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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Martin Belam (now) and Joan E Greve, Maanvi Singh and Helen Sullivan (earlier)

First 2020 presidential debate as it happened: Trump tries to steamroll Biden in chaotic clash

Key events so far…

Thanks so much for following our continued Trump-Biden debate coverage this morning. I’m going to be closing this live blog shortly, but you’ll be able to keep following the day’s US politics live with me on our new live blog for Wednesday. In the meantime, here’s a summary of where we are up to:

There will be more coverage over here shortly…

Kathleen Hunter at Bloomberg has this morning described last night as a “mud-wrestling match”. She writes:

Refusing to give any ground, the president at times flustered Biden – whom he has for months sought to paint as senile — with unrelenting attacks on his family and policies. Trump, 74, made assertions — on election integrity, his income taxes, a potential coronavirus vaccine and other topics — that don’t stand up to fact-checking.

For her, she thought “The biggest takeaway from the unedifying spectacle might be Trump’s refusal again to commit to a peaceful transition.”

And she had this to say about the prospect of the remaining two debates:

The question now is whether the exchange will be more civil when the candidates meet on 15 October for their second debate and whether – with large portions of the electorate already having either decided on their pick or cast their ballot — the sessions even matter much.

Read it here: Bloomberg – US debate descends into mud-wrestling match

Reuters report what sounds like a testy reply from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in his daily conference call with reporters this morning.

Ask to comment on the US election, Peskov said that Russia, like many other nations in the world, is closely following the campaign, adding: “But we do not want to make any statements as this could be viewed as an attempt to intervene. Russia has never, is not and is not going to intervene in US domestic affairs.”

This denial is, of course, at odds with the CIA finding that Russia did attempt to interfere in the 2016 election, and recent warnings from William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, that Russia, China and Iran are all seeking to influence November’s vote.

Perhaps one of Joe Biden’s most effective moments in the debate last night was when he was asking the nation how many of you have an empty chair now at the breakfast table because you’ve lost someone through Covid. It demonstrated a personal empathy with the emotional impact of the pandemic across America that the president has often been criticised for not showing.

However, Time magazine’s Alice Park was unhappy with both candidates overnight in the way they approached the subject of the pandemic during the debate. She writes:

During the 15-minute segment dedicated to Covid-19 — which is still killing hundreds of Americans each day, and stands to worsen once again — neither Trump nor Biden provided any substantive plans for what health experts say will be a critical next few months, and possibly years, in the fight against the coronavirus. Instead of thoughtful plans for addressing the deadliest and most disruptive public health crisis the world has faced in a century, viewers got a mud-slinging brawl between two candidates who were mostly more interested in landing jabs than in providing any reassurance to an already edgy public reeling from lost loved ones, lost jobs and disrupted lives.

The personal attacks and repeated interruptions from the candidates overshadowed any opportunity for voters to form a firm picture of how either Trump or Biden plan to navigate the remainder of this pandemic—not to mention the upcoming flu season.

In particular she pointed out that instead of explaining how a vaccine could be distributed, “Trump and Biden tussled over the Trump Administration’s constant conflict with scientists and public health experts and their differing views on how to safely reopen society.”

Yesterday there were 43,355 new coronavirus cases and 918 new Covid deaths reported in the US.

Read it here: Time – The Trump-Biden debate was a missed opportunity to provide Americans with clarity on Covid-19

Nevada is another closely watched state during presidential elections. Hillary Clinton won it last time out, as Barack Obama had done in the previous two elections. But Nevada voted Republican for Ronald Reagan, George H. Bush and George W. Bush.

The state’s attorney general, Aaron D. Ford, expressed concern on social media last night after the president appeared to be encouraging voter intimidation during the debate.

The battle to win Florida in November is a keenly fought one, with 29 Electoral College votes at stake. Last time Trump carried the state by 49-47 against Hillary Clinton.

The Miami Herald this morning is leading with two direct quotes from the candidates. Trump telling Biden “There’s nothing smart about you. 47 years, you’ve done nothing”, and Biden telling Trump “You are the worse president America has ever had.”

Biden will be visiting Miami for the first time during his 2020 campaign on Monday, when he will be doing a town hall style debate for NBC.

Associated Press have rounded up a little international reaction to last night. They note that Hu Xijin, editor of China’s nationalistic Communist party tabloid Global Times, said that the “chaos, interruptions, personal attacks and insults” on display were a reflection of America’s “overarching division, anxiety and the accelerating erosion of the system’s original advantages.”

“I used to admire this kind of televised debate in American politics, but I have much more mixed feelings when watch it again now,” wrote Hu, who personally and through his paper routinely attacks American policies.

“Indeed, the overall image of the United States is growing more and more complicated in my eyes,” Hu wrote.

The editor-at-large of the newspaper The Australian, Paul Kelly, described the debate as a “spiteful, chaotic, abusive, often out-of-control brawling encounter with both candidates revealing their contempt for each other.”

Another Australian, conservative politician Tim Wilson, told ABC that “For most part, it was a slanging match between President Trump and Vice President Biden. I’ve got to say, I thought it was pretty unedifying in terms of a discussion, not just about the future of America, but ultimately because of the might of the United States, about the rest of the world as well.”

Updated

Here’s our highlights reel from last night – it is six minutes that will give the you the flavour of the extent to which the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden deteriorated into an ugly display of contempt. The president relentlessly interrupted and attacked his Democratic rival during clashes over the coronavirus pandemic, racism, the economy, mail-in voting and the future of the supreme court, with moderator Chris Wallace seemingly powerless to intervene.

The world-weary tone of the Washington Post fact-checkers was in evidence again as they assessed the truthfulness of 21 claims made during the debate.

As they put it: “Trump repeatedly relied on troublesome and false facts that have been debunked throughout his presidency. Biden, by contrast, stretched the truth on occasion.”

Among the more trivial claims from Trump they debunk are that he was responsible for bring back Big Ten football, a falsehood about where Biden went to college, saying Biden supported the Green New Deal whose details Trump mis-stated into the bargain, and over-estimating the number of judges he’s appointed.

More seriously, the Post had this to say about Trump’s rigged election message:

As usual, Trump offered a baseless conspiracy theory that widespread use of mail ballots during an infectious disease pandemic would lead to massive voter fraud. There is simply no evidence for these claims. The Department of Homeland Security says Russia is spreading the same kind of disinformation to sow doubts about mail balloting and the integrity of the US election.

On his claim to be lowering drug prices, the Post notes “There is just no evidence for this pie-in-the-sky prediction”, and on his frequent boast about having presided over the best US economy of all time, they state “By just about any important measure, the economy under Trump has not done as well as it did under presidents Eisenhower, Johnson and Clinton.”

For his part, Joe Biden was incorrect to claim that the US has “a higher deficit with China now than we did before”, and the Post said that he used a “selective presentation” of crime figures to put his record in a better light than Trump’s.

Read it here: Washington Post – Fact-checking the first Trump-Biden presidential debate

French news magazine L’Obs has this verdict on the debate, which has certainly not been lost in translation, even if you don’t speak French.

Updated

Cry, the beloved country. Donald Trump ensured Tuesday’s first US presidential debate was the worst in American history, a national humiliation. The rest of the world – and future historians – will presumably look at it and weep.

