President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden had faced-off for the last time at the 2020 Presidential Debate in Nashville, Tennessee.
The two candidates were asked about the issues looming over the country today, such as systemic racism, the coronavirus pandemic, tax returns, immigration, climate change, and the economy. Although both candidates are the "star" of the show, the moderator, Kristen Welker, was also given her share of the spotlight.
Moderator Welker receives praise from both sides
NBC White House correspondent Kristen Welker is named as the winner of the night. The 44-year-old journalist was the only person of color to moderate the presidential debate this year. The event was calmer and better than the first presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio.
The first presidential debate that happened on September 29 was widely criticized by both Republicans and Democrats after President Trump aggressively and consistently interrupted Joe Biden and moderator Chris Wallace, a Fox News anchor.
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Meanwhile, Welker rarely let President Trump derail the debate or interrupt Joe Biden as he answers the questions. She also firmly stood her ground when enforcing the rule for the debate.
Following the debate, Wallace was asked on air what he thought of the tenor of the final Presidential Debate that was moderated by Welker. He admitted that he was jealous, according to Forbes.
President Trump, who is trying to appeal to female voters as he trails Joe Biden in the polls, also praised Welker after the debate, even though he had been criticizing her days before the debate.
At one point during the debate, President Trump told Welker he respects the way she handled the debate. Over the weekend, however, President Trump wrote on Twitter that Welker has "always been terrible and unfair, just like most of the Fake News reporters."
Before the debate, the executive producer of NBC's Today show, Libby Leist, who was a member of Welker's debate prep team, told The Washington Post that she instructed Welker to do her job, do her research, do her prep and her reading, and just ignore everything else.
President Trump and Joe Biden debated for more than an hour at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, on October 22. The first debate was so widely panned that changes were immediately done by the Commission on Presidential Debates, to make sure that each candidate would have two full uninterrupted minutes to answer on each topic.
Welker's performance
Kristen Welker was the youngest of the four journalists that were picked by the Commission on Presidential Debates to oversee the presidential debates this year, according to BBC.
Welker gave both candidates multiple opportunities to talk directly to the American people. Both candidates said that they understood the challenges of the people, especially the Black community, but the segment amounted mostly to them verbally attacking each other.
President Trump blamed Joe Biden as the force behind mass incarceration, especially of young Black men. The president declared himself as the "least racist person" in the room and repeated his claim that nobody has done what he's done for Black Americans with the exception of Abraham Lincoln.
Polls suggest that a lot of young voters of color do not support President Trump, but they aren't keen on voting for Joe Biden either. It still does not show that the final debate changed their view.
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