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A2 UP FRONT
Tuesday 29 sepTember 2020
Trump, Biden prepare to debate at a time of mounting crises

By JONATHAN LEMIRE and bate — or the two that fol- mattered: most famously,
JILL COLVIN low in the weeks ahead — a turning point in the 1960
Associated Press remains unclear. race was when John F.
CLEVELAND (AP) — In an The tumult of 2020 is difficult Kennedy was perceived
election year like no other, to overstate: COVID-19 has — at least by TV viewers
the first debate between rewritten the rules of every- — as outdueling Richard
President Donald Trump day life; schools and busi- Nixon. And in 1980, Ronald
and his Democratic chal- nesses are shuttered; and Reagan was able to reas-
lenger, Joe Biden, could be racial justice protests have sure nervous voters that
a pivotal moment in a race swept the nation after a se- he possessed a presiden-
that has remained stub- ries of high-profile killings of tial temperament when he
bornly unchanged in the Black people by police. delivered a winning perfor-
face of historic tumult. Despite the upheaval, the mance against incumbent
The Tuesday night debate presidential race has re- Jimmy Carter.
will offer a massive platform mained largely unchanged While both sides anticipate
for Trump and Biden to out- since Biden seized control a vicious debate between
line their starkly different vi- In this combination of file photos, former Vice President Joe of the Democratic field two men who do not like
sions for a country facing Biden, left, speaks in Wilmington, Del., on March 12, 2020, and in March. The nation has each other, the Biden cam-
President Donald Trump speaks at the White House in Washington
multiple crises, including on April 5, 2020. soured on Trump's handling paign has downplayed the
racial justice protests and Associated Press of the pandemic, and night's importance, believ-
a pandemic that has killed while his base of support ing that the pandemic and
more than 200,000 Ameri- the course of the race, the coronavirus will likely has remained largely un- the battered economy
cans and cost millions of will have arguably his best dominate much of the dis- changed, he has seen de- will outweigh any debate
jobs. The health emergen- chance to try to reframe cussion. The pandemic's fections among older and stage gaffe or zinger. Con-
cy has upended the usual the campaign as a choice force will be tangible as female voters, particularly versely, the Trump cam-
trappings of a presidential election and not a referen- the candidates' podiums in the suburbs, and his path paign has played up the
campaign, lending height- dum over his handling of will be spaced far apart to 270 Electoral College magnitude of the duel, be-
ened importance to the a virus that has killed more and the traditional open- votes, while still viable, has lieving it will be a moment
debate. But amid intense people in America than ing handshake scrapped. shrunk. for the president to dam-
political polarization, com- any other nation. And the debate could be Polls suggest fewer unde- age Biden and recast the
paratively few undecided "This will be the first moment shaped by an extraordinary cided voters remain than race.
voters remain, raising ques- in four years that someone confluence of other recent at this point in the 2016 Trump had told advisers
tions as to how, or if, the de- will walk on stage as co- moments: the death of Su- campaign. And several that he is preparing an all-
bate might shape a race equal to Trump and be able preme Court Justice Ruth high-profile debates in past out assault on Biden, claim-
that has been defined by to hold him to account for Bader Ginsburg, allowing elections that were thought ing that the former sena-
its bitterness and, at least the malfeasance he has Trump to nominate a con- to be game-changing mo- tor's 47 years in Washington
so far, its stability. shown leading the coun- servative jurist to replace a ments at the time ultimate- have left him out of touch
Biden will step onto the try," said Steve Schmidt, liberal voice and reshape ly had little lasting effect. and that his family, namely
Cleveland stage holding senior campaign aide for the high court for genera- Four years ago, Democrat his son Hunter, has ben-
leads in the polls — signifi- John McCain's 2008 Re- tions, and the blockbuster Hillary Clinton was widely efited from corruption. The
cant in the national surveys, publican presidential bid revelations about Trump's seen as besting Trump in president on Monday also
closer in the battleground and a frequent Trump long-hidden tax history, in- their three debates, but repeated his demand that
states — but facing ques- critic. "If Biden is unable to cluding that he paid only she lost in November. In Biden take some sort of
tions about his turn in the indict Trump for all that he $750 a year in federal in- 2012, Mitt Romney crushed drug test, asserting without
spotlight, particularly con- has done, (that) would be come taxes in 2016 and Barack Obama in their first evidence that the Demo-
sidering Trump's withering profound failure. There is no 2017 and nothing in many meeting only to falter in the cratic nominee was some-
attacks. And Trump, with spinning that away." other years. rematches. how using a performance
only 35 days to change The president's handling of But the impact of the de- But some debates have enhancer. q

Dems to Facebook: Get serious about misinformation, hate

mation, voter suppression 50 days away, the lack set their own policies on
and incitements to vio- of concerted action by hate speech and misinfor-
lence ahead of the 2020 Facebook to address this mation.
election. threat to our democracy is In its response to the let-
In a letter sent to the com- a grave concern," the two ter, Facebook noted that
pany on Sunday, U.S. Rep- lawmakers wrote. "We are it faces pressure from both
resentatives Pramila Jaya- at the precipice of a dem- parties.
pal and David Cicilline ac- ocratic crisis, and Face- "We've faced criticism
cused Facebook of failing book must take all imme- from Republicans for be-
to enforce its own rules diate steps within Face- ing biased against con-
when it comes to false book's power to avert this servatives and Demo-
claims about the election, crisis." crats for not taking more
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., speaks during a House and not doing enough to Congress has done little to steps to restrict the exact
Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust on Capitol Hill in a
Wednesday, July 29, 2020,file photo, in Washington. stop right-wing militias and increase oversight of so- same content," company
Associated Press white supremacist groups cial media companies, so spokesman Andy Stone
from using the platform to the letter amounts to little said in an email. "Our job
By DAVID KLEPPER on Capitol Hill have urged organize potentially vio- more than a public scold- is to create one consistent
Associated Press Facebook to take stronger lent events. ing. Federal officials have set of rules that applies
Two influential Democrats action against misinfor- "With the election less than largely let the companies equally to everyone." q