After a long and bumpy campaign, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden met on stage on Tuesday night for the first presidential debate of the 2020 cycle.
The event, hosted by Fox News, is taking place at Cleveland’s Case Western University, where moderator Chris Wallace is grilling the two candidates on topics including the Supreme Court, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a new blockbuster New York Times story revealing that Trump avoided paying income taxes for years.
We wanted to see what our Teen Vote committee made of the much-hyped event, so we caught up with them on Gchat for a live chat. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of that conversation.
Hanna: My stomach genuinely hurts right now
River: I really do not want to listen to either of them tbh 😕
Syd: Me either!!
Kiden: Felt! but genuinely happy by the amount of people on campus who said they were gonna watch it
Ruth: In previous debates, candidates have snubbed some of the issues I care about and I mean, I already know who I’m forced to vote for so....I [normally] wouldn’t put myself through this lol.
River: this is like a less interesting, more stressful miss america
Ava: Haha, at least Cate Blanchett as the conservative was entertaining! This is downright depressing…
Syd: Joe Biden a socialist? lmao
Ruth: I— Like...
Hanna: apparently the democrats are socialists! Cool. i wish
Ava: I wish he were a socialist!
Syd: I wish the Democrats did all the cool stuff Republicans say they did
Ruth: Side note, NPR is fact-checking since Chris Wallace will not.
Jillian: "Roe v Wade is on the ballot in the court" im sorry what... that's not how this works
Julissa: Take a shot every time they interrupt each other
Syd: I don't care about Chris Wallace because ew rich people but i feel a little bit bad for him right now lol
Hanna: POCAHONTAS girl... thought we were done with that
Ava: This is so embarrassing.
Julissa: He's really bringing up Pocahontas?!!
Ruth: Biden said you picked the wrong guy on the RIGHT night! WHEW.
Annie: I came into this wanting to see biden at least carry the conviction he had in his DNC speech — but he seems so defeated tonight
Jillian: Trump is doing exactly what he did in 2016 and it is both horrifying and hilarious
Julissa: This is Trump’s strategy, just talk over and talk over so that nothing ever gets discussed.
Syd: Somehow the 2016 debates seem less chaotic
Ruth: We were supposed to move on to COVID-19 about...8 minutes ago...???
Kanyinsola: Trump is a clown. he needs to put the shoes on
Kiden: I feel like i’m watching Bad Girls Club PLEASE
Annie: praying biden’s dentures don’t fall out mid-debate... please
Kanyinsola: The girls are fighting. let me call security
Ava: This sounds like middle school students fighting in front of the counselor over who started the food fight at lunch.
Ruth: Pop Secret, extra butter please
Kiden: I’m not gonna fake....this whole thing is confusing like what was the original question?? they had three cat fights in the middle of the answer
Julissa: I already finished my popcorn lol
River: covid lets GOOO
Syd: Very not cool that neither Chris or Biden called Trump out for using an anti-indigenous slur a few minutes ago :(
Ruth: Onto COVID now...
Kiden: We really must be living in a simulation. this is the most unproductive debate ever
Jillian: Chris Wallace is already done with this crap
Ruth: Chris said he wouldn’t be fact-checking anyone tonight and wanted to remain “invisible”, so refusing to do his job essentially
Denisce: such a waste of airtime
River: they need like a little ball to pass around and they can only talk when they have the ball
Julissa: THE PRESIDENT HAS NO PLAN - that should be his slogan
Denisce: this is a debate on who is least incompetent
Hanna: trump acting as if the US is doing amazing rn … babe what
Kanyinsola: I wonder what it feels like to live in Delusion. the millions of people without their stimulus check would like a word
Annie: the fact that the deaths of 200,000 Americans — an absolute choice by our president — is being debated as if it wasn’t a choice at all is absolutely infuriating
Ava: Trump eliminates any possibility for respectable debate.
River: who is even winning
Denisce: I feel like i'm watching an SNL parody
Kanyinsola: It's the fact that this is what we have for a presidency. Free us.
Denisce: "I've talked to everyone I've had to talk to" ... to handle a global pandemic? I sure hope he has
Kiden: let’s revolt plz
Hanna: literal theater.
Kanyinsola: This government is a joke, this presidency is a joke
Jillian: I think it's fair to say that the Chinese government should have been more forthcoming with information about the virus. I think it's unfair to say that he chose to have over 200,000 dead but I get why you say it.
Kiden: I think Trump handled the virus poorly. If he did better, I believe we still wouldn’t be here, I definitely think more people could’ve lived
Ava: The Chinese government should’ve been more transparent on a global public health issue, but we cannot sit here and act like Trump’s early inaction did not lead to unnecessary death, and consequently economic downfall.
Annie: i am losing my mind lmao this debate is not salvageable
Jillian: That being said, debates are jokes and they're basically a circle jerk
Ruth: “I want to keep [this country] open” at the expense of Black and brown people dying, cool cool
Hanna: let’s shut the debate down and just have a golf tournament at this point. i think they’d both be better at it. And yep, Ruth said it.
He mentioned the elderly and other vulnerable populations, but ignored communities of color acutely affected by this virus — COOL
Syd: Keeping everything open is making people die!!!!!!
River: *trump voice* but the economy!!
Jillian: But shutting everything down isn't the answer either
Denisce: did he just try to clown Joe biden... for wearing a mask....
