you wait. Oh but hey, at least Trump saved football guys, what's 200,000 deaths when we have football! We all knew it’d eventually come up, but when the topic of economy was raised, Trump was asked if it was true if he’d only paid $750 taxes in 2016 and 2017, to which he responded that he’d paid billions in taxes, and would release his tax returns when they were “ready”. Trump didn’t have much to say about his own tax plan, but plenty to say about Biden’s, including personal attack #2, bringing up a discredited theory that Biden’s son Hunter was given $3.5 million from the First Lady of China (or Russia, his story changed as he went). Biden did a great job by saying it wasn’t about either candidate’s families, but the families of the American people. Next was the topic everyone’s been talking about, and for a good reason, race. My family and I took bets on how Trump would find a way to avoid this question, but not a single one of us expected he’d refuse to condemn the white supremacist group, the Proud Boys, saying “stand back and standby,” and then IMMEDIATELY trying to turn the focus towards ANTIFA. The President of the United States, on live television, on the global stage, couldn’t condemn a racist, white nationalist group who has taken Trump’s words as a call to arms, saying they’re ready. Trump supporters can no longer claim he isn’t racist after that appaling moment. When they’re giving their case as to why they deserve to be elected, Biden brings up Trump calling the military suckers, and is almost brought to tears as he talks about his dead son Beau, who fought for a year in Iraq before dying of cancer, saying that his son and the rest of the troops are heroes. How does Trump respond? With apologies? Respecting Biden’s dead son? Of course not, instead he ops for personal attack #3, the most appalling and evil one of them all, he brings up the living son, Hunter Biden’s drug addiction. Biden admitted his son had problems but beat them, and you could see he was not expecting Trump to stoop so low and talk about his family in such a horrible way. Between this and refusing to condemn a white supremacist group, Trump had made me absolutely sick to my stomach. The rest of the debate was policies on climate change, some points that stuck out there was Trump’s plan to manage the forests and build more trees and Biden’s plan which would get us to net zero carbon production by 2035; also the ever popular election integrity topic, where Trump invited his supporters to go watch over the polls to make sure it’s fair (I predict it’ll end up with people bringing guns into polling center) and we learned he found military ballots with his name on them in the trash and rivers. Biden said he’d accept whatever outcome and would be a president for both sides. What I took from this debate was that Trump doesn’t have any real plans, but always has something to say about Biden’s; I just hope we can mute someone’s mics next time to avoid all that mess. Sorry this is so long but there was just so much happening all at once.

P.S. Hello to the German students, I wish I were there right now.

Last night's debate just further shows how awful America has become. As I sat down to write this, I had no idea what to start writing. Trump’s performance showed how he should never have been elected president, and it made me even more scared for the future. Last night Trump laid down yet another layer of rhetoric, and the thing I’ve found most alarming was him already laying out how the election is “unfair” if he doesn’t win, to contest it. The debate just further cemented how Trump doesn’t play by the rules, and he didn’t last election so why would he now? I honestly don’t believe that Trump will willingly give up power if he loses the election, and at this point it feels like a toss up on who gets the military backing. It seems like we are coming to the end of America’s reign as global superpower, and I think that whatever happens, we won’t be in the same position next year. Do I just think the worst because I just watched Handmaid’s Tale and now think we’re doomed, maybe. Do I have a plan to escape to Canada, most definitely.

This was the first presidential debate that I’ve ever watched fully. I went into it thinking it would be similar to the 2016 debate, but it was worse. I am disgusted by the behavior of the president of our country. Although eventually I was getting annoyed with both Biden and Trump constantly arguing. I was impressed that despite the constant interruptions, Biden got a lot of his points across unlike Trump. Biden spoke about his plans for addressing climate change, the pandemic, law enforcement, healthcare, and the economy. I learned almost nothing about Trump’s plans for a second term. He spent so much time trying to make Biden snap, which he did successfully a few times. I think “Will you shut up, man” sums up most of the debate if not the whole thing. I think Trump’s attempts to bully Biden and speaking over the moderator was incredibly rude. Trump even started attacking Biden’s son who overcame an addiction. What does his son’s past addiction have to do with the debate? Biden could have attacked Trump’s family and their past, but he didn’t. Biden remained more presidential than the actual president, which isn’t hard at this point. I see a lot of people saying no one won the debate, but I personally think Biden won. Trump did so poorly this debate and raised so many red flags, but of course his supporters will still vote for him. I think Biden won a few more independent/undecided voters with the points that he made. During the hour and thirty minute long debate, some takeaways I got from Trump was failing to condemn white supremacists telling them to stand by, and he brought back football. Also, he made fun of Biden for wearing a mask and practicing social distancing during a pandemic. Literally what?? I know both of these men have done terrible things and are nowhere near perfect, but for the sake of the country people need to settle for Biden. Joe Biden was right when he said, “This is a president who has used everything as a dog whistle to try to generate racist hatred, racist division”. Trump has divided up our country too much and for too long, and he has shown he is incapable to run this country.

Also, hello to all the students from Germany, I’m excited to see your perspective on the debate!

The presidential debate was really one to remember. It was like watching two little children fight. I really can’t get over that out of everyone in this country these are the two candidates we have to pick from.

Moments that really stood out to me was when Trump just refused to condemn white supremacy or made fun of Biden wearing a mask during a global pandemic. Or when he made fun of Biden’s dead son and son who was a drug addicted as if that had to do with any of the campaign. Or definitely when Biden called Trump a clown and a racist, and the “worst president the country has even seen.” As well as the constant interruptions the entire time while one another was trying to get a word out. As well as Trump paying 750 dollars in tax one year.

