Joe biden good afternoon. Welcome from the Natural History museum. As a nation, we face one of the most difficult moments in our history in my view. Four historic crises all of the same time. The worst pandemic in 100 years that has already killed nearly 200,000 people and counting. The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression has cost tens of millions of american jobs and counting. Emboldened White Supremacy unseen since the 1960s, and a reckoning on race that is long overdue. And undeniable acceleration, the punishing reality of Climate Change on our planet and our people, on the lives and livelihoods, which i would like to talk about now. Jill and i continue, as i suspect all of you do, pray for those in california, oregon and washington, and across the west as these devastating wildfires rage on. Just as we hold those in our hearts those who faced the hurricanes, tropical storms off the coast of florida and north carolina, or like in parts of new orleans that have been issu
Donald trump and joe biden will take the stage for 90 minutes. Six topics on the table. The big question, will the candidates do anything tonight to change the course of this race . President tru behind right now, has been for months. And our statistics guru nate silver at fivethirtyeight calculates that joe biden has a 78 chance of winning the white house. But there are three debates, five weeks to go and President Trump has a history of shaking things up. Our chief White House Correspondent jon karl is on the scene in cleveland. George, donald trump goes into this debate with his back against the wall. By every publicly available measure, he is losing this race. Trailing in the national polls. No consistent lead in any of the top dozen most competitive battleground states. He needs to change the dynamic of this race and tonight is the best chance for him to do it. Hes been here before, four years ago, his campaign was collapsing and he turned it around in part with a debate. And goin
Here is the game plan for this evening. There will be six 15 minute rounds with the entire debate lasting about an hour and a half. No commercial breaks, no opening statements. Topics include the following covid, the Supreme Court, the economy, race and violence, the trump and biden records and the integrity of the national election. In a moment we will hear from Chris Wallace make his introductory remarks here at the Cleveland Clinic. We want to bring in tom bevan, cofounder and president of real clear politics. Good evening. Donald trump as we know is the incumbent. He is looking for the chance for the American People to rehire him for another four years. Layout is challenged tonight, tom. First he has to present a defense of his record, what hes done, and then also has to present a vision for the next four years. He is going to center that primarily a thinker on the economy, which is the number one issue in the minds of the American People. The single issue where Donald Trump Holds
Chris wallace. And the stakes, well, theyre high. The presidency and the future direction of the country on the line tonight, lester. Theres a lot of ground to cover, savannah, over the next 90 minutes. The candidates records, including President Trumps tax returns, the Supreme Court vacancy, the pandemic, the economy, racism, and civil unrest, and the integrity of the election itself. We may need a little longer than an hour and a half. The Debate Commission has set the rules and has determined, by the way, that the moderator is not responsible for factchecking the candidates tonight. But our team is standing by to do just that and to offer expert insight and analysis. And for live Fact Checking during the debate, go to nbcnews. Com. Well go first to correspondent Hallie Jackson inside the debate hall. Hall hallie, what are you hearing from both camps . Two different candidates and two different kinds of debate prep thats been happening. Sources close to President Trump, for example,
And companies will leave for other places. And you will have a depression the likes of which youve never seen. Vice pres. Biden look, we inherited the worst recession short of a depression in american history. I was asked to bring it back. We were able to have a recovery that created the jobs you are talking about. We handed him a booming economy. He blew it. Pres. Trump it wasnt booming. It was the weakest chris is it fair to say he blew it when there was record low unemployment before covid . Vice pres. Biden because what he did, even before covid, manufacturing went in a hole. Number two vice pres. Biden you are on pres. Trump chris, they said it would take a miracle to bring back manufacturing. I brought back 700,000 jobs. They brought back nothing. They gave up on manufacturing. Asked to. Biden i was bring back chrysler and general motors. Brought them back right here to the states of ohio and michigan. They are gone. He blew it. Pres. Trump ohio had the best year it ever had last