The US Presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was pure chaos with candidates and moderator yelling over each other peppered with words such as, ‘let him finish,’ ‘will you shut up’, ‘You don’t know anything’, ‘you are lying’.

Tension was palpable as many times Donald Trump cut in to stop Biden from speaking, diverting focus or just trying to shout him down. The only friendly gesture in this combative atmosphere would have been the customary handshake at the beginning of the debate, but that too was cancelled due to the pandemic.

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Just minutes in, the debate turned into an all-out and personal brawl as they raced through issues from a Supreme Court vacancy to the coronavirus pandemic to the US health care system. “Everything he’s saying so far is simply a lie. I’m not here to call out his lies. Everybody knows he’s a liar,” former vice president Biden said.

Biden — taking on a feisty, aggressive tone despite Trump’s taunts that he had low energy — then told the US president: “Will you shut up, man?”, “It’s hard to get a word in with this clown,” Biden snapped at one point.

Biden, who is leading in polls, sought to pin down Trump on the COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed more than 200,000 lives in the United States, more than in any other country. “How many of you got up this morning and had an empty chair at the kitchen table because someone died of COVID?” Biden said.

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Mocking the 74-year-old Trump for one of his more notorious statements from the White House podium, Biden said: “Maybe you could inject bleach in your arm and that would take care of it.” Trump hit back saying that was said in ‘jest’.

Trump also went on to question the 77-year-old’s educational record, “Don’t ever use the word smart with me. Don’t ever use that word with me. There’s nothing smart about you, Joe,” Trump said.

Trump at one point charged that the “radical left” has Biden “wrapped around their finger.” He also attacked Biden’s insistence on wearing a mask to prevent COVID, a decision in line with medical experts’ advice, “You have to understand, I have a mask right here. I put a mask on when I think I need it,” Trump said, “I don’t wear a mask like him, every time you see him, he’s got a mask.”

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Before they even appeared for the first of three 90-minute TV showdowns, barbs were flying. Biden, seeking to eat into Trump’s crucial support among blue collar voters, capitalized on bombshell revelations that the billionaire Trump managed to avoid paying almost any federal income taxes for years. Trump — who has broken longtime presidential transparency by refusing to publish his tax returns — reportedly used loopholes to pay just $750 in federal tax during the first year of his presidency. He said at the debate that he has paid “millions” in taxes.