This time it's not a bar fight, but a civil debate. On stage at Belmont University from Nashville, Donald Trump does not repeat the error of first debate against Joe Biden. Advised by his collaborators, the President lets his democratic adversary do the talking, he doesn't prevaricate, he even seems calm. Also because the commission this time, after each question, turns off the microphone alternately to the two candidates, leaving each two minutes to respond, without the opponent having the opportunity to intervene.
The central argument is of course the Covid-19 pandemic, which has so far affected eight million Americans, causing more than 220 deaths. “Whoever is responsible for so many deaths cannot be president of the United States”, attacks Biden. "It's not my fault, but China's - replies Trump - We have to learn to live with it”. The response of the democratic candidate is probably the winning thrust of the evening: “You don't live with the virus, you die”. Phrase that immediately goes viral on social media.
Trump then goes on the counterattack: “Your family took money when you were vice president”, says the incumbent President, referring to the affairs of Biden's son in Ukraine. “The only one who has done business with China is you”, replies the Democrat, taking advantage of the recent scoop of New York Times on a secret Trump bank account in Beijing.
And then the racial question, which is linked to the problem of irregular immigration. Biden defines Trump “one of the most racist presidents in modern history” and relaunches the proposal to create a path for give citizenship to the “dreamers”, the children of irregular immigrants who have grown up most of their lives in the United States. Obama had already tried (unsuccessfully) to regularize these subjects. “If I run it is precisely because of your bad work – thunders Trump referring to the eight years in which Obama and Biden were number one and two in the White House – If you had done right, I wouldn't even be here by now”.
According to a CNN poll, again the winner of the debate is Biden. But at the very end, when the live is about to close, the Democratic candidate commits one mistake - look at the clock. A sign of impatience and difficulty that also betrayed George Bush in 1992, when Bill Clinton won.
