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WASHINGTON — President Trump is promising to maintain America nice. Joseph R. Biden Jr. needs to revive the soul of America.
However there’s way more to debate past these two slogans.
The long-anticipated first debate between Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden on Tuesday evening is anticipated to place a highlight on urgent points just like the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed over 200,000 folks in the USA, and the combat over the Supreme Court docket emptiness, whose end result may have an effect on American society for many years to come back.
Right here’s a have a look at the place Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden stand on these six points.
The coronavirus
Mr. Trump has repeatedly claimed that his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic was distinctive, saying he acted early to impose journey restrictions from China; labored with states to accumulate tools like ventilators; and pushed for the event of therapies and vaccines.
The document, nevertheless, reveals that the president persistently performed down the risk from the virus within the early days when it may have been contained, and ignored or resisted recommendation from his high well being officers. The US failed to offer sufficient testing to understand how the virus was spreading, and Mr. Trump clashed with governors over the necessity for protecting tools.
There’s additionally mounting proof of the methods during which Mr. Trump and the White Home put immense political stress on the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention and different well being companies to just accept Mr. Trump’s calls for that the nation reopen extra rapidly than they thought was secure.
And the president’s calls for for a vaccine that might be introduced earlier than the election have left the general public well being group cautious of the effectiveness and security of a vaccine when one is prepared.
For a lot of months, Mr. Biden has put a significant give attention to the virus, condemning Mr. Trump’s dealing with of the pandemic and making {that a} central argument as he asks voters to disclaim the president a second time period.
That’s virtually sure to be a significant focus of Mr. Biden’s within the debate, too. He has promised a starkly totally different strategy to combating the virus, stressing the significance of deferring to scientific specialists, and he has referred to as for a nationwide masks mandate, which Mr. Trump doesn’t assist. He has taken care to mannequin good conduct in his marketing campaign, carrying a masks himself and refraining from holding rallies.
The economic system
Till the pandemic, one in every of Mr. Trump’s strongest arguments for re-election was the highly effective efficiency of the economic system, which had achieved low unemployment, sturdy development and a hovering inventory market.
Following the virus-induced shutdowns, the economic system’s development has stalled and unemployment has soared, even with some restoration in latest months. On the marketing campaign path, Mr. Trump guarantees that the economic system will get well — and get even higher — if he’s given a second time period.
The president has additionally promised a future tax minimize for the center class, although he has not supplied specifics, and he has mentioned he needs to cut back the capital beneficial properties tax.
Although the economic system has been a supply of putting up with power for Mr. Trump within the polls, Mr. Biden is making an attempt to chip away on the president’s standing. He can level to Mr. Trump’s dealing with of the pandemic to argue that the president’s mismanagement has worsened Individuals’ financial ache. And he has portrayed Mr. Trump as fixated on the efficiency of the inventory market and anxious solely about rich folks.
This summer time, Mr. Biden rolled out his personal set of financial proposals below the slogan “Construct Again Higher,” together with plans to put money into clear power and to make sure that procurement spending goes towards American-made merchandise.
One space the place Mr. Biden could come below assault from Mr. Trump is tax coverage. Mr. Biden is asking for tax will increase on companies and high-earning people, however he has mentioned that nobody incomes lower than $400,000 would face a tax hike.
[Learn our New York Instances truth verify on the primary presidential debate.]
The Supreme Court docket
The extreme push to seat Choose Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court docket earlier than Election Day is a part of the president’s four-year effort to remake the federal judiciary, including conservative-leaning judges to the bench in any respect ranges. With the assistance of a Republican-controlled Senate, Mr. Trump is succeeding in that aim.
The president has already put in two different Supreme Court docket justices — Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh — and greater than 200 federal district and appeals courtroom judges, shifting the ideological steadiness for years to come back.
Mr. Biden has pledged to appoint a Black lady to the Supreme Court docket, although he has declined to observe Mr. Trump’s lead and launch a listing of potential nominees. He has referred to as for Senate Republicans to carry off on confirming a successor to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg till after the election, noting that early voting is already underway.
