President Donald Trump appeared in Miami, Florida, angry, yelling and unable to answer even basic questions at his town hall event.
Joe Biden appeared in the battle ground state of Pennsylvania calm, compassionate, empathetic, and with ready to implement answers geared towards the future.
When Trump was asked about his difficulty disavowing white supremacy, he claimed the media were biased towards him by bringing up the same question over and over. “You always do this to me,” he said. “I denounce white supremacy, OK?”
But the president refused to condemn the QAnon conspiracy theory, claiming he did not know enough about it.
The theory alleges that President Trump is battling a syndicate of pedophiles who control the United States federal government.
President Trump appeared to be on the defensive on virtually everything, from the coronavirus, to his alleged tax evasion, and even to his support of white supremacists.
He also unleashed a web of disinformation that prompted journalist Daniel Dale who has been tracking the president’s lies for the Washington Post to note that Trump’s town hall was “a bombardment of dishonesty.”
He said it was not actual lies, it was a web of misinformation or half truths, for instance, when the President claimed his administration created more than 11 million jobs without adding that he has lost more than 22 million jobs.
Joe Biden on the contrary came out strong on racial justice, the coronavirus pandemic and foreign policy.
On foreign policy, Biden said what makes America great is not the power of the guns but the power if its example.
“We have been more effective as a world leader in my humble opinion not just by the exercise of our power but by the power of our example. That’s what’s led the rest of the world to follow us in almost everything,” he said.
He promised to unite the country with his language and actions, and reiterated that he would not defund the police but he was for police reforms.
The tone in Biden’s town hall was optimistic while Trump’s tone seemed to be pessimistic, and even threatening.
Roughly 19 days to election day, Joe Biden did not need to do much, but Donald Trump needed to perform better and attempt to catch up in the polls. He did not do that.
Simon Ateba is Chief White House Correspondent for Today News Africa. Simon covers President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, the U.S. government, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other financial and international institutions in Washington D.C. and New York City.