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Trump, Biden clash at final presidential debate

US President Donald Trump (L) speaks as Democratic Presidential candidate and former US Vice President Joe Biden looks on during the final presidential debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, on October 22, 2020. (AFP photo)

US President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden have begun their third and final debate in Nashville, Tennessee.

Their second presidential debate was canceled after Trump refused to participate virtually following his COVID-19 diagnosis.

The first debate was widely criticized for descending into an angry shouting match, with Trump frequently hectoring and interrupting, prompting Biden to tell him to "shut up" as the two fought over COVID-19, healthcare and the struggling economy.

During their last debate held at Belmont University on Thursday, Biden renewed his attacks against Trump over his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic.

“This is the same fellow told you this is going to end by Easter last time. This is the same fellow who told you that, don't worry, we're going to end this by the summer. We're aboutto go into a dark winter, a dark winter, and he has no clear plan."

Trump said that his administration is fighting the disease “hard,” adding, "We’re rounding the corner. It’s going away.”

"I caught it. I learned a lot … We have to recover. We can't close up our nation."

So far, the virus has infected over 8,661,000 and killed more than 228,300 people across the United States.

Trump has held rallies where most of his supporters did not abide by social distancing guidelines or wear face masks.

The Republican president himself was hospitalized for three nights after contracting the potentially deadly virus, but resumed a heavy schedule of campaign travel.

Trump attacks business entanglements about Biden’s son

Trump, as he promised, attacked the business entanglements about Biden’s son, Hunter, by focusing on what American families are feeling.

He repeated his accusations that Biden and his son engaged in unethical practices in China and Ukraine, while no evidence has been verified to support the accusations.

“There’s a reason why he’s bringing up all this malarkey. There’s a reason for it. He doesn’t want to talk about the substantive issues. It’s not about his family and my family. It’s about your family. And your family’s hurting badly,” Biden said

“They’re the decisions you’re making,” Biden said. “In the middle-class families like I grew up in... they’re in trouble. We should be talking about your families. But that’s the last thing he wants to talk about.”

Biden criticizes Trump for befriending North Korea's "thug" leader

Biden denounced Trump for befriending North Korea's "thug" leader, likening his diplomacy to working with Hitler.

He attacked Trump's insistence that he has avoided war through his summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"He's talked about his good buddy, who's a thug," Biden said of Kim. "That's like saying we had a good relationship with Hitler before he invaded Europe -- the rest of Europe. Come on."

Trump, in response, said his predecessor Barack Obama had left him "a mess" on Pyongyang and had warned him of the risk of "nuclear war."

After the summits, "we have a very good relationship. And there's no war," said Trump,

Biden slams Trump for family separations at US border with Mexico

Biden also criticized Trump for what he referred to as "criminal" family separations at the US border with Mexico under the president’s administration.

According to a court filing this week by the American Civil Liberties Union, the parents of 545 children who were separated under Trump’s immigration policy cannot be located.

"Those kids are alone. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to go. It's criminal," Biden said, charging that the policy "violates every notion of who we are as a nation."

Biden calls Trump one of the most racist presidents

Biden has called Trump "one of the most racist presidents" in history, saying, "He pours fuel on every single racist fire."

"This guy has a dog whistle as big as a foghorn," he said.

Trump, on the other hand, responded by slating Biden's authorship of a 1994 crime bill that increased incarceration of minority defendants.

He asserted he had done more for Black Americans than any president with the "possible" exception of Abraham Lincoln in the 1860s.


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