U.S. President Donald Trump and former vice-president Joe Biden clashed in the first presidential debate of the 2020 campaign on Sep. 30 (Singapore time), in a contest that often went off the rails with personal attacks and frequent interruptions.

Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News seemed unable to control the debate at multiple points, as discussions on policy descended into back-and-forth bickering.

Supreme Court

Trump was asked about the Supreme Court, and his push to nominate Amy Coney Barrett to fill the spot vacated after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg despite the upcoming election.

He said that his party "won the election" and "elections have consequences", referring to the Republican majority in the Senate as well as occupancy of the White House.

Trump added that Barrett is a "top nominee" and pointed to how she has been endorsed by liberals as well as conservatives.

Biden pointed out that president Barack Obama was denied hearings on his nominee, Merrick Garland, to fill Justice Scalia's seat, in the last year of his term.

He added that the American public "deserves a say" in this matter, which is expressed through their vote for their senator (if they're up for election) and who they want to see as president. He noted that Americans have already begun early voting.

Affordable Care Act

The candidates turned to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), colloquially referred to as "Obamacare."

Biden said that Trump wants to get rid of the act, and asked what Trump plans to implement to replace the ACA if it is overturned.

Trump said that he got rid of the individual mandate for the ACA, signed an executive order to "protect people with pre-existing conditions" and said he will be allowing state governors to source prescription medicine from other countries to lower prices.

Trump charged that Biden wanted to "extinguish" private health care for 180 million Americans.

Biden said he did not plan to do so, and said that his executive orders were "wishful thinking" and had no power.

"Will you shut up, man?"

Wallace asked Biden if he would consider adding to the number of Supreme Court justices if elected. While Biden was responding, Trump repeatedly challenged Biden to say if he would "pack the court" and asked which "radical" judge was on his list.

Biden said, "Will you shut up, man?" after being interrupted by Trump, and said it was "un-presidential."

Covid-19

Biden said that Trump was on tape as early as February 2020 saying that he was aware of how dangerous Covid-19 was, but did not fully inform the public because he didn't want them to panic.

Biden referred to the moment where Trump suggested injecting bleach as a way to treat Covid-19 infection, which Trump said was a sarcastic statement.

Biden added that there was a call to send inspectors to Wuhan to assess the situation, but Trump didn't ask Chinese President Xi Jinping about this, and said that Xi was being transparent, and that Trump "waited and waited" and still doesn't have a plan.

In return, Trump said that he closed borders to China and that Biden said it was "xenophobic" and opposed the travel restrictions, a claim which was labelled "misleading" by the New York Times.

At various points in the debate, Trump blamed China for the pandemic, even calling it the "China plague" at one point.

Race-relations and law and order

When asked by Wallace if he would condemn white supremacy the way he has condemned left-wing groups, Trump asked for "a name".

When Wallace suggested the Proud Boys, a far-right group, Trump said they should "stand down and stand by" but did not outright condemn white supremacy or right-wing extremism, and largely blamed violence on left-wing groups.

Trump also said his administration curtailed racial sensitivity training in the federal government because it was "racist" in and of itself.

Meanwhile, Biden said "systemic racism" exists in America and that former advisor Kellyanne Conway said it would help Trump's cause.

Her full quote was: "The more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the very clear choice on who's best on public safety and law and order."

Trump described himself as the best candidate on law and order and said that he had the support of law enforcement officials.

Taxes

Biden referred to the NYT story that Trump paid as little as US$750 in income taxes, both in the year he ran for president and his first year in the White House, and said that he would reform the tax code for high-earning individuals if he was elected.

Trump disputed this, saying he paid "millions of dollars" in taxes.

When Biden asked when the public could see the returns, Trump said you could see it "when it's finished".

You can watch the full debate here:

We deliver more stories to you on LinkedIn

Top image from Getty.