Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Consumer cellular. Johnson johnson. Financial Services Firm raymond james. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems. The lentils and the l emelson foundation. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Mcarthur foundation, committed to a more just world. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and for contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Judy it was anything but politics as usual. The country is still talking tonight about what happened last night in cleveland. It was billed as a president ial debate, but had all the civility of a childrens food fight. Amna nawaz begins our extensive coverage. Amna after a bruising first debate, campaigns were back on the trail and trading barbs. Mr. Biden he did not have ideas or express a single plan about how to move forward. It was a national embarrassment. Pres. Trump we are giving people what they want, law and order, which biden was not able to talk about because he would loses radical left followers. I do not think there are too many left. Amna the night before began with a social distance greeting but quickly devolved into chaos. Moderator Chris Wallaces first question on the Supreme Court vacancy set off the first backandforth. Pres. Trump we won the election. Elections have consequences. We have the senate and the white house and a phenomenal nominee. Mr. Biden the issue is, the American People should speak. Vote now. Make sure you in fact let people know. Amna the president repeatedly sot to paint biden is a farleft candidate. Pres. Trump if you say those words, you will lose all of your radical left supporters. They will dominate you, joe. You know that. Mr. Biden i am the Democratic Party right now. Pres. Trump mr. Trump defended his Pandemic Response as the u. S. Death toll crossed 206,000 lives. Mr. Biden it is what it is because you are who you are. That is why it is. The president has no plan. Pres. Trump if we would have listened to you, the country would have been left wide open, millions would have died, not 200000 and one is too much. Amna in up protest about police brutality, the president retued to his message of law order. Pres. Trump name one group that supports you. Mr. Biden i am opposed to Defunding Police officers. They need more assistance. This is a president who has used everything as a dog whistle to try to generate racist hatred, racist division. Mr. Wallace are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacist . Amna in one moment, the moderator asked him to condemn white supremacist, the president dodged. Pres. Trump somebody has to do something about antifa and the left. This is not a right problem. Amna President Trump spent much of the time tackling and interrupting the former Vice President. The moderator struggled to maintain control. Mr. Wallace i think the country would be better served if we allowed both people to speak with fewer interruptions. I am appealing to youo do that. Pres. Trump i am, too. Mr. Wallace frankly, you have been doing more interrupting. Amna personal attacks punctuated the debate. Mr. Biden you are the worst president america has ever had. Pres. Trump i have done more in 47 months then you have done in 47 years. Amna building 2 a Heated Exchange after biden cited reports of the president calling military members losers. Mr. Biden my son was in iraq. He spent a year there. He got the bronze star, the Conspicuous Service medal. He was not a loser. He was a patriot and i resent i am talking about my son, beau biden. Pres. Trump hunter got thrown out of the military. He was thrown out, dishonorably discharged. Mr. Biden that is not true. Pres. Trump he did not have a job until you became Vice President. I was not impressed with the lack of decorum. Amna six voters from both from across the country came away feeling more frustrated than informed. To see the kind of behavior exhibited was very disappointing. Very disappointed they were fighting with each other. They were very personal in some of their discussions, bringing family into it. I do not think either one was able to express any substantive point. It was all a rehash of things i had heard earlier. Raise your hand if you feel like you have learned something. Nobody learned anything new. Amna they issued a statement saying, last nights debate made clear additional structure should be added to the format of e remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues. Vice president mike pence and senator kama harris will debate on october 7. The next president ial debate is scheduled for october 15. For the pbs newshour, i am on the vase. Judy to give us a closer look at how both campaigns are moving ahead after last nights debate i am joined by Yamiche Alcindor and lisa de chardin. Hello to both of you. You have been looking at some of the moments from this debate. Give us a chance an idea where this race stands for both men. Yamiche the key moment that stands out is the one that both the Biden Campaign and Trump Campaign are focused on today and that is the president s refusal to condemn white supremacist out right. The president is defending himself and said he has been seeking to clarify and clean up his statements. He said he did not know who the proud boys we. He said what he met meant was for White Supremacist Groups to stand away from the issues so Law Enforcement can do their jobs. That is not what he set on the