President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden faced off in the final presidential debate on Thursday night at Belmont University in Nashville, TN.
NBC News White House correspondent Kristen Welker moderated the debate where she was given a helping hand to avoid the constant interruptions which overran the first debate on Sept. 29.
On Monday, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that a new rule would be imposed on both candidates where they would have their microphones muted while the opposing candidate responds with their answer for the first two minutes of each question.
“What happened is the people that were debating didn’t have the self-control and maturity to have a debate without somebody stepping in,” said Fullerton College professor of public speaking Douglas Kresse. “Instead of treating people like they’re adults, what age level does this remind you of?”
Topics ranging from the coronavirus, racial tension, climate change, national security and American families were covered.
The debate was a much more restrained and controlled environment which is a contrast from the first debate. The initial topic was aimed at the topic of the coronavirus where Trump continued to repeat that the disease was “going away.”
According to a New York Times article updated on Oct. 22, “over the past week, there have been an average of 60,777 cases per day, an increase of 33 percent from the average two weeks earlier.”
Trump’s reoccurring attacks aimed at Biden increased as the debate went on, bringing up his extensive career in politics and claiming that he is “all talk and no action.” Though on the other end, Trump did little to lay out a case to sway voters to elect him.
Biden was quick to blast Trump on his handling of the coronavirus, adding that as the United States enters the winter months, there still is no clear plan and that the American people are not learning to live with it, rather “learning to die with it.”
Even with the microphones being muted while Trump was responding and throwing his sharp attacks, the amount of times Biden would respond “not true” was clearly noticeable.
One of the most prominent comments made of the night by Biden was in response to the delay in passing the second coronavirus relief bill and how reluctant Republican lawmakers, including Trump.
“I don’t see red states and blue states. What I see is American, United States,” Biden said.
With 11 days before the election and millions of Americans having already voted, both candidates aimed to change the trajectory of the people’s choice, but the question will still loom until the evening of Nov. 3.
“You have two candidates that have enough wrong with them, and they’re not the same things they’re just different, but both have enough problems getting their ideas across.” Kresse added.