More likely than not, according to opinion polls, his opponent Joe Biden will win the November election and bring the republic back from the brink. If Trump is re-elected, however, this dark, horrifying, unwatchable fever dream will surely be the first line of America’s obituary.

Only one man looked remotely presidential on the debate stage in Cleveland, Ohio, and it was not the incumbent. He interrupted, ranted, raged, spewed lies and interrupted some more. Oh, and he passed on an opportunity to condemn white supremacists, instead telling them to “stand back and stand by”.

The debate moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News, did not cover himself in glory either. He was a like a school supply teacher, hopelessly out of his depth as unruly children run riot. He did not enforce the rules or cut the president’s mic.

Facing this asymmetric bullying, Biden showed self-control and stood his ground. He spoke for tens of millions of Americans when he demanded: “Will you shut up, man?” – the Biden campaign rushed out this slogan on a T-shirt before the debate was even over.

Five weeks before the election, the debate pitted an ageing white male against an ageing orange male sweating like Richard Nixon in 1960. Anyone hoping for elegant verbal jousting or rapier-like wit was in for a disappointment.

Read more here: Donald Trump ensures first presidential debate is national humiliation

A debate like last night’s – 90 minutes long and a torrent of false and misleading claims – is an absolute nightmare for the fact-checkers among us. However, it does become slightly easier if the subject of the false claims can provide their own fact-check in real-time.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports this morning that Multnomah county sheriff Mike Reese jumped straight onto Twitter after president Donald Trump appeared to claim that he had secured the endorsement of the “Portland sheriff”

Portland in Oregon has seen near-continuous nightly Black Lives Matter protests following the killing of George Floyd in May, which have often been met with force by local and federal authorities.

This was the verdict of Delaware’s Democratic Senator Chris Coons on last night, as the chaotic debate opens the possibility that the Biden campaign may request format changes going forward.

It was very hard to follow what was being said, and President Trump showed not just disrespect to the moderator, but to the American people who tuned in trying to figure out what his plans are. The point of the debate is for the American people to make a decision, informed by hearing from the two candidates on what’s your record, what are your values? Joe Biden came prepared to respect the American people. Donald Trump did not.

As well as next week’s hotly anticipated vice presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris, there are two further Trump-Biden debates currently in the calendar. You can pop Thursday 15 October at 9pm ET in Florida and Thursday 22 October at 8pm CDT in Tennessee into your diary now.

There were questions from the media immediately after last night as to whether Joe Biden and his team might pull out of the remaining two due to the president’s behaviour. They’ve ruled that out.

However, on a call with reporters, Biden deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said that the campaign was in ongoing talks with the commission who govern the rules for the debates, saying “I would imagine there would be some additional conversations” going forward.

The Trump campaign were also unhappy with the moderation by Chris Wallace last night. However, their view was that “Chris Wallace jumped in too often to save Biden from himself when he had backed himself into a corner or couldn’t come up with an answer”, according to campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh.

National political reporter Sahil Kapur has weighed in for NBC News with his four key takeaways from last night. He identifies:

  • Trump’s interruptions, Biden’s clapbacks – the president came out swinging, with constant interruptions and attempts to throw Biden off-balance. Biden didn’t shrink from the moment, repeatedly knocking Trump as a “clown” and a “liar” who wouldn’t stop “yapping”.
  • Trump doesn’t condemn white supremacists – in a debate during which Biden called Trump a “racist” to his face, one of the most significant moments came when Wallace asked the president whether he was willing to condemn white supremacists and “militia” groups. Trump appeared irritated.
  • A clash over the economy – Trump sprinkled in attacks on Biden for having spent four decades in public office and having failed to fix many of the problems he now says he’s running for president to tackle.
  • Biden shivs the left – Biden did his best to distance himself from the left throughout the debate. He repeatedly denounced the Green New Deal. Early on, Biden said that he was “not opposed to” Trump’s supreme court pick. He also went out of his way to make it clear that he opposes calls to “defund the police”.

Read it in full here: NBC News – ‘Clown.’ ‘Liar.’ ‘Racist.’: 4 takeaways from the chaotic first Trump-Biden debate

Moira Donegan writes for us this morning on the subject of the debate, saying that America is in pain and it offered no help.

For more than 90 minutes, instead of substantive discussion of the multiple ongoing national emergencies that have warped their lives, viewers were shown three old white men – Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Fox News’ Chris Wallace, nominally the moderator – interrupting, shouting at, and insulting one another. The coarseness, dishonestly, and grandstanding on display was a mockery of the dignity of the electoral process and a slap in the face to the Americans whose lives will be shaped by the actions of the next president.

Donegan is unequivocal about the source.

Nearly all of the evening’s chaos can be blamed, of course, on President Donald Trump, who spent the evening lying and misrepresenting his own record, his opponent’s record, President Obama’s record, Hillary Clinton’s record, the records of several Senate and congressional Democrats, and the state of fires, crime, economic activity, coronavirus infection rates, and ballot distribution in various states and regions. He claimed, wrongly, that Joe Biden supports “socialist medicine”. He claimed, wrongly, that Joe Biden supports a Green New Deal. He claimed, wrongly, that Joe Biden opposes the police. And he claimed, wrongly, that Joe Biden had the power to limit the coronavirus outbreak during his time as a senator, vice-president, and presidential candidate.

Donegan also raises one contrast with the way that Biden was able to deal with Trump, that was perhaps not afforded to Hillary Clinton four years ago:

The approach was refreshing in that it did not concede to Trump any authority, decency, or respect – courtesies he has not earned and tends to use against those who demonstrate them. But watching Joe Biden address Trump with such deserved unseriousness, while a relief, also reminded me a bit too much of Hillary Clinton’s attempts to exude politeness and patience in her own debates against Trump during the 2016 contest. Biden treated Trump with the disdain and impatience that Trump deserves. But he was only able to be so forthrightly dismissive because he is a man.

Read it here: Moira Donegan – America is in pain. The presidential debate offered no help

Moderator Chris Wallace has come in for some sustained criticism after the debate for his failure to reign in and control Donald Trump’s constant hectoring interruptions.

Rachel Maddow on MSNBC last night questioned whether the current structure of the debates is actually giving the moderators an impossible job. She said:

People will blame Chris Wallace for what happened tonight, and I’m sure that he deserves some level of blame. But mostly I think Chris Wallace was in a position where he was there with a target on him, and he just got absolutely splattered by what the President decided to do to this process. Is the Presidential commission on debates going to put other journalists, other moderators, in the position of being attacked and cheated on in that way? I mean, without them having some way to control the mic?

It’s a good question. Though given the way that Donald Trump addressed Wallace in any case – he has previously baselessly claimed that Fox News’ Wallace is controlled by the radical left – its not entirely clear that giving a journalist the ability to cut off the president’s mic would appear to Trump’s base as anything other than more negative reaction and bias against their man from ‘the mainstream media’.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was at least pleased with some of the post-debate coverage last night.

One of the segments making the most headlines this morning is the president of the United States refusing to condemn white supremacist groups like the Proud Boys, and contradicting his own FBI director over whether they pose a domestic terrorism threat. Here’s that exchange again:

Well, Politico’s John F. Harris hasn’t minced his words in the opening to his analysis of last night’s debate.

At frequent intervals on Tuesday night, the natural human reaction—lower the sound, wince and look away—took over, and the first presidential debate of the 2020 general election became nearly unwatchable.

