Joe Biden tells Donald Trump 'shut up, man' in heated debate
The moment Joe Biden told Donald Trump to 'shut up'
Joe Biden told Donald Trump to "shut up, man" as the pair debated the handling of Covid-19, race issues and the economy.
In what was the most chaotic presidential debate in recent years, the two rivals frequently talked over each other with Mr Trump interrupting, nearly shouting, so often that Mr Biden eventually snapped at him: “Will you shut up, man?”
Over and over, Mr Trump tried to control the conversation, interrupting Mr Biden and repeatedly talking over the moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News.
The president tried to deflect tough lines of questioning - whether on his taxes or the pandemic - to deliver broadsides against Mr Biden.
Mr Trump drew a lecture from Wallace, who pleaded with both men to stop interrupting.
Mr Biden tried to push back against Trump, sometimes looking right at the camera to directly address viewers rather than the president and snapping: “It’s hard to get a word in with this clown.”
The vitriol exploded into the open when Mr Biden attacked Mr Trump’s handling of the pandemic, saying that the president “waited and waited” to act when the virus reached America’s shores and “still doesn’t have a plan.”
Mr Biden told Trump to “get out of your bunker and get out of the sand trap” and go in his golf cart to the Oval Office to come up with a bipartisan plan to save people.
Mr Trump snarled a response, declaring: “I’ll tell you Joe, you could never have done the job that we did. You don’t have it in your blood.”
The pandemic has severely dented the US economy, another subject that caused the pair to trade blows.
Mr Biden turned the attention to president, demanding he show his tax returns following reports this week he paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years - but the president insisted he has paid "millions".
He told moderator Chris Wallace "you'll get to see" when referring to his tax returns, though he wouldn't commit to a timescale when pressed by Mr Biden.
Mr Biden then attacked the president as "the worst president America has ever had", to which Mr Trump responded: "I've done more in 47 months than you have in 47 years."
The debate turned personal as the president and Mr Biden are remarked on each other’s relatives. While Mr Biden was making a point about the Trump administration’s trade deals with China not having the desired effect, Mr Trump jumped in. He resurrected past claims about the former vice president’s son Hunter working overseas. Mr Trump said Hunter Biden reaped millions in ill-gotten profit from China and other overseas interests, accusations that have been repeatedly debunked. Mr Biden shot back, “none of that is true.” He then added of Trump: “His family, we could talk all night.”
The president interrupted to respond that his children gave up lucrative jobs to join government and “help people,” which left moderator Chris Wallace pleading, “Mr President, please stop” in a bid to restore order on the stage. Mr Biden then turned to the camera and addressed the audience directly, something he did frequently Tuesday night. “This is not about my family or his family,” Biden said. “It’s about your family.”
Both then made their pitches to win over black voters, with Mr Biden mockingly questioning: “This man, this man is a saviour of African Americans? This man has done virtually nothing.” Mr Biden said that one in 1,000 African Americans has died because of the coronavirus, and if Mr Trump doesn’t do something quickly, it will be one in 500. Mr Trump turned the discussion from Covid-19 to a crime bill passed in 1994 that Mr Biden helped write and get passed that, among other things, increased the penalties for certain drug offences. Mr Trump said “I’m letting people out of jail now,” and asserted that Biden had treated the black community “about as bad as anybody in this country.”
President Trump additionally claimed there was "tremendous division" under the Obama and Biden administration and said the situation was more violent than now.
Mr Biden said violent crime went down 15% while he was vice president.
Continuing the theme of race issues, Mr Trump danced around a question from moderator Mr Wallace about whether he was willing to condemn white supremacists and military groups. “I would say almost everything I see is from the left wing, not the right wing,” Trump responded. “I’m willing to do anything. I want to see peace.” When pressed further, Mr Trump said, “What do you want to call them? Give me a name. Give me a name?” Finally, he said: “Proud Boys - stand back, stand by, but I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the left because this is not right-wing problem... this is a left wing problem.”
Antifa followers have appeared at anti-racism protests, but there’s been little evidence behind Republican claims that Antifa members are to blame for the violence at such protests. Mr Trump infamously said there were good people “on both sides” after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which led to the death of a counter-protester.
Watch: The presidential debate in full
After a tumultuous 90 minutes, moderator Mr Wallace drew proceedings to a close.
"To be continued," he added, with two more such debates penciled in ahead of the election on November 3.