debate stage yesterday, but the Trump Campaign has been messaging that today. He is saying he does not know who the proud boys are winning 2016 when he was asked to condem david duke, a former grand wizard of the kkk, he said he did not know who david duke was and it did not know anything about White Supremacist Groups. The Biden Campaign is seizing on the president s comments. Saying it was a national embarrassment. Joe biden said the president essentially should not have said the things he was saying. He also had his own message for white supremacist. He said cease and desist. The Trump Campaign will have to talk about this issue. That means they are not talking about what they want to be talking about, including the coronavirus, the economy, health care. This is putting the Trump Campaign in a tough position. They are trying to message that joe biden is bad for black america and black communities, but so far he has a lead among black voters. Judy lisa, as we are hearing so much of the focus today on what happened last night is on the insults back and forth, the angry language. You have keyed in as well on important policy points that emerged between the two of them. Lisa lets do something completely crazy and talk about policy and problems in this country. Embedded in the mud of that debate you could find some important policy differences. I want to start with the coronavirus itself. There was an important but very Fast Exchange i think summed up one of the differences between these men. Of course there are large differences over how much credence they give to which experts, how often they talk about the death toll and what is the reality of the situation. But the question is an approach Going Forward. There was an exchange where you heard President Trump say people want their schools open, they want things to be open and former Vice President biden responded, people want to be safe. That is an important policy difference that got lost in all the heat last night, which is the priority . Is it the safety of American People or the economy . A big difference. Another one is health care. Huge issue for the Biden Campaign. It is something they talk about a lot. Ts look at the differences. When you look at what Vice President talked about, his plan is to expand obama and add the public option, a government run Insurance Plan people could choose if they wanted. What you heard from President Trump last night is obamacare is too expensive, unwieldy. When asked specifically for a replacement the president did not offer a plan. He talks more about Prescription Drug prices coming down. Did not get specifics on how that would happen. Another issue, preexisting conditions. We heard from biden. Lots of concerns. He named 100 million americans which experts believe are the group that has preexisting conditions that could affect their conditions. President trump says there is too much concern for government, too much government entering the Health Care Arena and said bidens plan would be in the direction of social suit socialism. Is it a concern that government would go too far, as President Trump was expressing. Judy staying with you and beyond the debate there was news today, new talks between the parties about a Coronavirus Relief bill. Tell us where that ended up. Lisa this will be quick. Talks have restarted, there are some signs of hope, but also Mitch Mcconnell says they are far apart. We will keep watching. Judy back to you, yamiche. Where do things go from here . Yamiche where things go is both campaigns will be messaging and trying to convince voters even with the food fight brawl they saw yesterday that that candidate,iden or trump is the person that should be elected to move forward and see this country through this pandemic. Lisa brought up a point that is important. These covid19 talks continue, and the white house is focused on a proposal. The president is continuing to work on this issue, but biden says trump is doing things to distract from the virus. He said last night should be a wakeup call to americans to show what is at stake. He said he believes President Trump is focused more on himself than the American People. I want to put up a chart. The pandemic continues to kill and infect americans to the daily coronavirus death in developed nations. This is the u. S. Compared to modernized nations. In march and april the two lines, the purple is the u. S. , they were on the same level. But as you have seen months go on april to september, the u. S. Has higher deaths per millions. The president says we are doing well compared to other nations, but this chart shows just how bad the u. S. Is doing when you compare it to other modern industrialized nations. The u. S. Is losing more people than many in the same position. Judy so important for us to remember that and keep track of it and report on it every day. Yamiche alcindor, lisa des jardins, thank you. Judy it has happened before with President Trump, stopping short of clearly denouncing farright extremists and racist groups and sentiments when prompted. William brangham has our deeper dive into that exchange from last nights debate. This is the moment when the president was unwilling to criticize racist groups in america. Mr. Wallace are you willing to condemn white suemacist and militia groups and say ty need to stand down and not add to the violence in cities as we saw in kenosha and portland . Pres. Trump i am willing to do that, but