Those who did persist in watching were rewarded, in a perverse way: They witnessed history in the making. The proceeding was an epic spectacle, a new low in presidential politics, a new high watermark in national shame.

It’s perhaps a little bit of a hyperbolic reaction. He goes on to squarely blame the president:

There is no mystery why this happened. Trump plainly arrived to shred the official debate rules, and shed any pretense of decorum. At numerous points, his honking interruptions blared without interruption.

Trump’s barrage left Biden with a choice. He could draw a contrast by deferring to the rules and trying to appear patient and polite. He did that some of the time. Or he could try to embrace the spirit of the evening in what often sounded like a saloon argument, at the moment when the bartender is trying decide whether things are about to turn physical and he should call the cops.

Harris ultimately calls into question the utility of the current debate format with the current candidates as part of the election process.

In some ways it can be entertaining to see politicians drop all pretense and start hurling their own waste at each other like primates at the zoo. But the intensity and unrelenting nature of the rudeness quickly ceased to be interesting and became simply depressing. In part this is because amid the barrage there were only a few passages of sustained coherence, in which a genuine and consequential disagreement between the candidates was actually illuminated.

Read it here: Politico – An epic moment of national shame: the debate was an embarrassment for the ages

CBS News, along with many others, polled voters immediately after the debate. Their panel represented pretty accurately the national split in support of the two candidates, with 48% saying Biden won, while 41% thought Trump was the winner. 10% called it a tie.

But what leapt out from the figures were how unhappy the audience were as a whole with the debate. CBS News report that more than eight in 10 voters who watched describe the debate’s tone as negative, including majorities of each candidate’s supporters. And there’s this:

Few voters who watched found the debate informative. Just 17% said it was. Most came away feeling annoyed: it was the top feeling expressed by each candidate’s supporters.

This sort of exchange, where faced with a barrage of interruptions Joe Biden eventually retorts “Will you shut up, man? This is so unpresidential” is maybe a clue as to why people ended up feeling this way

Our Daniel Strauss in Washington DC has pulled together his key takeaways from last night:

  • The debate was a mess, largely of Trump’s making – moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News was unable to rein in the candidates and that meant Donald Trump was mostly free to interrupt, make false claims, rant and violate the previously agreed structure and rules of the debate.
  • When asked if he would denounce groups like the Proud Boys and other white supremacy organizations, Trump refused to do it.
  • It got very personal – Biden was clearly exasperated and struggling to keep his cool. “Will you shut up man?” Biden said at one point as Trump repeatedly tried to speak over him.
  • There were non-answers on policy questions – Trump was pressed on what his plan is to replace Obamacare (Affordable Care Act), Biden didn’t give a definitive answer on whether he supported calls to add seats to the supreme court.
  • Biden wanted to talk to the American people, Trump wanted to talk to his base.

Read it in full here: A mess of Trump’s making: key takeaways from the first presidential debate

“Donald Trump set the tone for a brawl that offered a bleak picture of American democracy” – that’s how we have headed our panel verdict on last night’s debate. It features Lloyd Green, Derecka Purnell, Geoffrey Kabaservice and Art Cullen.

Kabaservice, director of political studies at the Niskanen Center in Washington DC, said there were ‘no winners’:

For long stretches of the so-called debate, Donald Trump refused to let Joe Biden (or even the moderator, Chris Wallace) so much as complete a sentence without an interruption or insult. Trump undoubtedly did show himself as the more domineering candidate, for whatever that was worth, though he succeeded mainly in reducing the debate to chaos rather than making a coherent case for his presidency.

Derecka Purnell, social movement lawyer and DC-based writer, said:

The presidential debate did not demonstrate a decline of America’s government, but a manifestation of America’s government. Trump yelled and cheated his way through, even attacking the moderator in addition to his opponent. He lied often and loudly. Biden’s truths were quiet and damaging.

Lloyd Green has picked up on moderator Wallace’s performance, which has been widely cirticised:

Biden’s admonition of “Will you shut up, man?” was the debate’s most memorable quote. His words were an expression of disgust with the president, but also of exasperation with Chris Wallace, the moderator who failed to police a president who refused to yield the floor. Wallace looked like a traffic cop who was flattened by a convoy of runaway trucks.

Art Cullen, editor of the Storm Lake Times in Iowa, where he won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing, called it as a firm victory for the Democratic nominee.

Biden needed to appear competent and honest, appealing for unity. He did just that. Trump needed to land blows. He couldn’t. Biden laughed him off as a “clown”. He scored his points on Trump’s mismanagement of the pandemic, called him out as a liar and cheat, and appealed for national unity. He checked off every debate box. Biden smiled while Trump scowled at the close. That sort of said it all.

Read it here: The first 2020 presidential debate: our panelists’ verdict

Trailing in the national polls, Donald Trump needed to land blows in last night’s debate, but even Fox News have been a little lukewarm in their reception to his performance in places. In an opinion piece, Liz Peek writes:

As a Trump supporter, my take was that the president had prepared little for the encounter, and was ill-served by that act of overconfidence. He has a great story to tell but did not have the sound bites prepared to tell it. While in rallies he can ad-lib and tell stories that illustrate his points, there is no time for such wanderings in a tightly timed debate.

Biden, on the other hand, had the usual tired grab-bag of liberal talking points but came better prepared. He had many rehearsed remarks and spoke directly to the camera in order to emphasize his engagement with the American people. It was an effective device.

Before the next debate, I propose the president take more time to prep. He has accomplished a great deal in the first three and a half years in the Oval Office; voters need to hear that.

Read it here: Fox News – First presidential debate leaves no clear winner, Trump needs to do this at next faceoff

This is Martin Belam taking over the blog in London – you can get in touch with me at martin.belam@theguardian.com

That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. My colleague Martin Belam will take it from here.

I leave you with CBS political analyst (and former debate host) John Dickerson’s take on the debate.

“When the stakes were that high, the debate couldn’t have been lower,” he says:

Here is the full story from my colleagues Kari Paul and Lois Beckett on how the Trump was received at watch parties in California:

After recording in the early hours UK time and with, he says, his “jaw somewhere close to the floor”, the Guardian’s Jonathan Freedland discusses the highlights and lowlights of the debate with Guardian columnist Richard Wolffe on this today’s episode Politics Weekly Extra:

Updated

Van Jones, the CNN political contributor and CEO of the organisation Reform, which advocates for criminal justice reform, said:

“The commander in chief refused to condemn white supremacy on the global stage in front of my children, in front of everybody’s families. And he was given the opportunity many times to defend white supremacy.”

Here is our story on that moment from the debate:

Updated

The New York Times headline for Wednesday 30 September puts the blame for that chaotic debate on Trump, while the Washington Post’s subheading reads: “Trump interrupts, jeers ceaselessly.”

Updated

One of the moments that stands out from the debate is Biden’s response to Trump’s attacks on his son Hunter.

Here is some of that exchange, in which Trump quickly moved the conversation away from Biden bringing up the president’s previous criticism of US soldiers as “suckers” and “losers”.

Biden: The way you talk about the military, the way you talk about them being losers and just being suckers, my son was in Iraq. He spent a year there. He got the bronze star. He got the service medal. He was not a loser. He was a patriot and the people left behind there were heroes.

Trump: Really? Really? Are you talking about Hunter?

