The first round of the second Democratic 2020 presidential debates saw liberal firebrands Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren square off against moderate candidates on issues ranging from healthcare to race relations and Republican “talking points”.
In the latest stage of the race to be the party’s candidate to take on Donald Trump in next year’s US election, Sanders and Warren were joined by the rising stars South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke, as well as a range of lesser-known Democrats angling to make a splash on the national stage.
Here are the key takeaways from Tuesday night:
Progressives v moderates
Sanders and Warren have made an indelible impact in defining the Democratic party’s progressive flank, and they dominated the debate on Tuesday, not just in terms of air time.
Much of the 2020 Democratic field has rallied behind Sanders’ Medicare for All healthcare proposal, which would revolutionize the US healthcare system and in effect eliminate private medical insurance, while Warren’s ideas to break up big banks and impose a wealth tax on the top 75,000 ultra-rich families in the country are no longer seen as outliers.
Here's the final tally of how much each candidate spoke for during tonight's debate https://t.co/9U5gR4t5uq pic.twitter.com/zD3TBiIHYh
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 31, 2019
The moderates nonetheless fought back on Tuesday, warning that Democrats were risking their chances of taking back the White House from Trump in 2020 by promoting policies that might be too radical for the American public.
John Delaney, a former Maryland congressman, said proposals such as Medicare forAll were nothing short of “impossible promises” for “more free stuff”. Montana’s governor, Steve Bullock, appearing in his first debate, likened the Sanders-Warren agenda to “wishlist economics”.
Amy Klobuchar, who serves alongside Warren and Sanders in the US Senate, repeatedly called for ideas that were “grounded in reality”.
I genuinely do not understand why anyone would go to all the trouble of running for president just to get up on this stage and talk about what’s not possible. #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/cOCz5TS3AF
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) July 31, 2019
Despite the efforts by moderates to undercut the progressive tide, it was still Warren and Sanders who earned the most positive reception from the crowd.
“We’re not going to solve the urgent problems that we face with small ideas and spinelessness,” said Warren, who also drew cheers for stating that candidates should not run on what they can’t do.
Deep divisions on healthcare laid bare
Medicare for All, the single-payer healthcare proposal crafted by Sanders, was a focal point of the debate from the outset.
Several Democratic 2020 contenders have signed on to Sanders’ plan but candidates have waffled on how far they are willing to go when pressed on what Medicare for All would actually mean for the healthcare industry.
On Tuesday, moderates such as Delaney, Bullock and the Ohio representative Tim Ryan attacked Sanders’ Medicare for All vision as unrealistic and politically and financially risky.
“We can go down the road that Senator Sanders and Senator Warren want to take us, which is with bad policies like Medicare for All, free everything, and impossible promises that will turn off independent voters and get Trump re-elected,” Delaney said.
Sanders chafed at the criticism, flatly declaring that Delaney was “wrong”.
John Delaney is wrong. We cannot allow private health insurance companies to make billions in profits while Americans die because they can't afford health care. #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/zLEkVQaPEK
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) July 31, 2019
‘Republican talking points’ are entering the Democratic debates
In her defense of the Medicare for All proposal, which she has co-sponsored in the Senate, Warren criticized her fellow candidates’ use of “Republican talking points” in their attacks on the policy proposals of their Democratic colleagues.
“We are the Democrats,” the Massachusetts senator said. “We are not about trying to take away healthcare from anyone. That’s what the Republicans are trying to do. And we should stop using Republican talking points in order to talk with each other about how to best provide that healthcare.”
Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked Democratic progressive policy ideas as “socialist” and on Tuesday night, the word came to the debate stage. This time it was Buttigieg who batted it away.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg: "If we embrace a far-left agenda, [Republicans are] going to say that we're a bunch of crazy socialists. If we embrace a conservative agenda... they're going to say we're a bunch of crazy socialists." #DemDebate #DemocraticDebate pic.twitter.com/JPwiqTrGIC
— The Hill (@thehill) July 31, 2019
Joe Biden remains the centrist to beat
The former vice-president will take the stage on Wednesday as one of the next 10 Democratic candidates in the sprawling field to make their case to the American people. On Tuesday, despite their best efforts, none of the candidates who needed a breakout moment got one. Delaney, John Hickenlooper, Tim Ryan and Steve Bullock had been looking for way to energize their campaigns and catapult them to the September debates, where the polling and fundraising criteria to qualify will be tighter. But there’s no indication that happened.
Race: a rare moment of unity? (and Marianne Williamson)
In Detroit, a city that is 83% black, the issue of race relations in America was unavoidable. And if there was one area of broad agreement, it was Trump’s penchant for demonizing minorities.
“Donald Trump is the symptom of disease and the disease is divisiveness,” said Delaney.
“I have had it with the racist attacks,” Klobuchar proclaimed. “I will govern with integrity.”
The urgency to fight back against Trump’s often incendiary rhetoric comes after a particularly acrimonious few weeks in Washington.
O’Rourke said racism was “alive and well” across America. He vowed to support reparations for African Americans, as did the spiritual author Marianne Williamson, the long-shot candidate whose eloquent if unorthodox asides again helped her become the most searched-for candidate, according to Google Trends.
Top searched #DemDebate candidates during the debate.
— GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) July 31, 2019
More data: https://t.co/I0WiP79wjV#CNNDebate pic.twitter.com/WoEEabTotP
But it was Warren who got the most spirited applause when she urged Democrats not to sugarcoat discussions around race, stating: “We need to call out white supremacy for what it is: domestic terrorism. And it poses a threat to the United States of America.”
