Trump, Biden spar over Covid, race, climate in final presidential debate
Washington DC: US President Donald Trump and his challenger Joe Biden clashed over COVID-19, immigration, race relations and climate change during their final debate, just ahead of the November 3 presidential election, presenting Americans with sharply divergent views of where they would lead them over the next four years.
The two leaders traded barbs during the debate that lasted just over 90 minutes, attacking each other's positions on controlling the raging Coronavirus pandemic and curbing the country's world-leading death toll of over 223,000.
The prime-time debate in Nashville, Tennessee, was a less acrimonious and more substantive affair than their previous showdown on September 29, which devolved into insults and name-calling. This prompted the debate organisers to put in place muted microphones during the candidates' opening statements on each topic to minimise disruption.
The debate, moderated by NBC's Kristen Welker, saw plenty of personal attacks between 74-year-old Trump, a Republican, and his 77-year-old Democratic rival, Biden, whose mutual dislike was quite evident.
The Coronavirus dominated the opening minutes of the Trump-Biden face-off with President Trump terming the contagion a worldwide problem .
"This has been a worldwide problem, but I've been congratulated by many countries on what we've been able to do, he said.
Trump once again blamed China for the virus and said Beijing failed to prevent the disease from becoming a pandemic.
He claimed that America was very close to developing a vaccine against the deadly disease that Biden said was claiming 1,000 lives daily in the US.
"We have a vaccine that's coming, it's ready. It's going to be announced within weeks and it's going to be delivered, Trump said.
The president said his generals have lined up for the fast distribution of the vaccine, as he expects to have 100 million vials.
Biden challenged Trump and alleged that his policies have resulted in a large number of deaths in the country.
"We are about to go into a dark winter. A dark winter and he has no clear plan and there's no prospect that there's going to be a vaccine available for the majority of the American people before the middle of next year, he said. Trump, who has often said the worst is over with the pandemic, reasserted this, claiming the US was rounding the turn" and the country is learning to live with it.
"He always says people are learning to live with it. People are learning to die with it. I will take care of this. I will make sure we have a plan, Biden responded.
On climate change, Trump accused China, India and Russia of not taking care of their filthy air as he justified America's withdrawal from the landmark Paris climate agreement.
"Look at China, how filthy it is. Look at Russia. Look at India, it's filthy. The air is filthy. We have the best emission numbers that we've had in 35 years under this administration. We are working so well with the industry," he said.
"The Paris Accord, I took us out because we were going to have to spend trillions of dollars and we were treated very unfairly. When they put us in there, they did is a great disservice. They were going to take away our businesses," he asserted.
"We have the best environmental numbers, ozone numbers, and so many other numbers. In the meantime, China, Russia, India all these countries they're spewing stuff into the air, he alleged.
Biden and Trump clashed on race relations, a topic that has gained prominence after the horrific murder of an African American in police custody early this year in Minneapolis.
Biden termed Trump "one of the most racist presidents we've had in modern history", asserting that his Republican rival at his last debate did not condemn white supremacy and told an extremist group to "stand down and stand by.
"Here is one of the most racist presidents we've had in modern history. He pours fuel on every single racist fire. Every single one," Biden
alleged.