Biden: I’m talking about my son, Beau Biden.

Trump: I don’t know Beau. I know Hunter. Hunter got thrown out of the military. He was thrown out, dishonourably discharged.

Biden: That’s not true. He wasn’t dishonourably discharged.

...

Biden: My son, like a lot of people we know at home, had a drug problem. He’s overtaken it. He’s fixed it. He’s worked on it. And I’m proud of him.

Hunter Biden was not dishonourably discharged, but he was discharged from the Navy Reserve after he failed a drug test. Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015 when he was 46.

The Washington Post’s Jacqueline Alemany:

CNN’s Eric Bradner:

Here is Guardian political correspondent Lauren Gambino’s story on tonight’s debate:

The first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden deteriorated into an ugly display of contempt on Tuesday night, as the president relentlessly interrupted and attacked his Democratic rival during clashes over the coronavirus pandemic, race, the economy and the future of the supreme court.

Over the course of an extraordinarily combative and chaotic 90-minute performance, a fitting coda to what has been one of the nastiest presidential campaigns in recent memory, Trump interjected so frequently that Biden at one point lost his patience and snapped: “Will you shut up, man? This is so unpresidential.”

With just five weeks left until election day, Trump is trailing in national and battleground state polls. Amid accusations that he has mishandled the pandemic and damaging reports about his finances and past comments on the military, the debate was perhaps Trump’s best opportunity yet to shift the dynamics of the race, which has been remarkable steady throughout an exceptional turbulent summer:

Updated

Hi, Helen Sullivan joining you now.

I’ll be bringing you analysis of and reactions to the debate for the next while. If you have questions, facts you’d liked checked or have news you think we should see, get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

Debate summary

That’s it from us tonight. My colleague Helen Sullivan will be providing more analysis of the first presidential debate for the next while.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the night:

  • The debate turned into a chaotic mess, largely because of Trump’s constant interruptions. The president consistently interrupted Biden and the moderator, Chris Wallace, creating an unproductive stream of crosstalk with little substantive discussion of policy.
  • Wallace was criticized for losing control of the debate. A number of commentators said Wallace failed to sufficiently curtail Trump’s interjections, resulting in what many longtime political reporters called the worst presidential debate in recent US history.
  • Trump refused to condemn white supremacist violence. Addressing the Proud Boys, Trump told the far-right group to “stand back and stand by”. Social media posts indicated that members of the Proud Boys took the comment as a sign of encouragement from the president. One Proud Boys social media account even posted a photo of the group’s logo with the words “stand back and stand by” alongside it.
  • The night was defined by insults and personal attacks. Trump attacked Biden over the business dealings of his son, Hunter, and dismissed Biden when he reflected on the loss of his eldest son, Beau. In moments of frustration, Biden also criticized Trump as a “liar” and a “clown”.

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Updated

It’s also important to remember that Trump came into tonight’s debate trailing in the polls.

According to the FiveThirtyEight average of national polls, Biden currently has a 7.1-point advantage over Trump. The Democratic nominee is also leading in polls of key battleground states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

So Trump needed to win over undecided voters and potentially even pick off some of Biden’s supporters with his performance tonight, and it’s very unclear if his strategy of constant interruptions achieved that.

One woman from Pennsylvania who was part of a post-debate focus group said she was undecided going into tonight but is now leaning toward Biden because Trump acted like a “crackhead” tonight.

Updated

After a chaotic debate tonight, the United Farm Workers would like Americans to be “thankful for the workers who bring us tequila after this debate”.

The farmworkers union has been engaged in get out the vote efforts, focused on empowering agricultural communities and Latino voters to cast ballots.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace is weathering criticism for his moderating of the first presidential debate.

Many commentators said Wallace failed to retain control of the debate as Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden and talked over his opponent and the moderator.

Wesley Lowery, a 60 Minutes correspondent, also said Wallace should have followed up when Trump told the far-right group Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” rather than condemning white supremacist violence.

Updated

Fact check: drug prices

Donald Trump claimed that he has lowered drug prices, and noted that insulin is now so cheap it’s “like water”. Insulin costs about $300 per vial – and people with diabetes need two or more vials per month.

The president also said that in the future, he’d bring down drug prices by “80 or 90” percent”, though he has failed to explain how that would happen. Although Trump has issued measures to address drug pricing, they have not yet rolled out, and their effects are unclear.

Trump, for example, has sought to allow the US to import drugs from countries where prices are lower – but that would take a while to work out, and require regulatory actions.

Meanwhile, the House last year passed a bill that would authorize Medicare to negotiate prices for expensive medications - in a plan that is much farther-reaching and ambitious than what Trump has done.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Trump just tweeted this photo, suggesting he was up against both Biden and the moderator, Chris Wallace, during tonight’s debate.

Trump made a similar comment during the debate, as Wallace asked the president for the details of his healthcare plan.

“I guess I’m debating you, not him. But that’s okay, I’m not surprised,” Trump told Wallace.

The Fox News host was criticized for his handling of the debate, with many commentators saying Wallace failed to sufficiently curtail Trump’s repeated interruptions and crosstalk during the event.

Updated

A CNN instant poll of debate watchers showed 60% of viewers said Biden won the debate, while 28% believed Trump won.

Those results are almost identical to the CNN instant poll taken after the first debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton.

In 2016, 62% of viewers said Clinton won the first debate, and 28% said Trump had the better showing.

Donald Trump’s campaign’s official line is that the president “just turned in the greatest debate performance in presidential history”, but Chris Christie, who was on Trump’s debate prep team, had a less positive assessment.

Christie, the former New Jersey governor, told ABC that Trump was “too hot”.

“With all that heat, you lose the light,” he said. “That potentially can be fixed. Maybe, maybe not.”

Updated

“I do believe that the American people benefited from a clear contrast of what they’ve got right now, but also what they can get and what is possible,” said Kamala Harris, reflecting on tonight’s cacophonic debate.

On CNN, Harris – like Biden and several other Democratic politicians – condemned the president’s refusal to disavow white supremacists. “The president of the United States, in the year of our lord 2020, refuses to condemn white supremacists,” she said.

She evaded a question about whether she and Biden would support adding justices to the supreme court – an option that some Democrats have endorsed as Republicans rush through a conservative nominee ahead of the election. Harris said they’ll “deal with later later”.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Here are a few headlines from major US newspapers summarizing tonight’s chaotic presidential debate:

  • New York Times: “With Cross Talk, Lies and Mockery, Trump Tramples Decorum in Debate With Biden.”
  • Wall Street Journal: “Trump, Biden Clash in Contentious First Debate.”
  • Washington Post: “First Trump-Biden meeting marked by constant interruptions by Trump.”

On a post-debate call with supporters, the Biden campaign said it raised $3.8m on the fundraising site ActBlue through 10 and 11pm ET tonight.

That number represents a new campaign record for a single-hour fundraising total and could help Biden build more of a cash advantage against Trump.

Biden raised a record-shattering $364.5m last month, out-raising Trump by more than $150m.

Updated

Progressives have denounced Donald Trump’s comments on the Proud Boys.

“Donald Trump is a white supremacist,” wrote the New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “People have been warning about this for a long time. They were ridiculed, called hyperbolic & radical - not bc they were wrong, but bc others couldn’t accept that our country elected a supremacist as President.”

