President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden went head-to-head tonight for the final debate before Election day. The two men debated on issues including the national response to the coronavirus pandemic, the state of the economy and climate change. NBC’s Kristen Welker moderated the debate using great judgement, consistently reminding the candidates of their time, staying on topic and moving things along when needed.
While Trump did have some commentary that caused Black Twitter to pause and find the fact checking proof, there was no statement more confusing than one made in response to the debate question on race in America, specifically Black parents having the “talk” with their children and the candidate’s individual plans for criminal justice refrom.
“Nobody has done more for the Black community than Donald Trump. And if you look, with the exception of Abraham Lincoln, possible exception, but the exception of Abraham Lincoln, nobody has done what I’ve done,” said Trump.
Despite Trump professing his “best” unemployment numbers for Black workers and commuting several sentences during his time as president, it still wasn’t enopugh for Black Twitter to accept. In fact, that one statement alone set people on fire with responses questioning Trump’s history of incendiary and racially incentive remarks particularly when talking about the Black Lives Matter movement and encouraging groups like the Proud Boys.
“He talked about marauding gangs. People who are going to marauding our cities,” said Biden. “This is a guy, whether Central Park Five, five innocent Black kids, he continued to push for making sure they got the death penalty. None of them were guilty of the crimes that were suggested.”