Honestly we really didn’t get a good idea for plans for the future as it was just constant talking over each other anymore. However, I personally believe that Biden has better plans for the future as Trump has seen nothing wrong with what he’s done in the country so far. It is embarrassing that he served even four years, we really can’t have him serve another term. At least Biden has a plan for climate change and a better way to approach to Covid as America has handled it so terribly. Just as DrewDropBalls mentions Trump has no idea how to deal with the problems going on in the country right now.

I feel like the debate definitely was more in the favor of Joe Biden. I feel like more voters will lean towards him. As he went into this knowing Trump was going to attack him for everything and I think Biden handled himself pretty well as he wasn’t even able to get a word out. I also feel like with a new generation of voters, that are young Biden’s promises more for our future.

Overall, this debate showed how much Trump continues to abuse his power and is a white supremist. That he is openly racist, and anyone who supports him is a racist, as that's not a defining factor in who is your president. That he only really cares about himself and not whats truly best for America. For Biden I grew a little more respect but didn’t show me much other then he’s a better fit then Trump would be.

Although the last presidential debate was hectic and wild, I cannot say that I didn’t expect it. At this point in time, and the status of our country, the supporters of Donald Trump are the supporters who will support him no matter what he does. So Trump’s strategy evolved into lying, interrupting and denying everything brought against him. He simply did not let Joe Biden get a word in, and was rude to both Biden and the moderator, Chris Wallace, who essentially was a glorified babysitter for the evening. While Joe Biden must remain somewhat centrist and direct his speeches towards moderate Republicans and independents, Donald Trump's points are simply directed to his crazy, right wing supporters. His supporter’s ignorance to his many acts of racism, sexism, anti-semitism, or any of the sort, lead to such instances as the one we saw towards the end of the debate, where Trump, when asked about the white supremacist neo-fascist group called the Proud Boys, told them to “Stand back and stand by”. These types of comments from Donald Trump have been present, if not common, during the past four years and before.

Despite the chaos that ensued during this debate, I actually think it was quite important. I have heard many people say, especially after the debate, that the debate didn’t matter and that most if not all voters are already decided between Biden and Trump. However, these debates are still vital to ensure that we do not have four more years of Donald Trump. In reality, there are a large number of potential voters who are undecided. While this may be hard to believe, it will have a large impact on Election Day. The essential part of this election will not be to turn Trump voters into Biden voters, but rather give the people who weren’t planning on voting or were planning on voting independent no choice but to vote for Joe Biden. If we can’t make clear to the voters of America how crucial it is to vote in the upcoming election, we will have a repeat of 2016.

Last night was the first night that I ever watched any kind of political debate, nevermind a Presidential debate, and to be honest, I’m not all that impressed. There was a lot of name-calling on both sides and a lot of interruptions. It reminded me of a middle school fight, really. There were times when I just wanted to turn the TV off, it was that embarrassing.

It was really frustrating for me, as an American citizen and soon-to-be voter. I feel like I didn’t learn much from that debate and I’ve already made the decision to vote for Biden so I imagine it must have been even less helpful to those who are still undecided. I also don’t think that it will have much of an effect on the election because, as I said before, it was more about lobbying insults rather than presenting well-planned proposals and policies. I mean, “the best Presidential Debate in history”? I think that’s going a little too far. I may not have a lot of experience watching political debates, but even I know that that was far from “best” and much closer to “embarassing”.

For me, this debate really solidified my view on the character of the two candidates. I’ve always seen Joe as a people person and a person for the people. He really showed that last night when he repeatedly looked at the camera and addressed the American people. That made me feel seen and like I was important amidst all the bickering and bullying that persisted. He was very clear on where he stood on most things. He also answered most questions directly, except, if I remember correctly, the one about filling the Supreme Court with Democrats. He was clear that he doesn’t support the Green New Deal and that he has his own plan in place. I feel like Biden should have addressed it because even though it’s going to raise some issues from both sides, voters deserve to know where he stands. I also think that the topics of the Coronavirus and climate change should have been really easy for him. There were times that he could’ve pushed his arguments further but I think that it all got lost in the ad hominems.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, acted just as I knew he would. He was a bully, interrupting Boden on numerous occasions, and even clashing with Chris Wallace, the moderator. What really stood out to me, and what I think should have been concerning to all Americans, was his inability to condemn white supremacists. Even when he was first asked the question, he avoided really answering. When Biden and Wallace pushed him to take a more assertive stance, he said, almost off-handedly and carelessly, “Proud boys: stand back and stand by.” And then he told his supporters to be ready to watch the polls very carefully. He also couldn’t definitively outline his healthcare plan, even though he’s been trying to get rid of Obamacare for the last three years. How can you get rid of something so important to tens of millions of people and not have a replacement plan in place? I think Donald Trump is a lot of talk and no action with some things. In others, his actions say a lot about the kind of person he is. I really have trouble understanding why people support this man. He is so obviously blatant and obvious about his racism, hatred, and virtual indifference towards injustice. Anyone with common sense who took the time to do some research could see it.

Character is very important to me. I don’t want to vote for someone who doesn’t see me and the injustices that people like me face. I don’t want someone who lies to the point of losing my trust. I mean, respect and integrity are still things right? Because the way things are going you’d think that we’ve lost all sense of morality and human decency (and by we I mean a select few). It’s really saddening to see the direction that America has taken these last few years, and more so these last few months. This election is critical this year and I think it’s going to be very close.

On another note, I found it absolutely hilarious when, asked about his tax returns, Trump said that he’d eventually share them with the American people, to which Biden replied, “When? Inshallah?” Inshallah is a very common phrase in Arabic used by Muslims. It’s literal meaning is “God willing”, but every child knows that when they ask their parents for something and they say “inshallah”, they really mean no. So kudos to Biden for that barb. It probably passed over Trump’s head, but all of my siblings were dying laughing.