Rashida Tlaib, of Michigan, echoed: “An important reminder that while racism is being debated, Donald Trump, a white supremacist, just told them to stand by. This again shows he is dangerous.”

Belén Sisa, the former Latino press secretary for Bernie Sanders, said: “When someone shows you who they really are believe them.”

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Biden’s digital director said the campaign had its best online fundraising hour between 10 and 11pm, as the first presidential debate concluded.

Updated

Most voters didn’t crowd into bars, gathering around drinks and friends to view debates, as they did during debates past. Instead, they experienced it the way we are experiencing most things these days: over Zoom.

Cambria Minott, a who lives in San Francisco, tuned into the livestream party of one of Manny’s. In the past, she has watched other political events there including the Super Tuesday.

“I miss watching with friends, but seeing Manny in his wig, reacting to Trump’s comments, is honestly one of the few things keeping me going tonight,” she said. “Manny’s creates platforms for shared experiences in our community that make all of this bearable.”

Manny Yekutiel, the founder of Manny’s, led the discussion wearing a wig and gown. “I’m Lady Liberty!” Yekutiel exclaimed before starting the streaming event. More than 100 people tuned into the Zoom stream, and could be seen in their respective homes, cooking food, eating or just watching the show.

Laura Sander, who also watched the debate though Manny’s stream, said it’s clear online viewing will never be the same as in-person – but that it still has a lot to offer.

“In person is great because you feel off each other and can talk in the moment,” Sander said. But I would be in a dark hole if I didn’t have the sense of Manny’s community tonight.”

Mills College, a liberal arts college for women in Oakland, California, also held an online event. Martha Johnson, chair of the public policy and political science department at the school, helped organize the event. She said the school felt it was particularly important to put on the event as students remain apart due to the coronavirus pandemic. She said they had a similar level of attendance – about 25 people – as they have in in-person events in the past.

“Our department was eager to create community when we are all so far apart,” she said.

Attendees chatted about the candidates’ stances and answers in the group’s chat room.

Updated

Fact check: jobs

Joe Biden said Trump is the first president “in American history” to lose jobs.

That’s not quite accurate. Herbert Hoover oversaw a country with massive job losses as the Great Depression took hold. Hoover lost the 1932 election to Franklin Roosevelt. But official jobs records only began in 1939, though, and Trump – if he loses the election this year – would probably be the first since then to leave the US with fewer jobs than when his term began.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Fact check: Biden calling soldiers “stupid bastards”

Trump said Biden called soldiers “stupid bastards”. This is true – but it was a joke. During a 2016 speech in Abu Dhabi, Biden addressed troops and told them: “Notwithstanding what you may hear about me, I have incredibly good judgment. One, I married Jill. And two, I appointed Johnson to the Academy, I just want you to know that.”

He was referring to Lt Karen Johnson, of Wilmington, Delaware. After a pause, Biden said: “Clap for that, you stupid bastards.”

The former vice-president also praised the troops, saying that Americans “appreciate, but they don’t fully understand the incredible sacrifices you make for our country”, Biden added. He thanked the soldiers and their families.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Biden retweeted a picture of members of the far-right group Proud Boys celebrating Trump’s remarks tonight, saying: “This. This is Donald Trump’s America.”

Updated

Proud Boys celebrate Trump's 'stand back and stand by' comment

During tonight’s debate, Trump was asked to denounce white supremacist violence, weeks after two anti-racist protesters were shot and killed in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Instead, Trump told the far-right group Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by”.

Members of the Proud Boys immediately celebrated the remark, saying they were “so happy” that Trump “basically said to go fuck them up”.

The group also posted a picture of their logo with Trump’s “stand back and stand by” comment to social media.

Updated

Trump has at least one positive review tonight – from the Republican National Committee (RNC).

The RNC chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, said in a statement: “For 90 minutes, President Trump made a confident, commanding and compelling case for his re-election while taking Joe Biden to task for supporting radical policies that would raise taxes, destroy jobs and make our communities less safe.”

But even other Republicans who generally offer Trump praise, such as Chris Christie and Rick Santorum, said the president overplayed his hand tonight.

More generally, many commentators have described the debate as a disgrace and primarily blamed Trump for the chaos of the night.

Updated

Fact check: voting

Donald Trump made a number of false and misleading statements about voting. He implied fraud, as he as done before, in the New York primaries. In the congressional primary, Representative Carolyn Maloney was declared a winner after six weeks. But the delays came because officials were unprepared to count so many mail-in ballots, and it took a while to process. He also said 30% and 40% of ballots are “lost”. That is just not true.

The president often peddles misinformation about mail-in voting. Here’s my colleague Sam Levin’s in-depth explanation of how absentee voting works, and whether it’s prone to fraud:

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Other seasoned political commentators offered similarly grim analyses of tonight’s debate.

George Stephanopoulos of ABC News described the event as “the worst presidential debate I’ve ever seen in my life”.

MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell said the debate was “a disgrace”.

CNN commentator Van Jones said: “They say this was a circus. Circus workers reached out to my team. They say, actually, we take offense.”

Updated

The first presidential debate concluded moments ago, and commentators are already describing the debate as a “dumpster fire” as a “shitshow”.

“That was a hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck,” CNN anchor Jake Tapper said. “That was the worst debate I have ever seen. It wasn’t even a debate. It was a disgrace. And it’s primarily because of President Trump.”

CNN correspondent Dana Bash put it even more succinctly: “That was a shitshow.”

Updated

Meanwhile, over on Twitter: Hillary Clinton has provided a moment of insight into her frustration during the 2016 debates. She was replying to Guardian US contributor Jill Filipovic, who speculated how Clinton must feel about Biden hitting back at Trump:

To everyone’s surprise, Chris Wallace asked a question about the climate crisis, the first in a presidential debate in 20 years.

Wallace noted the wildfires that have ravaged the US west and challenged Donald Trump over his environmental rollbacks. The president responded by saying he wants “crystal clean water and air” and calls the Paris climate agreement a “disaster.”. Trump blamed the fires upon poor forest management (scientists have made clear that rising temperatures are exacerbating wildfires).

Wallace, incredibly, then pressed Trump twice on whether he accepts the reality of climate science. Trump initially repeated his answer on wanting clean air and water, before conceding greenhouse gases are having an impact “to an extent, yes”.

Trump was asked why, then, he rolled back Barack Obama’s clean power plan and he said because it increased energy prices (it was never actually put into force so did not do this). In a back and forth with Joe Biden, Trump then falsely claimed that Democrats want to “take out the cows”.

In response, Biden promised to create “millions of good-paying jobs” in clean energy and notes the huge financial damage caused by hurricanes and floods. “We are in real trouble,” said the former vice-president.

Goaded by Trump over the Green New Deal, a plan put forward by leftwing Democrats, Biden distanced himself from it. “I don’t support the Green New Deal,” Biden said. “I support the Biden plan that I put forward.”

This response will displease progressive climate activists but, overall, Biden had far more to say on climate than Trump, who was unusually subdued, as if he has conceded that anyone worried about global heating won’t be voting for him.

Updated

First presidential debate concludes

The first presidential debate concluded with Chris Wallace asking both candidates if they would commit to urging calm and avoiding declaring victory until the election results are independently verified.

Trump avoided making that commitment, saying he was worried about widespread fraud, even though voter fraud is very rare.

