Presidential debate: Five key takeaways from Donald Trump and Joe Biden's final head-to-head

231020 trump biden AP
Donald Trump and Joe Biden served up a very different debate compared to the last time they faced each other. Credit: AP

The final presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was in stark contrast to the chaos of the previous televised meeting.

Even despite the addition of a mute button, there were far fewer interruptions and some genuine policy discussion in what may have been Trump's best shot of closing a clear polling lead held by Biden with less than two weeks before the US Election draws to a close.

Here are five things to take away from the head-to-head.

Trump goes back to ‘anti-establishment’ image

Trump was keen, despite being president for the past four years, to paint himself as “not a typical politician”, in an apparent attempt to seem more genuine than his opponent.

During the debate, Biden looked straight to the camera and said “this isn’t about my family or his family, it’s about your family” and spoke of them “sitting around a kitchen table” and “hurting badly”.

Trump was quick to pounce.

“That is a typical political statement, let’s get off this China thing and then he looks… the family, the around the table, everything, just a typical politician when I see that.

“I’m not a typical politician – that’s why I got elected.

“Let's get off the subject of China let’s talk about sitting around a table… come on, Joe, you can do better than that.”

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Trump's improved behaviour

Three weeks after drawing bipartisan criticism for his frequent interruptions and badgering of his Democratic rival, Trump took on a more subdued tone for much of the debate.

Trump asked moderator Kristen Welker for the opportunity to follow up on Biden’s answers - “If I may?” - rather than just jumping in, and he thanked Welker repeatedly to boot.

From the first question, this debate seemed different from round one, when Biden looked to cut Trump off early on before the president's incessant interruptions and flouting of time limits derailed the 90-minute contest from the outset.

The much-vaunted mute button, which the moderator would have been free to use on either candidate if they interrupted during the opening speeches, was not needed.

But that doesn’t mean there weren’t some digs.

“We can’t lock ourselves up in a basement like Joe does,” Trump said, reprising his spring and summer attacks on Biden staying at his residence rather than campaigning in-person amid the pandemic.

Biden smirked, laughed and shook his head. He mocked Trump for once suggesting bleach helped kill coronavirus.

The two men had a lengthy back-and-forth about their personal finances and family business entanglements.

But, on the whole, voters at home got something they didn’t get on September 29 - a debate. Praise for the moderator

Part of the credit for a smooth debate is owed to the moderator, NBC’s Kristen Welker.

Even Trump offered praise, saying: “So far I respect very much the way you are handling this, I have to say.”

It didn’t seem that Trump would be won over by the moderator when he tweeted just hours before the debate: "Look at the bias, hatred and rudeness on behalf of 60 Minutes and CBS.

“Tonight’s anchor, Kristen Welker, is far worse!”

Neither offered inspiration on the issue of race relations

With centuries of institutional racism coming to a head in 2020, the sight of two old white men opting to criticise each other rather than focus on solutions would perhaps have failed to inspire people of colour.

Welker invited both men to talk directly to Black Americans. Both said they understood the challenges black citizens face, but the segment amounted mostly to them blasting each other.

Trump blamed Biden as an almost singular force behind mass incarceration, especially of "young black men".

Trump declared himself “the least racist person in this room” and repeated his claim that “nobody has done what I’ve done” for black Americans "with the exception of Abraham Lincoln, possible exception".

Biden, incredulous, called Trump a "racist" who "pours fuel on every single racist fire".

Polls suggest many young voters of colour do not support Trump but aren’t particularly enthusiastic about Biden either. It’s perhaps unlikely their final debate altered that view but Biden arguably missed a good opportunity to reach out to what could be a key voter block. Wind turbines 'kill all the birds'

The most bizarre claim of the night came from Trump when Biden championed wind energy. Trump told Biden he “knows more about wind”, before listing his reasons why it is not a good idea.

“It’s extremely expensive, kills all the birds, it’s very intermittent, got a lot of problems, and they happen to make the windmills in both Germany and China.

“And the fumes coming up - if you’re a believer in carbon emission - the fumes coming up to make these massive windmills is more than anything that we’re talking about with natural gas, which is very clean.”

The US Department of Energy says: “Wind turbines do not release emissions that can pollute the air or water (with rare exceptions), and they do not require water for cooling.”

Meanwhile, The US Fish and Wildlife Service said: “The most comprehensive and statistically sound estimates show that bird deaths from turbine collisions are between 140,000 and 500,000 birds per year.”

To put that into context, it also says that 599 million birds are killed each year colliding with buildings, 6.6 million birds die running into communication towers and 214 million from running into cars and other vehicles.