Kanyinsola: President Trump cares about the pockets of the those that are rich in America. But my family deserves to die.....
Denisce: The answer IS shutting everything down
Syd: Okay well corporations continuing to make money isn't more important than people's lives.
People don't deserve to die for the ~economy~
Hanna: risking brown and black folks’ lives to keep rich people rich and entertained. right.
Kiden: Masks shouldn’t even be a debate rn....like WHAT?
Annie: in disbelief that we have to debate about basic things like wearing masks
Ruth: “So far, we have no problem.” Yet, the White House denies that Herman Cain contracted the virus at a Trump rally...I just—I cannot. *rubs temples*
Julissa: No one shows up for Biden?? Last time I checked Trump got bamboozled in Tulsa.
Syd: SO MANY PEOPLE died because of that rally in Tulsa. Our freakin governer got covid at that rally
Ruth: “The economy is recovering faster—" Sir, I am GRADUATING IN A RECESSION IN A PANDEMIC.
Denisce: Our community members died because they had to go to and from work. The federal government had the ability to issue checks to the public so that "non-essential" workers could properly quarantine--- but instead they chose to give money to pay-day lenders. because people have no choice but to work
Kanyinsola: people are legit dying
Annie: trump’s insistence on language like “the china plague”...
Ruth: That is so terrible, Denisce — and stories like that are becoming so commonplace bc of the blatant disregard for human life that this president exhibits
Kanyinsola: People are literally dying. The death of Black and Brown bodies are a joke to this guy....
Ruth: The xenophobic language JUMPING out. “Our country is coming back incredibly well”
The bar is in hell
River: how is trump acting like covid is bad yet not an issue at the same time?
Kanyinsola: People had to choose if they were going to stay home and stay safe or work to pay rent. really hate to see it
Denisce: TBT to when [Texas Lieutenant Governor] Dan Patrick wanted to "sacrifice our grandparents to the economy"
River: this man paid $750 in taxes. OOP
Kiden: can Biden please stop talking to the people at home, we don’t like you like that. we just put up with you
Ava: Yes, I like the nuance around the significantly different impact of COVID-19 between economic classes.
Kanyinsola: Are we really talking about football
Denisce: hey people died but at least trump brought back football y'all
Ruth: “I brought back football” and there are reports of college athletes who have died due to COVID-19 complications. Alright.
Kiden: The land of the free and football
River: not trump saying he paid millions.......
Kanyinsola: "millions of dollars" the audience would like to see the evidence
Denisce: trump saying he doesn't want to pay taxes... while immigrants pay more in taxes. ~blood boiling~
Julissa: So Trump admits to using loop holes hmmm
Kanyinsola: Yeah if Biden wins Trump is most def not leaving peacefully
Denisce: i swear trump puts together sentences by pointing at random word magnets on a fridge
River: did trump ever really answer if he would leave peacefully ?
Annie: i truly don’t want either of them to talk about race
Ruth: The pandering is about to be—
Annie: like this is going to be BAD
Kanyinsola: Yeah Biden needs to sit this one out...Yeah Biden is acting like tear gas was not used during his term with Obama. It's getting weird. They want our votes but don't care about us
Ruth: I wonder if Chris will ask Biden about his whole “if you don’t vote for me, you’re not Black” comments...
Syd: they are both racist. case closed.
Kanyinsola: Biden baby do you know what equity is.....your policies would like a word
Hanna: “peaceful” neolibs have to make a distinction
Kiden: None of the presidents have done much for the black community but okay
River: trump talking about law enforcement during a talk about race.......
Kiden: He think just because he got a black woman as the VP we gonna cape for him and he isn’t also racist..
Denisce: Joe biden NOT BELIEVING IN LAW AND ORDER with the COP VP
Ruth: And Kamala’s prosecutorial record is...whew...
Ava: Someone ask Trump who the radical left is
Hanna: if i hear the words “radical left” one more time i will screech
Ruth: Then they’ll turn around expect Black women to save this country without them truly doing anything for Black communities, alright
Kanyinsola: Not the bad apples take. they are all bad apples
Syd: the only way to hold them accountable is to abolish them
Kanyinsola: All Cops are bastards but we move. You can never change a system that was built to break down Black bodies
Julissa: Do they not realize that the police are an institution built on racism
Kiden: Sooooo it’s peaceful when white supremacists held an anti-covid rally?? bc they had guns and were doing a whole lot!
Denisce: when trump says we need to return to our core values he means core values of racism, patriarchy, and misogyny
Ava: Bernie Sanders would’ve been so amazing in this debate I just know it.
Kanyinsola: I feel like my whole existence is under attack with BOTH of them
Ruth: Forcing him to condemn white supremacy, then Trump says “almost everything I see is from the left wing”
Hanna: IMAGINE COMPARING THE KKK WITH ANTIFA
Denisce: "sure I'm willing to do that [ denounce white supremacy]" *actually you need to do something about antifa and left-wing*
Ruth: I literally go to a university where white supremacists visit at least 3 times a semester, I cannot
Ava: “ANTIFA is an idea, not an organization”-Biden. THANK YOU
Ruth: ALRIGHT leaving now! Have to do homework (and Parks & Recreation is getting removed from Netflix, so I’m going to watch that & calm my nerves lol)!
Denisce: drink some tea and take some Excedrin bc this election is a migraine
Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment: Unpacking the Legacy | August 2020 Cover
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