“I am urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully,” Trump said.

Biden did commit to urging calm and avoiding declaring a premature victory, emphasizing all ballots in the race must be counted.

With that, the tense and unruly debate concluded. The blog will have more reactions and analysis coming up, so stay tuned.

Joe Biden has claimed that Trump suggested nuking hurricanes to stop them in their path, which Trump immediately denied. You can read the Guardian’s write up of the report here. It’s based on claims made by unnamed sources who were present in a White House meeting when Trump apparently said “we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can’t we do that?”

Updated

Fact check: fires in the west

Donald Trump again made odd statements about the dead leaves on the forest floor and evaded Chris Wallace’s question about whether he believed the climate crisis was driving the fires.

For clarity on what is driving the fires, please see my recent explainer:

The historic wildfires that have seized the west are delivering a dire message: the climate crisis and decades of bad environmental policies have unleashed deadly consequences.

Half a dozen climate scientists, fire ecologists, forest officials and Indigenous fire practitioners interviewed by the Guardian this week described the recent fires in California, Oregon and Washington as alarming but unsurprising. Stephen Pyne, a fire historian, saw the fierce fires as “an ancient plague” reawakened. Chris Field, a climate scientist at Stanford University, said the sheer number and scale of the fires overwhelmed him. “Even as someone whose job it is to study fire, it’s really hard for me to keep up,” he said. “There’s so much death and destruction – and we know what we need to be doing to stop it, but we’re not doing it,” said Don Hankins, a pyrogeographer and Plains Miwok fire expert at California State University, Chico.

Underlying the megafires are two human-caused catastrophes: the climate crisis and a century of fire suppression. Here’s what you need to know to understand the enormity of the challenges.

Read more here:

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Trump reiterated that the widespread voting by mail in this year’s elections would represent a “fraud”, even though there is no evidence for that.

The president claimed Americans may not know the results of the election for “months”, although election officials of both parties have not echoed that concern.

Biden responded: “He’s just afraid of counting the votes.”

Updated

The final portion of the debate focuses on election integrity, and Biden focused his answer on encouraging Americans to vote.

“Show up and vote. You will determine the outcome of this election. Vote, vote, vote,” Biden said.

Biden referenced Trump’s attacks on voting by mail, which the president has claimed (without evidence) will be vulnerable to widespread fraud.

Biden noted Trump himself has voted by mail in recent years, saying: “He sits behind the Resolute Desk and sends his ballot to Florida.”

Updated

Trump attacked Biden for his climate policies, claiming his proposals would cause economic catastrophe.

When asked whether he supported the Green New Deal, Biden said he did not because he has his own climate plan.

“I support the Biden plan that I put forward, which is different than what he calls the radical Green New Deal,” Biden said.

The Democrat argued his climate plan would pay for itself because of the revenue it would generate.

Interruptions, crosstalk, shouting over each other – whatever you want to call it, it’s all happening tonight between Trump and Biden. It’s led some people to call for the two candidates’ mics to be controlled by the network in the next debates:

Updated

The debate has shifted toward the climate crisis, with moderator Chris Wallace asking the two candidates about the recent devastating wildfires along the west coast.

Trump echoed past comments blaming the fires on poor forest management, even though climate experts say the fires are primarily driven by record levels of drought and heat, which have been attributed to climate change.

Updated

I’m at the Glory Days Bar and Grill in Seal Beach, in southern California, where a local Republican women’s group has organized a debate watch party.

Trump supporter Sally Cohen, 78, from Huntington Beach, said she is most concerned that Trump gets fair questions. She no longer trusts Fox News to be fair, and believes many on the network have moved left.

For Trump, she said. “I think the challenge for him is not to call names,” like labeling Biden “Sleepy Joe”. She wants Trump to stay calm.

Cohen said she had called Trump campaign members in Washington last week to ask about a photograph she had seen on Twitter claiming that Joe Biden might be using an earpiece to be fed answers.

Conspiracy theories about Biden using an earpiece have been spread by QAnon conspiracy theorists, as well as Trump staffers.

Lily Green, 56, who emigrated to the US from Peru, said she feels that Trump has kept his promises, especially on the economy. She’s in the real estate business in southern California. “I have never made more money than I have now. I’m busier than ever, even with the pandemic.”

Updated

Fact check: far-right vs far-left violence

Asked too disavow white supremacists, Trump said: “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by” – which was, not quite a disavowal. The president added: “I’ll tell you what, somebody’s gotta do something about antifa and the left because this is not a rightwing problem, this is a leftwing problem.”

As my colleague Lois Beckett has reported, anti-fascists have been linked to zero murders in the past 25 years. She writes:

A new database of nearly 900 politically motivated attacks and plots in the United States since 1994 includes just one attack staged by an anti-fascist that led to fatalities. In that case, the single person killed was the perpetrator.

Over the same time period, American white supremacists and other rightwing extremists have carried out attacks that left at least 329 victims dead, according to the database.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Biden criticized Trump over reports that he described fallen American soldiers as “suckers” and “losers”.

Biden noted that his late son, Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015, served in Iraq for a year and received the Bronze Star.

Trump responded by dismissing the memory of Biden’s son, telling his opponent: “I don’t know Beau; I know Hunter.”

The president then launched into more attacks against Biden’s younger son for his business activities and past drug use.

Biden said Hunter, like many Americans, had struggled with drug abuse, and he said he was proud of his son for working to overcome his addiction.

Updated

Fact check: law enforcement endorsements

Donald Trump has said that no law enforcement officials support Joe Biden. According to a Fox News report, at least some do:

More than 175 current and former law enforcement officers and officials endorsed Joe Biden for president on Friday, while slamming President Trump as a “lawless” president, Fox News has learned.

Fox News first obtained the list of the Biden-supporting law enforcement officials, which includes former U.S. attorneys, former state attorneys general, former sheriffs, and former police chiefs who touted the former vice president’s experience “keeping communities safe.” It includes Janet Napolitano, the former Obama administration secretary of Homeland Security who served as attorney general of Arizona.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Making a general pitch for his candidacy, Biden argued the country had become “weaker,” “sicker” and “more divided” since Trump took office.

Biden also described the president as “Putin’s puppy”, echoing a similar line from Hillary Clinton four years ago.

Updated

Biden called on Trump to denounce white supremacist violence, weeks after two anti-racist protesters were shot and killed in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Trump responded by telling the far-right group Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by”.

Updated

“Look what happened in Oakland,” Donald Trump said.

A person holds a sign in remembrance of Breonna Taylor to protest the results of a grand jury indictment in Oakland, California, on 23 September 2020.
A person holds a sign in remembrance of Breonna Taylor to protest the results of a grand jury indictment in Oakland, California, on 23 September 2020. Photograph: John G Mabanglo/EPA

This Guardian reporter, who is based in Oakland, genuinely asks: what does he mean, what happened in Oakland? There were marches and peaceful protests, calling for justice following the police killings oof George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

A man suspected of killing two officers amid protests was found too have links to the far-right, anti-government “boogaloo” movement.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Trump was asked about his efforts to block federal employees from receiving racial sensitivity training.

The president argued such trainings are “racist” and teach people to “hate our country”.

Trump then pressed Biden on whether he believed in “law and order”, which has become one of the president’s rallying cries in recent weeks.

Biden responded by saying he believes in “law and order with justice where people get treated fairly”.