i would say almost everything i see is from the left wing, not the right. Mr. Wallace what are you saying . Pres. Trump i want to see peace. Mr. Wallace so do it, sir. Mr. Biden say it. Pres. Trump what do you want me to do . Who do you want me to condemn . Proud boys . Stand back and stand by. Somebody has to do something about antifa and the left because this is not a right wing problem. Mr. Wallace the proud boys are part of a Loose Network of farright, extremist, and racist groups in the u. S. , many of whom have aligned themselves closely with the president and his policies. Last night, New York Times reporter mike baker tweeted that some proud boys had modified their logo to include the president s words stand back, stand by seemingly taking them as their new motto. Leaving the white house today, President Trump said he didnt know who the proud boys were, but he urged restraint. Pres. Trump they have to stand down and let Law Enforcement do their work. William but last night was just the latest example of the president s reluctance to clearly rebuke extremi, far right groups. In 2017, after clashes in charlottesville, virginia at a white supremacist protest, where a woman was murdered, he said this pres. Trump you had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. William just two weeks ago trumps fbi director, christopher wray, warned congress of the threat posed by White Supremacists. The White Supremacists are the largest chunk of their racially motivated domestic terrorists. Dir. Wray yes, but let me also say that racially motivated violent extremists over recent years have been responsible for the mo lethal activity in the u. S. William also this month, brian murphy, an official in the department of homeland security, filed a whistleblower complaint, claiming that other senior officials directed him to downplay the threat of White Supremacy in a manner that made the threat appear less severe. The Trump Campaign pushed back, noting the president s new platinum plan for black communities, which touches on economic and health care issues, but also calls for the department of justice to treat the kkk as a domestic terror organization. Former Vice President joe biden addressed the remarks about the proud boys today mr. Biden my message to the proud boys and every other White Supremacist Group is, cease and desist. Thats not who we are. This is not who we are as americans. William biden has said the president s words about charlottesville spurred him to launches 2020 bid. He said mr. Trumps rerks last night were a wakeup call for all americans. For more, i am joined by janai nelson from the naacp and by kathleen, historian at the university of chicago who studies the White Power Movement in america. Thank you both for being here. Kathleen, for those who had never heard of the proud boys until last night, can you tell us, who are they and where do they fit in the constellation of white power groups in america . Kathleen the proud boys are familiar to most of us from the unite the right rally in charlotteslle in 2017. That is the rally where this resurgence of the White Power Movement caught public attention and reentered our public consciousness for the first time in this cycle. It includes a wide varietyf activists ranging from the proud boys, interested mostly in Public Safety and activism and fight club get out the vote activity to grou with a mourn of farias character, a host of people who have been described as lone wolf actors. William the president was asked to denounce them, but instead said stand back, stand by. What does that mean . Janai even in the most generous interpretation in which some people argued he meant to say stand down he did not say stand down. The White Power Movement heard this as stand back, stand by these activists will take that to mean standby for further action. Furthermore we know they heard it that way because this phrase has been incorporated into logo design and there has been a lot of activity around these words. It is also a Paramilitary Movement that has been amassing in militias, training in pellet paramilitary camps, preparing to do violence for a long time. When they hear stand by many will hear a call to arms and further action. William this is not the first time the president has been called upon to denounce groups like this. What did you think and here last night . Janai what i heard was a blatant attack on our democracy. The president with all the country and world watching, stood in solidarity with White Supremacy. Unlike his previous comments, he spoke directly to them. He told them to stand back and stand by and last night i believe we reached a Tipping Point in our country. We witnessed an alliance between elected head of state and a Violent Extremist Organization on full display. This is precisely how democracies unravel. The failure to condemn this heinous behavior creates a clear choice for voters about the america they want to live in. He revealed himself and his plan for this country in those statements. William can you help us understand when the president talks like this, how does this language matter . Does it change minds, does it swell the numbers in these types of groups . Kathleen absolutely. The danger is, a call to arms statement is like a bell you cannot unring. This movement has organized across decades if not generations and many activists are intent not only on things like poll watching and voter suppression, t