Thread by @AlexandraErin

Still not 100% sure if I'm watching the debate or not. I have MSNBC on for the moment but 25 minutes to go and I'm not sure I'm not just going to bed then.

Okay, I think I'm doing this. If you want to shoot me some money for replenishing my liquor cabinet after, feel free.

paypal.me/alexandraerin

Kristen Welker looking forward to a "robust debate". I'm reminded of a classic shaggy dog joke punchline and imagining her going, "But not so robust as that, sir!"

Michael Steele announcing that he "feels free" after endorsing Biden... I don't want to like hug this guy to my bosom or anything but I appreciate him saying he's voting against Trump because he's "an American first" (before he's a Republican).

Oh, it's apparently happening.

No surprise in the opening minutes. Trump walks out unmasked, Biden takes off his mask after clearing the wings.

"On behalf of the voters, I'm going to ask each of you to speak one at a time" (during the open discussion, when the mics are left on)... I doubt it will move anyone's needle but Trump will absolutely not care about an appeal on anyone's behalf.

Trump's first answer about what he'd do to lead the country through the next phase of the virus is to once again claim credit for having avoided the projected 2 million deaths, and downplaying what's happening.

And promising an announcement of a vaccine "within weeks".

"A therapeutic, they call it. I guess some people would call it a cure." He's been coached not to call them cures but he can't help himself. Literally can't stop.

And Biden is talking now. This is his first turn, Trump's first time with the mic off. And he's hitting Trump's record, which isn't what he was asked, but Trump's answer leaned on his record.

Trump shaking his head when Biden says Trump has no plan, but not saying anything. Kind of looks like he's jotting notes. Might be a displacement activity for his urge to respond.

Trump was asked which two companies he says are "very close" on a vaccine and he names three companies that are "doing very well". Can anyone watch this and not understand he's making stuff up?

When questioned on his timeline for vaccine development Trump brings up the military logistical readiness for deploying it. Total sleight of hand.

Donald Trump disputes that winter is coming.

There's a lot of head-shaking in this debate. No one wants to be the first one to talk over the other.

Oh, Biden has deployed a derisive chuckle.

My early impression is that Biden was doing better, sooner in the last debate. He's not doing bad. But I think he played better against an off-the-leash Trump than he does against a Trump who waits his turn to lie.

"People are learning to die with it." Good line from Biden. He's now talking directly to the camera/audience, which was his strong point last time.

Conflating going to Chinatown in San Francisco and travel between US and China in order to prove you're not xenophobic is a choice from Trump.

"He didn't want me to shut down the border, that's obvious."

"Mr. Vice President, do you want to respond to that?"

"NO."

"These are businesses with no money."

So let's give people money, maybe?

Biden picked up on that and hit the point of giving the businesses money. Good move.

Biden using his last bit of time on the covid section to remind us all what Trump knew in January and kept secret.

Trump is trying again his "Hypothetically I could raise all the money I need if I was corrupt, just by squeezing companies for favors, because I'm the president and I know all those people." schtick.

Biden suggesting that he would guess Donald hasn't spoken to Putin much lately is an interesting dig.

Biden's very obviously rehearsed hesitation to bring up "his buddy, Rudy Giuliani" doesn't take much away from his speech.

I don't know if Biden practiced disbelieving looks in the mirror or if this is just his natural response, but it's a good way to get his reaction on record without interrupting.

I don't know who Donald Trump has credibility with this "no one is tougher on Russia" claim. The people who will back him on it, I'm sure, don't believe him.

"Release your tax returns or stop talking about corruption."

Trump is still claiming he wants to release his tax returns as soon as he can, at some point in the future. Probably the week after his healthcare plan comes out.

It's really interesting how Trump says that (Joe) Biden is getting all this money and then brings up the "and you get 10% of that"... he can't keep his corruption fantasies straight. His attempts to confuse Hunter and Joe Biden in voters' minds have confused him.

Biden interjects to say that taxpayers are paying for Trump's farm subsidies, not China. Risky but I think worth it.

And Biden dismisses Trump's smears as "malarkey" and says Trump is trying to make it about his family vs. Biden's family instead of the middle class American family.

Trump is deriding this as "typical politician" stuff.

Trump is now bringing up his frequent claim that we were on the brink of nuclear war with North Korea, which he averted. He's now attributing this as a claim that President Obama told him personally.

Trump opening up for President Obama to rebut his claims on North Korea might bite him in the backside in a future news cycle.

Oh, the ACA question. This is what basically killed him in the 60 Minutes interview.

Immediately jumping to boast about how much damage he's done to ACA already, as an accomplishment, is an *interesting* tactic to answering how he's going to protect people if the courts terminate it completely.

"What I would like to do is a much better healthcare. MUCH BETTER. Pre-existing conditions will always be protected." This is basically what he said on 60 Minutes.

God I hope Welker follows up by asking him how they'll be protected.

Biden is actually describing his plan point by point, waited until point 3 to rebut Trump claiming Biden is for "socialized medicine".

Biden is using the rest of his time to hit Trump on his inability to cover pre-existing conditions and his lack of a plan, "I guess we'll get it when we get the infrastructure plan."

Biden says the difference between him and Trump is that he believes health care is a right. Worth saying.