Updated

Trump criticized Biden for his role in crafting the 1994 crime bill, an odd departure from the president’s recent attacks on Biden for allegedly being soft on crime.

Biden responded by addressing the recent anti-racism protests, saying: “Violence in response is never appropriate. Never appropriate. Peaceful protest is. Violence is never appropriate.”

Updated

Fact check : coronavirus vaccine

Donald Trump has continued to boast that a coronavirus vaccine will be available before the election. However, public health experts – including the CDC director, Robert Redfield – have called that timeline unlikely and dangerous. Redfield, testifying before the Senate, said a vaccine would likely be widely available in “late second quarter, third quarter 2021”.

Earlier today, seven former Food and Drug Administration commissioners wrote an op-ed condemning the administration for politicizing the process of seeking and approving Covid-19 vaccines and treatments. “At risk is the FDA’s ability to make the independent, science-based decisions that are key to combating the pandemic and so much more,” they wrote, in an op-ed published by the Washington Post.

Updated

As expected, Trump attacked Biden’s son, Hunter, for his business dealings in Ukraine, which became a target of Republican ire during the impeachment inquiry.

Biden tried to redirect the conversation back to the coronavirus pandemic, saying this was about every American family, not his family.

As Trump repeatedly tried to interject and attack his opponent, Biden said, “It’s hard to get any word in with this clown -- excuse me, this person.”

Biden: 'You are the worst president America has ever had'

Trump was pressed on the New York Times story about his tax returns, which showed he paid only $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017.

The president claimed he had paid “millions” in income taxes. Biden responded by repeatedly pressing Trump to release his tax returns, and the president claimed he would soon, which he has been saying since 2015.

“You are the worst president America has ever had,” Biden said.

The live verdicts are coming in thick and fast on Twitter, and the general consensus seems to be that this is the messiest debate ever:

Fact check: rallies

Donald Trump wrongly implied that he holds all his rallies outdoors, and said “we have had no problem whatsoever” with coronavirus following the rallies.

Trump has gathered supporters indoors – this reporter attended a Latinos for Trump event in Phoenix at which unmasked supporters were packed into an indoor event space. Moreover, although Covid-19 is less likely to spread outdoors, wearing face masks and maintaining physical distance are key to preventing spread even in open-air spaces – and at Trump’s airport hangar rallies, those safety measures have not been practiced by most of his supporters.

Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Henderson, Nevada, on 13 September.
Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Henderson, Nevada, on 13 September. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Following a packed rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the county experienced a surge of cases. At a news conference, the director of the Tulsa health department said the increase was probably linked to the rally.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Biden accused Trump of failing to help small American businesses that are suffering because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Democrat argued the country is seeing a K-shaped economic recovery from the pandemic, meaning the wealthiest Americans are benefitting while average Americans are struggling.

Trump defended his response to the pandemic, at one point defensively saying: “I’m the one that brought back football.”

The president was specifically referencing the Big 10 college football conference. Big 10 leaders have said the president had nothing to do with their decision to hold a shortened season this year, after initially saying the season would be canceled.

Updated

Trump questioned the effectiveness of masks as a means of mitigating the spread of coronavirus.

Biden noted health experts have said 100,000 lives could be saved over the next few months, if Americans consistently wear masks and practice social distancing.

The president responded by claiming many health experts have said “the opposite” about masks.

“No serious person has said the opposite,” Biden said.

At the risk of stating the obvious, leading health experts, including members of the White House coronavirus task force, have consistently urged Americans to wear face masks to limit their risk of contracting and spreading coronavirus.

It didn’t take long (about 18 minutes), but here’s the moment Biden called Trump a “clown” after the president made dubious claims about his healthcare plan and removal of the individual mandate (that we’ve fact-checked below).

After Biden criticized Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, the president replied by insulting his opponent’s intelligence.

“There’s nothing smart about you, Joe,” Trump said.

Fact check: Travel restrictions

Donald Trump – as he regularly does – has misrepresented and overstated the effect of his travel restrictions.

A couple of key points:

  • It was a travel restriction, not a “ban” as Trump has called it. Tens of thousands of Americans and other exempt travelers journeyed from China to the US after the administration issued travel restrictions.
  • Epidemiologists have questioned the effectiveness of Trump’s travel restrictions, which were issued after the virus was spreading and circulating within the US.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Biden argued Trump could not be trusted on coronavirus, noting the president previously suggested Americans could protect themselves from coronavirus by ingesting disinfectants.

Trump claimed that infamous comment was made “sarcastically”.

The president then promised a vaccine would be available “soon”, although the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said a vaccine will not be widely available to the American public until mid to late 2021.

Updated

Trump once again tried to equate the coronavirus pandemic to the 2009 swine flu pandemic, accusing the Obama administration of mishandling the response to that pandemic.

Biden replied by noting the death toll from swing flu was about 14,000, while more than 200,000 Americans have already died of coronavirus.

So far the debate has been pretty rough around the edges, with Trump, Biden and Wallace often taking turns to talk over each other. Many observers haven’t been impressed at the constant interruptions:

The debate has shifted to coronavirus after a largely unproductive segment on the supreme court that was defined by crosstalk and insults.

Biden criticized Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, noting the country is still recording roughly 40,000 new cases a day.

Referencing Trump’s comments to Bob Woodward that he downplayed the seriousness of the virus to avoid creating a panic, Biden told America: “You don’t panic, he panicked.”

Updated

Fact check

Donald Trump did not “take away the individual mandate” as the president said. The penalty for the mandate – for not having insurance – is now gone, but the mandate exists. Republicans are trying to fully dismantle the Affordable Care Act via a lawsuit, arguing that the mandate is unconstitutional.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Trump repeatedly mocked Biden, suggesting the Democratic nominee’s comments on health care would cost him support among progressives.

Biden responded by calling Trump a “liar” and a “clown”.

When Trump interrupted another one of Biden’s answers, the Democrat said: “Will you shut up, man?”

Updated

When Chris Wallace pressed Trump on his healthcare plan, the president told the moderator: “I guess I’m debating you, not him. But that’s okay, I’m not surprised.”

Biden responded by audibly laughing.

The debate so far has been defined by crosstalk, with the president repeatedly speaking over Wallace as he attempts to ask questions.

Updated

Fact check

Donald Trump wrongly refuted Joe Biden’s assertion that 100 million Americans with pre-existing conditions.

The 100 million figure refers to the number of Americans, outside of Medicare and Medicaid, with pre-existing conditions. The Affordable Care Act, which Trump and Republican lawmakers have fought and sought to repeal, keeps insurance companies from denying coverage to those with preexisting conditions.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Biden took issue with Amy Coney Barrett’s past writings about the Affordable Care Act, but he avoided launching any personal attacks against the supreme court nominee.

“I’m not opposed to the justice. She seems like a very fine person,” Biden said.

Trump justified advancing the nomination of Barrett before the election by saying: “I’m not elected for three years. I’m elected for four years.”

When Trump claimed Biden wanted to push the country toward “socialist medicine”, the Democrat emphasized that he is not a socialist.

Biden replied to Trump’s broader attacks against Democrats by saying: “I am the Democratic party right now.”

Updated

First question to Trump is on the supreme court

The first question of the night goes to Trump, and moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News asked about the supreme court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett.

