By Administrator_ India
Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden battled fiercely over Trump`s leadership on the coronavirus pandemic, the economy and taxes in a fiery first debate on Tuesday marked by Trump`s repeated interruptions.
With moderator Chris Wallace trying in vain at times to control the debate, the two White House contenders talked over each other and lobbed insults in a breath taking political brawl that made it hard for either man to make a point.
“Will you shut up, man? This is so unpresidential,” said an exasperated Biden after repeated interruptions during only the first segment of the debate on the Supreme Court.
Biden called Trump a “clown” and a “racist” and told him: “You`re the worst president America has ever had.”
Trump for his part said: “There`s nothing smart about you, Joe.”
Biden questioned Trump`s leadership on the coronavirus pandemic, saying Trump had panicked and failed to protect Americans because he was more concerned about the economy.
“He panicked or he looked at the stock market,” Biden said of Trump, who has pushed for states to reopen their economies and played down the threat of the pandemic.
“A lot of people died and a lot more are going to die unless he gets a lot smarter, a lot quicker,” Biden said.
“You graduated either the lowest or almost the lowest in your class. Don’t ever use the word smart with me. Don’t ever use that word,” Trump said.
Biden, 77, has held a consistent lead over Trump, 74, in national opinion polls, although surveys in the battleground states that will decide the election show a closer contest.
The 90-minute debate, with a limited and socially distanced in-person audience because of the pandemic, was held at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. It was the first of three scheduled presidential debates and one vice presidential debate.
Hours before the debate, Biden released his 2019 tax returns and his campaign called on Trump, who has come under fire for not releasing his returns, to do the same.
Biden took the step two days after the New York Times reported Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017 – and none in 10 of the previous 15 years – following years of reporting steep losses from business enterprises.
Trump had long sought to keep his personal financial records secret.
Biden`s taxes showed that he and his wife Jill paid more than $346,000 in federal taxes and other payments for 2019 on an income of nearly $985,000 before seeking a refund of nearly $47,000 they said they had overpaid the government.
“I paid millions of dollars in taxes, millions of dollars of income tax,” Trump said when asked about the New York Times report.