Thread by @sahilkapur

First presidential debate is underway.

Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News kicks off by saying none of the questions were shared with the commission or either of the candidates.

Trump defends his move to speedily appoint a Supreme Court justice at this stage: "We won the election. Elections have consequences. We have the Senate. We have the White House. We have a phenomenal nominee."

Biden waits about a minute into the debate to make his first Obamacare mention. "He's in the Supreme Court now trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act."

Joe Biden on Amy Coney Barrett (who hasn't yet been confirmed): "I'm not opposed to the justice. She seems like a very fine person."

He then notes Barrett's previous writings sympathetic to anti-ACA litigation.

Trump accuses Biden of supporting single payer. Biden does not. He notes that he doesn't and defeated Democrats who do in the primary. Trump says again that he and his party support it.

"That is simply a lie," Biden says.

Roe v. Wade "is also at stake now," Biden says.

Trump jumps in: "You don't know what's on the ballot. Why is it on the ballot?"

[INAUDIBLE CROSSTALK]

"Everything he's saying so far is simply a lie," Joe Biden says. "I'm not here to call out his lies. Everybody knows he's a liar."

This debate so far is being fought on Biden's terrain of health care. Trump says he wants "better health care at a much lower price." Biden replies, "He has never offered a plan." Trump goes on to blame ACA for the problems in the health care system. Biden: "He has no plan."

"The fact is this man doesn't know what he's talking about," Biden says, and Chris Wallace moves on from health care.

Joe Biden dodges on whether he favors ending the filibuster and expanding the Supreme Court: "Whatever position I take, that'll become the issue. The issue is the American people should speak."

Trump interrupts to push him.

"I'm not going to answer the question," Biden says.

Here's more on Biden's SCOTUS expansion punt: nbcnews.com/politics/2020-…

Biden tells Trump to "get out of the bunker and the sand trap in your golf course" and cut a deal with Congress to pass COVID-19 relief, says he has no plan.

Trump touts his travel ban from China. "You wouldn't have closed it for another two months."

Biden mocks Trump on floating a bleach mainline to kill the virus. Trump interrupts and says he was being sarcastic.

Biden: "A lot of people died. And a lot more are going to die unless he gets a lot smarter a lot quicker."

Trump: "You used the word SMART?"

The president says Biden is not smart.

Trump mocks Biden as overly cautious with masks: "He could be speaking 200 feet away and he shows up with the biggest mask I've seen."

Donald Trump: "I’m the one who brought back football."

Biden taunts Trump to release his tax returns, which baits the president into saying he's "totally under-leveraged because the assets are extremely good."

"I'm going to eliminate the Trump tax cuts," Biden says.

Trump keeps hitting Biden for failing to fix various problems over his decades in public office.

Biden claps back with a flash of irritation: "You're the worst president America has ever had. Come on."

Joe Biden: "We handed him a booming economy. He blew it."

Trump brings up Biden's son and keeps interrupting and jumping in, not letting him respond.

"It's hard to get any word in with this clown," Biden says. "Excuse me, this person."

Chris Wallace tells Trump to stop interrupting. Donald Trump says he should tell Joe Biden should stop, too. Wallace tells Trump (accurate) that he's doing it more.

This debate is out of control.

In the same answer, Trump evokes the tough-on-crime bill to say Biden has been too harsh on the Black community, then says he's in thrall to the anti-police left.

"Violence in response is never appropriate. Never appropriate. Peaceful protest is. Violence is never appropriate," Joe Biden says.

Joe Biden calls Donald Trump a "racist" to his face on the debate stage. Moments later, Biden says: "This is not 1950. All these dog whistles on racism don't work anymore. Suburbs are by and large integrated."

Presidents often struggle in the first debate because they haven't been on the same footing as an opponent in nearly four years. For Trump, he hasn't been able to control and steer the conversation as he usually can, hence all the interruptions and demands and changing of topics.

Asked if he's willing to condemn white supremacists and militia groups, Trump says sure, he's willing to, but "this is not a right-wing problem, this is a left-wing problem."

70 minutes in, Trump brings up @HillaryClinton.

Trump criticizes Biden for leaving him lots of judicial vacancies, saying he was a bad VP for it.

FACT: Obama-Biden did leave a lot of judicial vacancies because Mitch McConnell took over the Senate in 2015 and ground most Obama judge nominations, including to SCOTUS, to a halt.

Trump, asked if he believes the science of climate change, says "you've got to have forest management." Asked again, he again pivots to forest management.

BIDEN: "That is not my plan. The Green New Deal is not my plan."

Joe Biden: "No, I don't support the Green New Deal."

Joe Biden says it "doesn't matter" if Donald Trump refuses to accept the results of the election, "because if we get the votes it's going to be all over. He's going to go. He can't stay in power. It won't happen. Won't happen. So vote."