Trump vs Biden: A Political Debate or a Fight between Children?

 Roar Deputy editor Virjinia Vassileva shares her thoughts on the first presidential debate between current President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden that took place on September 29. 

Coming from a high school which stimulated critical thinking and opinion sharing, I have witnessed a lot of official debates and less organised arguments. And I can surely say I had never seen such a chaotic and even ridiculous debate ever before. This was an event full of interruptions, lack of any sort of respect between both sides and towards the moderator, name calling and needless focus on both candidates’ personal life and families. The point of these debates is to share the side’s ideas and plans of action, to prove one is suitable to lead and to earn the trust of the people. Instead of answering the moderator’s questions and providing information, however, both candidates constantly focused on bringing up the mistakes of the other party. Yes, this might be a good tactic, and it is useful for those to be highlighted, but I do not think that shouting towards one another without any sign of respect, is the right way. Speak about your ideas and the way those can be executed rather than defaming the other side. Tell the people why you are better not why your opponent is worse.

But what struck me the most was the involvement of the debaters’ families and the “verbal attacks” towards those. Politics is politics, and family is family. Using the personal lives and problems of family members as a “political weapon” against your opponents is simply gross. If one behaves like this,  how can people expect them to be able to lead an entire country, especially with the size and political and cultural divisions such as the US? Neither of the sides left a good impression with Trump proving yet again he simply cannot behave in a respectful way. This time, however, Biden did not fall far behind, and did not present himself in the best way either.

After the debate a lot of media platforms released polling information showing Trump’s support has dropped. Regardless, I would say that I really do feel bad for all voters whose only choices are these two men who just acted like upset 5-year olds. Hopefully, the next debate is going to be conducted in a better way, and the candidates will behave more like diplomats and less like children. The moderators have already taken some measures, including cutting candidates’ microphones if they begin interrupting each other. However, I feel it is a bit sad that such measures must be taken, especially since we are talking about a debate between people who may represent one of the greatest world powers. 

Going through some comments on YouTube’s live stream of the debate, and looking at various social media platforms, it appears that many share the opinion that this debate was disastrous. One user even mentions that: “This isn’t a presidential debate this is an emergency meeting discussion in Among Us”, while another person states:

“Who lost this debate: 

5% Biden

5% Trump

90% USA”

I will have to say I definitely agree with those comments and am looking forward to October 16 when the next debate is going to take place – assuming it is not postponed due to the recent news about President Trump testing positive for Covid-19.