"He keeps talking about it but he hasn't done a thing." - Biden. Good.

"He's a very confused guy, he thinks he's running against someone else. Joe. Biden. He's running against Joe Biden."

"His idea of if the stock market is booming is his only measure of what's happening. Where I come from, people don't live off the stock market."

Trump is blaming Nancy Pelosi for holding up recovery. Will this really play with anyone? I know not everyone follows the political news that closely.

"It's not new. It's been out there. The HEROES Act has been sitting there." - Biden is bringing some fire here on Trump's lies about Nancy causing gridlock.

Biden's audible scoff is pretty good.

Biden bringing out "I don't see red states and blue states" for second time. Last time, he undercut it immediately by bringing up red state covid spikes. This time he's more consistent.

Biden fighting back a "bailout" critique by tying back to his answers on covid, about giving businesses support when they need it, is good.

"Different places are different." Trump's prepared lines are not as good as Biden's.

Biden explicitly tying the minimum wage to the poverty level and also saying there's no evidence it puts companies out of business, also good.

Trump's being asked about missing kids. He's impugning the people who bring them, and now bragging about his draconian immigration measures. The question is, how will he reunite the children with their parents.

"Do you have a plan to reunite the kids?"

"We're working on it very hard."

Trump and plans, don't mix.

Biden: "Let's talk about what we're talking about." and reiterating the facts of the lost/separated kids. He calls it "Criminal."

Biden's fury on behalf of asylum seekers is a good contrast to Trump's rhetoric about "rapists and murderers".

Joe Biden decides rather than rebutting Trump on court dates, he just looks at the camera and says, "Check it out."

Oh, good, now we're asking two old rich white guys what they think about Black families giving their kids The Talk.

Biden's decision to rip the bandaid off early by bringing up Giuliani makes more sense now that he's talking about his daughter the social worker in this section. This would be a bad time for Trump to decide it's open season on family.

When asked if he understands the plight of Black families with kids, Trump's answer is to brag about his supposed accomplishments with "the Black community".

Biden referring the viewer to his website for Trump's commentary on the crime bill.

Biden pointing out that Trump's "criminal justice reform" is mostly limited to 20 sentence commutations.

"I ran because of you. I ran because of Barack Obama." - Donald Trump not really undercutting the impression that he doesn't know who he's running against.

Oh, and Biden is answering this deliciously: "Yes, look at me." Invites the audience to look at both of them and judge them on their characters.

"I am the least racist person here."

"Abraham Lincoln here has been the most racist president we've had in modern history."

"This guy has a dog whistle about as big as a foghorn."

Donald Trump is trying to pretend like the Abraham Lincoln reference came out of nowhere, trying to make Joe Biden look confused. Don't think it landed well.

Joe Biden acknowledging that the war on drugs was a mistake, a 100 senator bipartisan mistake, is a welcome move.

"See? It's all talk, no action with these politicians," Donald Trump says, turning around another of Biden's criticism.

"Why didn't you get it done?"

"Because Republican Congress. That's the answer."

I wish Biden would point out that this is yet another example of Trump inheriting something from President Obama's administration, and dismantling it.

https://twitter.com/dynamicsymmetry/status/1319464547523137536

"I don't know where this guy comes from. I don't know where he gets these numbers from."

Biden brings up windmill cancer.

Trump: "I know more about wind than you do."

Biden cuts Trump off by asking him to put the tape he's talking about on his website. This referring audiences to websites thing, I hope it catches on in future debates, and/or largely replaces them.

Asked about families getting sick from pollution from plants, Trump's answer again is to talk about employment in communities of color. "Why should they vote for you?" "The economy!" is basically his answer. Polls suggest he's lost his advantage in that area.

Biden's rebuttal is that it doesn't matter how much you pay the communities if you can't keep them safe.

Final section, leadership. Thank goodness.

Asked what they will say to the people that didn't vote for them, in an inauguration speech.

Trump's again talking about "best Black numbers" and doing re-runs from his 60 Minutes special about how before "the plague" he was getting calls from "everyone".

Trump's fantasy inaugural speech is mostly about what Biden will do if he's president. Not a great answer for the question.

Biden, in an unusual move, is answering the question as it was asked.

Biden is at his best in these debates when he talks to the people, so this question is really well pitched towards him.

I think Trump did better than he did in the first one. Not great, not good. Just better.

Melania is masked. Dr. Jill Biden is, of course. Joe put on his mask again before she joined him. Trump is walking out through the wings (where we can see staffers/workers) unmasked.

MSNBC commentator is confused by Trump saying Biden "sold pillows and sheets" - this is a reference to the idea that US aid to the Ukraine under President Obama was humanitarian comfort items, non-military. It's not true.

We're getting initial fact checks:
- President Obama did not warn Trump about nuclear war being imminent.
- Mueller did not have Trump's tax records.

MSNBC talking about Trump's strategy of "working the ref" on Kristen Welker and proclaiming her the winner of the debate for managing to actually do this thing.

"Kristen Welker just broke the space/time continuum" - Rachel Maddow on the accomplishment of getting Donald Trump to have a policy discussion with another person.

So I'm going to stop livetweeting, the debate is over. If you got something out of this, feel free to give something back.

paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr…