CLEVELAND: President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden battled fiercely over Trump's record on the coronavirus pandemic, healthcare and the economy in a chaotic and bad-tempered first debate marked by personal insults and Trump's repeated interruptions.
Trump bulldozed his way through the 90-minute debate, trying to goad Biden nearly every time he spoke, claiming that Democrats were trying to steal the November presidential election with mail-in ballots and declining to condemn white supremacist groups when asked to do so.
Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News never established control of the debate, with Trump repeatedly ignoring his calls to let Biden speak. The two White House contenders talked over each other and lobbed insults in a breathtaking political brawl that made it hard for either to make a point.
At one point, an exasperated Biden said after Trump's repeated interruptions: "Will you shut up, man? This is so unpresidential."
Wallace tried in vain to reel in Trump, who ignored his time limits and talked over Biden.
"I think that the country would be better served if we allowed both people to speak with fewer interruptions. I'm appealing to you, sir, to do that," Wallace said.
As of Tuesday evening, more than 1.3 million Americans already had cast early ballots. With time running out to change minds or influence the small sliver of undecided voters, the stakes were enormous as the two candidates took the stage five weeks before the Nov. 3 Election Day.
For Trump, 74, Tuesday's debate represented one of the few remaining chances to change the trajectory of a race that most opinion polls show him losing, as the majority of Americans disapprove of his handling of both the pandemic and protests over racial injustice.
Biden, 77, has held a consistent lead over Trump in national opinion polls, although surveys in the battleground states that will decide the election show a much closer contest. It was hard to determine whether the debate would move the needle.
Trump repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to fluster Biden and force him into a gaffe, but largely neglected to make any affirmative case for why he is the candidate best suited to tackle fundamental election issues.
The hyper-aggressive performance would almost certainly draw raves from his core supporters, but was unlikely to win back critical swing voters, especially suburban women who have turned away from the president over his divisive and combative rhetoric, political strategists say.
Trump has more debates with Biden scheduled for October, while Vice President Mike Pence and Biden's vice presidential running mate, Kamala Harris, have a debate next week. Tuesday's debate followed months of racial justice protests over police brutality against Black Americans, which were mostly peaceful but sometimes led to violent clashes between liberal and right-wing protesters.
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