Joe Biden and Donald Trump went head-to-head for the last time before the US election on 3 November in the final television debate in which they offered contrasting visions of how to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
Squaring off in Nashville, the Democratic challenger said anyone who had presided over the deaths of more than 220,000 Americans did not deserve to be president. The incumbent, who failed to land any knockout blows to revive his faltering campaign, could only venture that the virus would “go away”.
President Donald Trump declared, yet again, that he’s the “least racist person” while responding to a question on race in America during the final presidential debate on Thursday opposite Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Donald Trump tells a Black woman he’s the least racist person in the room. #Debates2020 pic.twitter.com/HRiwIG5ToD
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) October 23, 2020
In making his statement to Kristen Welker, the first Black woman to moderate a presidential debate since 1992, Trump attempted to backpedal on his hateful rhetoric toward Black Americans.
Welker challenged Trump for calling the Black Lives Matter movement a “ symbol of hate” for tweeting a video of a Florida supporter chanting “white power” and for slamming Black athletes for exercising their First Amendment rights, asking him what he has to say to people who argue that his comments are contributing to a climate of racial violence.
Trump claimed that his “first glimpse” of Black Lives Matter “was a terrible thing,” citing a 2015 protest march in which some involved shouted “Pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon” about police officers.
Welker continued to press Trump, asking again what he says to Americans who are concerned by his words and actions. He avoided the question, instead saying he didn’t “know what to say” and that people “can say anything” about him.
“It makes me sad because I am the least racist person. I can’t even see the audience because it is so dark, but I don’t care who’s in the audience. I am the least racist person in this room,” he reiterated.
Trump has declared he’s the “least racist person” before, most recently in 2019 when he said he was the “least racist person in the world”
Viewers quickly took to social media to registers their sentiments.
https://twitter.com/adriennegraf/status/1319464962645897216?s=20
"I'm the least racist person in the room!"
Kristin Welker: pic.twitter.com/fjiQ51mT3b
— Daniel 'danbanbam' Spencer (@danbanbam) October 23, 2020
The most memorable part of the debate for me: President Trump said "I'm the least racist person in this room."
Kristen Welker, a black woman, was in the room.#PresidentialDebate2020 #Debates2020 pic.twitter.com/xf8Qo4QEpO
— Eric Cox (@EricCoxTV) October 23, 2020
