The final presidential candidate debate was on Thursday, October 22nd in Tennessee. I’m sure many people were thinking, “I want to watch the debate but I don’t have time to sit down and watch it.” Well, I took the time to watch the whole thing and summarize exactly what each candidate said for each of the six topics discussed, in only a few sentences and in simpler words. This way, you’ll know what’s going on, but you don’t have to go through the entire debate. The best part of this, however, is that this summary is completely unbiased. No preference, just facts. Although I do recommend that you go watch the whole thing for yourself, this definitely works too. Hope you enjoy it!

Fighting Covid-19:

Donald Trump- 

Trump claims that there will be a new vaccine coming and being distributed by the military in a few weeks. Trump says that the virus is going away and that it will all be over soon. He wants to reopen schools, claiming that young people won’t get sick and that we can’t keep the country closed any longer. He also claims that all Biden talks about are shutdowns and that he (Biden) will close the country even if only one person tells him to.

Joe Biden-

Biden does not believe that Trump’s timeline for the Covid-19 vaccine is accurate, and he doesn’t think that this will all be over soon. If there is a vaccine, he wants to make sure that scientists approve of it first. Although he supports shutdowns, Biden wants to shut down the virus, not the country. He wants businesses to start opening up again, while also making sure to follow social distancing rules and other safety precautions.

National Security:

Donald Trump- 

Trump claims that Biden got 3.5 million from Russia and that he (Trump) isn’t getting money from anybody, unlike Biden. He says that he prepaid tens of millions of dollars (referring to taxes) and that he’s being treated very badly by the IRS. Trump states that he plans on showing his tax returns. He says that he was a businessman and had bank accounts everywhere (when talking about his bank account in China) claiming that he did have an account open, but closed it way before he ran for president.

Joe Biden- 

Biden claims that he will make foreign countries pay for intervening in the outcome of the election.* He claims that he has not taken a single penny from any country and that meanwhile, Trump had a secret bank account in China. He says that he would make countries “play by the rules” (when talking about international affairs). Biden states that these countries must play by the rules, or will have to pay the price economically. 

American Families:

Donald Trump- 

Trump says that there are 20,000,000 Americans with no healthcare. He also believes that Obamacare is bad and wants to terminate it. He blames Nancy Pelosi that some families have fallen into poverty with no food and no jobs and claims that he actually wanted to help them. Trump doesn’t like the idea of raising the minimum wage to $15, saying that he wants to support small businesses. In terms of immigration, Trump says that children are brought here by “coyotes” and very bad people, claiming that he’s just trying to reunite families. He claims they are being well taken care of and that Biden actually built the cages that children have staying in at the border.

Joe Biden- 

Biden wants to build on the foundation of Obamacare and work on Bidencare. He believes that healthcare is not a privilege, but a right and that everyone should be able to have access to affordable healthcare. He supports the $15 minimum wage. For immigration, Biden says that children are not brought here by “coyotes,” but by their parents. He says that it’s criminal that children have nowhere to go and says that he (Biden) did not separate families and build cages. Biden claims to have a plan where 11,000,000 undocumented people will be able to become American citizens.

Race in America:

Donald Trump: 

Trump insists that “…nobody has done more for the black community than Donald Trump.” Trump says that Biden has done nothing for the black community, but that he has. He also says, “I’m the least racist person in this room.” Trump claims that Biden is all talk and no action and when he (Biden) did have the chance to get something done in the 8 years that he was vice president, he didn’t.

Joe Biden: 

Biden says that there is institutional racism in America. He wants to provide better education and healthcare in order to give people a better shot. He believes that no one should be sent to prison for drugs and alcohol-related offenses, and instead should receive treatment. Biden claims that he has done something, saying that he has helped release 38,000 people from federal prisons.   

Climate Change:

Donald Trump-

Trump believes that working on climate change will take jobs away, but claims that he does love the environment and wants “clean everything”. Trump claims that the US has had the best carbon emissions in 30 years and says that China, Russia, and India are all filthy. Trump claims that he has done an amazing job environmentally and that Biden does not have a plan.

Joe Biden-

Biden believes that working on climate change will create millions of jobs and will also clean up the environment. He believes that climate change and global warming are existential threats to humanity. Biden also mentions that leading scientists have said that we don’t have much time left and that our jobs and health are at stake.

Leadership:

Donald Trump:

Here, the two candidates were asked what they would say in their inaugural speech addressed to those that didn’t vote for them. In response, Trump says that he wants to cut taxes while Biden wants to raise them. He claims that he wants to make the country totally successful as it was prior to the “plague” coming in from China. He says that success will bring us together and that we’re well on the road to success. He also states that if he (Biden) gets in (is elected president), we will go into a depression and that it will be a very sad day for this country. 

Joe Biden:

Here, the two candidates were asked what they would say in their inaugural speech addressed to those that didn’t vote for them. In response, Biden says that he will represent everyone, irrespective of who they voted for. He states that he’s going to make sure everyone is represented, that he’s going to give everyone hope, and that he’s going to make sure that we move forward as a nation. Biden says that this will be a huge opportunity to make things better, deal with systemic racism, and make sure that our economy grows and is run by clean energy. Biden states that he’s going to make sure we get what we haven’t been getting for the past 4 years.

*It’s important to note that they were discussing what they would do with the foreign countries intervening with the election outcomes, Biden says that he would make them pay, claiming that Trump didn’t have a plan. To this, Trump says that nobody was tougher than he was with Russia and that he would also make them pay.