Wallace noted Republicans have been criticized for trying to get Barrett confirmed before the election.

Trump justified advancing the nomination by saying “elections have consequences”, referring to his White House victory in 2016, and by pledging Barrett would be “as good as anybody that has served on that court”.

“We won the election, and therefore we have the right to choose her,” Trump said.

Biden responded by saying the results of the upcoming election should determine who nominates the justice to fill the seat of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“We should wait and see what the outcome of this election is,” Biden said.

Updated

Trump and Biden take the debate stage

Donald Trump and Joe Biden have now taken the debate stage in Cleveland, Ohio. The first presidential debate is officially underway.

Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News opened the debate by noting he chose the topics for tonight’s debate and has not shared the questions with either candidate.

Several of Trump’s family members are not wearing a mask in the debate hall, in apparent violation of Cleveland Clinic rules, a pool reporter noted.

Trump family members, including Ivanka Trump, and Jill Biden have now taken their seats in the Samson Pavilion, with the first question just moments away.

Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News then walked out onto the stage to greet the small audience and explain the debate rules.

Biden has arrived at the Samson Pavilion in Cleveland, Ohio, where tonight’s debate will take place.

Both candidates are now at the venue and ready to kick off the first presidential debate, which will begin in about five minutes.

Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News is expected to begin the debate by going over the ground rules for tonight’s event.

Wallace will then launch into his first question, which will be posed to Trump.

Hillary Clinton spoke to MSNBC moments ago, as part of the pre-debate spin for Joe Biden.

The 2016 Democratic nominee said she planned to watch the debate tonight and looked forward to Trump being held accountable for his first term as president.

“I’m going to watch it with real interest and a certain level of expectation because, unlike four years ago, Donald Trump now has a record,” Clinton said.

As the only other person to ever participate in a general election debate against Trump, Clinton urged Biden not to get drawn into the president’s “craziness.”

With a wink toward Trump’s history as a reality television host, Clinton said of the president, “His series is about to be cancelled.”

The first presidential debate is less than 30 minutes away, and Trump is en route to the debate venue in Cleveland, Ohio.

Tonight’s debate will take place at Samson Pavilion, jointly owned by Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic.

In recent weeks, Trump and his allies have tweeted out videos of Biden’s verbal missteps to argue the former vice-president does not have what it takes to be commander-in-chief.

But the Trump team has been modifying that attack strategy in recent weeks, painting Biden as an experienced debater in an attempt to raise expectations for the Democratic nominee’s performance tonight.

Speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Trump simultaneously insulted Biden’s intelligence and suggested he had an advantage over the president on the debate stage.

“He’s a dumb guy. Always known as a dumb guy. But we look forward to seeing him in the debate,” Trump said.

“He’s got a lot more experience. He’s got 47 years. I’ve got three and a half years. So we’ll see. But he’s got 47 years of experience.”

For what it’s worth, when Biden was preparing to debate Republican vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan in 2012, Trump praised the Democratic vice-president as “a seasoned and feisty debater”.

Updated

Another topic sure to be brought up tonight: Trump’s tax returns, some of which were obtained by the New York Times.

The Times reported Sunday that Trump paid only $750 in federal income taxes in 2016, the year he won the presidency.

In a clear attempt to criticize Trump for refusing to release his tax returns, Biden and the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, released their 2019 returns earlier today.

The returns showed that Biden paid nearly $300,000 in federal income taxes last year. It seems very likely Biden will use the release of his tax returns today to attack Trump for lack of transparency with the American people.

Democratic lawmakers, including the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, have also argued Trump’s large debt obligations could represent a national security risk.

Pelosi and Schumer have called on Trump to reveal to whom he owes money because they say those parties may have leverage over the US president.

Updated

Here's the format of tonight's event

The debate will have six 15-minute segments. It will run for 90 minutes, with no breaks for commercials. There will be no opening statements, and the first question will go to Trump.

Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News said he’s hoping to let the debate flow. He isn’t expected to factcheck either candidate – it would be a mammoth, time-consuming task – and has said he will strive to be as “invisible as possible”.

Wallace was in charge of selecting the six topics, and they were announced by the Commission on Presidential Debates last week. They are:

  • The records of Trump and Biden.
  • The supreme court.
  • Covid-19.
  • The economy.
  • Race and violence in our cities.
  • The integrity of the election.

As the president prepares for his first debate of this election cycle, the vice-president is campaigning in the swing state of Pennsylvania.

“People will ask me, ‘How long has the president been preparing for the debate?’” Pence said at a farm in Lititz, Pennsylvania. “All his life.”

The vice-president later added: “After you see the debate tonight, you’ll forget I was even here.”

According to CNN, Trump did less than two hours of debate prep total for tonight’s event, while Biden has been largely off the campaign trail in recent days to prepare for the debate.

In his remarks, Pence also attacked Biden, arguing the Democratic nominee would be “nothing more than a Trojan horse for the radical left”.

According to two recent polls, Biden has a nine-point lead among likely voters in Pennsylvania, which Trump won by less than one point in 2016.

Updated

With about an hour to go until the start of the debate, Joe Biden has sent a tweet mocking Trump’s recent attacks against him.

Tweeting a photo of Apple earbuds and Jeni’s ice-cream, the Democratic nominee said, “It’s debate night, so I’ve got my earpiece and performance enhancers ready.”

The tweet was a clear jab at Trump, who has suggested (without evidence) that Biden may take drugs or use an earpiece tonight to boost his debate performance.

The Jeni’s ice-cream was also a bit of an homage to Ohio, where tonight’s debate is taking place. The ice-cream company is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

Updated

Trump and Biden set to debate for first time

Hello, live blog readers, and welcome to the first presidential debate.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden are scheduled to take the debate stage at 9pm ET in Cleveland, Ohio, for their first face-off of this election cycle.

The stage of the first presidential debate is seen in Cleveland, Ohio.
The stage of the first presidential debate is seen in Cleveland, Ohio. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

The debate will be unlike others in recent years because of the coronavirus pandemic. The two presidential nominees have been instructed not to shake hands, and the debate audience will be severely limited.

The debate may also be uniquely contentious, given the attacks the two campaigns have launched against each other in recent weeks.

In the hours leading up to the debate, the Trump campaign peddled baseless claims that Biden may take drugs or use an earpiece to boost his performance tonight.

The Biden campaign replied by accusing the Trump team of trying to distract from the substance of the debate out of concerns about the president’s performance.

The nominees may repeat those attacks when they take the stage, so moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News will probably have his work cut out for him.

The candidates will take the stage in a little over an hour, so stay tuned.

Updated

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Spider-Noir showrunner says "It's not a continuation of Into the Spider-Verse"
Total Film
Total Film
Tracee Ellis Ross Gives the Ponytail a High-Fashion Upgrade
Three ponys are better than one.
Marie Claire
Marie Claire
Rachel Zegler reflects on ‘confusing time’ during Snow White backlash
There was a backlash on social media after Zegler, who is from a Colombian background, was cast as the character, who is described as ‘white as snow’.
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
More Evidence Tom Brady And Alix Earle Are Still Hanging Out Amid Romance Rumors
This can't be a coincidence, right?
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
5 Racy Photos of Dakota Johnson as Actress Strips Down in Calvin Klein Ad
Take a look back on some of Dakota Johnson's most stunning photos from TV appearances and magazine covers.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
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