Mr. Biden has sought to tie the courtroom emptiness to the destiny of the Reasonably priced Care Act, arguing that well being protection for hundreds of thousands of Individuals is at stake in November’s election. The Supreme Court docket is scheduled to listen to arguments per week after Election Day in a problem to the well being legislation, and the Trump administration is asking the courtroom to strike it down.
Race and violence in American cities
The president has seized upon unrest over racial justice as a defining distinction between him and Mr. Biden, calling the protesters “rioters” and “anarchists” and overtly siding with the police in a bid to solid himself as a “legislation and order” chief.
The president and his marketing campaign are utilizing episodes of violence towards the police to generate worry and assist amongst his base. He has referred to as for way more aggressive use of the Nationwide Guard to manage disturbances, and has dismissed the Black Lives Matter group as a radical, violent group.
When he’s pressed for accomplishments, Mr. Trump cites the First Step Act, which made some reforms to federal sentencing legal guidelines, benefiting minorities. The bipartisan invoice handed in 2018 and was signed into legislation by Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump has attacked Mr. Biden as anti-law enforcement, usually in exaggerated phrases — although at occasions the president has additionally tried to solid him as overly punitive due to his work on the 1994 crime invoice that inspired incarceration.
Mr. Biden has repeatedly mentioned that he opposes defunding the police, although Republicans have nonetheless falsely claimed that he helps that motion. He has condemned violence as effectively.
Mr. Biden has referred to as for racial therapeutic and pledged to confront systemic racism, a starkly totally different strategy from Mr. Trump’s. In July, Mr. Biden launched a plan to handle racial inequities within the economic system.
Mr. Biden’s message ties again to the origin of his marketing campaign and themes of American values, as he usually talks about being motivated to run by Mr. Trump’s feedback after the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017.
Trump’s and Biden’s data
Mr. Trump’s marketing campaign has sought to spotlight his “guarantees saved” throughout virtually 4 years within the White Home, telling voters that he has achieved what he mentioned he would do as a candidate in 2016.
At his marketing campaign rallies, the president focuses on commerce, together with his renegotiation of the North American Free Commerce Settlement, or NAFTA, and imposition of tariffs on China and different international locations. He boasts about his 2017 tax cuts and the expansion in jobs earlier than the coronavirus pandemic. He cites will increase in navy funding, his elimination of environmental rules, peace agreements within the Center East and actions to close down immigration.
Most of the president’s guarantees fell brief, a degree that Mr. Biden could spotlight. Regardless of saying he would construct a “large, stunning wall” throughout your complete border with Mexico, the president has constructed solely about 200 miles of wall, most of it replacements for current obstacles. He did not repeal the Reasonably priced Care Act, and he has not managed federal spending.
Along with Mr. Trump’s document within the White Home, one other problem prone to come up is his taxes. Mr. Trump has refused to launch his tax returns, and The New York Instances reported on Sunday that he paid solely $750 in federal earnings taxes in 2016 and in 2017.
Mr. Biden spent 36 years as a senator and eight years as vice chairman, so he has a voluminous document — giving him achievements to brag about, but additionally leaving him weak over different elements of his prolonged profession.
Mr. Biden can level to accomplishments just like the passage of the Violence Towards Girls Act, in addition to the enactment of the Reasonably priced Care Act and his work on the implementation of the 2009 stimulus package deal.
Mr. Trump has portrayed Mr. Biden’s document in a really totally different gentle, and Mr. Biden has confronted criticism over quite a few votes throughout the 2020 marketing campaign, together with his assist for the Iraq warfare, the 1994 crime invoice and NAFTA.
The president’s main focus prior to now a number of months has been on mail-in ballots, which he claims — with none proof — are topic to widespread fraud and shouldn’t be allowed.
Mr. Biden has warned that Mr. Trump is searching for to undermine the legitimacy of the election. “This president goes to attempt to not directly steal the election by arguing that mail-in ballots don’t work,” he mentioned in July.
Mr. Biden has additionally warned about doable international interference, vowing that as president, he would impose important penalties for any meddling by international powers. Final week, he referred to as Mr. Trump’s refusal to decide to a peaceable switch of energy a “typical Trump distraction.”