President Donald Trump and Joe Biden participated in the first of three presidential debates on Tuesday, Sept. 29, in Cleveland, Ohio. “Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace moderated the 90-minute debate. It consisted of six topics: COVID-19, the economy, race in America, their records, the Supreme Court, and election integrity. This debate was very important to both candidates as swing-state voters who are undecided may be swayed by the candidates’ performances. 

According to CNN, Mr. Biden has 269 electoral votes with Mr. Trump trailing behind with 169 votes based on current polling information. In order to win the election, a candidate must have at least 270 electoral votes. In the 20 states currently reporting information, early voting has broken national records with more than 1,281,396 casted ballots as of Tuesday.

The first topic discussed was Amy Coney Barrett’s recent nomination to the Supreme Court. Mr. Biden argued that they should wait until after the election to nominate candidates for the open Supreme Court seat, which would be in line with the precedent set by the GOP in 2016. Mr. Trump argued that the seat should be filled right away.

“I think that she will be outstanding,” Mr. Trump said. “She will be as good as anybody who has ever served on that court. We won the election and therefore we had the right to choose her.”

The second topic of the night was COVID-19. Within Mr. Trump’s two minute talking period, he repeatedly called the virus the “China plague” and shifted the blame to China. During Mr. Biden’s two minute talking period, he claimed that since February, Mr. Trump had no plan for the coronavirus.

“We got the gowns, we got the masks, we made the ventilators, you wouldn’t have made ventilators, and now we’re weeks away from a vaccine,” Mr. Trump said. “We’re doing therapeutics already. Fewer people are dying when they get sick. Far fewer people are dying. We’ve done a great job. I’ll tell you Joe, you don’t have it in your blood, you could have never done the job we did.”

However, contrary to Mr. Trump’s statements, no one knows yet how vaccine testings are performing. An enrollment target of 30,000 must be hit before a vaccine can be administered. Health officials have stated that a vaccine and therapeutics are unlikely to be available soon. The New York Times reported that there has been an average of 43,000 new confirmed cases each day, during the week of Sept. 27. That is a 13 percent increase compared to the average of cases reported two weeks before that. The Trump Administration has spent $500 million on 43,000 ventilators and has shipped hundreds of millions of cloth face masks to U.S. agencies.

Another important topic covered by both candidates was health care. When the Affordable Care Act came up, Mr. Trump said that “No matter how well you run Obama care, it’s a disaster.” He admitted that he wanted to get rid of it. Contrary, Mr. Biden said that Mr. Trump had done absolutely nothing for healthcare.

“He has no plans for healthcare,” Mr. Biden said. “He hasn’t lowered drug costs for anybody. He’s been promising healthcare plans since he got elected. He has none, like almost everything else he talks about. He has no plans, just like everything he’s talking about.”

As the debate continued to intensify, both candidates lost their cool at times. At one point, Mr. Trump interjected saying “Can I be honest?” and Mr. Biden shot back with “Try and be honest.” Biden also interrupted Mr. Trump a few times including saying “it’s hard to get any word in with this clown, excuse me, this person.” Mr. Trump lashed out in response with negative comments on Mr. Biden’s deceased son.

The debate ended with final words from both candidates. Mr. Biden urged people to vote while Mr. Trump stated that the election would not be fair, and there would most likely be fraud relating to mail-in ballots. He also encouraged people to vote at polling locations rather than mailing in ballots for the safety and confidentiality of the votes.

“I hope it’s going to be a fair election,” Mr. Trump said. “If it’s a fair election I am 100 percent on board. But if I see tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated, I can’t go along with that.”

After the debate ended, many cable commentators observed how poorly the event was run. Many compared it to two kindergarteners fighting. Forbes called it the worst presidential debate in history.

“That was a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a trainwreck,” CNN’s Chief Washington Correspondent Jake Tapper said. “That was the worst debate ever seen. In fact, it wasn’t even a debate, it was a disgrace, and it’s primarily because of President Trump.”

The next debate is set to be on Thursday, Oct. 15, in Salt Lake City, Utah with a third debate following a week later on Thursday, Oct. 22, in Nashville, Tennessee. Election day is Nov. 3.