5 highlights from the final 2020 presidential debate
Trump: ‘I am the least racist person in this room’
During a discussion on race in America, Trump defended himself from allegations of racism and slammed Biden for using the term “super predators” and supporting the controversial 1994 crime bill which Trump and other detractors argue “put tens of thousands of black men, mostly, in jail.”
Trump accused Biden of doing “such harm to the black community” by supporting the 1994 legislation before defending his own record on behalf of the black community during his first term as president. He cited “criminal justice reform, prison reform (and) opportunity zones” as well as his “tremendous investment” in historically black colleges and universities as evidence that “nobody has done more for the black community than Donald Trump … with the exception of Abraham Lincoln.”
Later, Welker asked Trump to respond to the accusation that sharing a video of a man chanting “white power” on social media and saying that “black professional athletes exercising their First Amendment rights should be fired” is “contributing to a climate of hate and racial strife.” Trump denied the notion that he was a racist.
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“I am the least racist person in this room,” he claimed. Welker repeated her question: “What do you say to Americans who are concerned by that rhetoric?”
“I don’t know what to say. I got criminal justice reform done,” he replied. After restating his accomplishments on behalf of the black community, Trump commented that “it makes me sad” to hear accusations of racism because “I am the least racist person, I can’t even see the audience because it’s so dark but I don’t care who’s in the audience, I’m the least racist person in this room.”
After sarcastically referring to Trump as “Abraham Lincoln,” Biden described his opponent as “one of the most racist presidents we’ve had in modern history.” According to Biden, “this guy is a dog whistle about as big as a foghorn.”
