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US-POLITICS-DEMOCRATS-DEBATE
Democratic 2020 candidates lash Trump before debating policy
WASHINGTON, Dec 20, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Democratic candidates on the 2020
presidential debate stage Thursday quickly attacked Donald Trump one day
after his impeachment, saying he is a corrupt president who deserves to be
ousted.
“We need to restore the integrity of the presidency,” frontrunner Joe
Biden said.
He accused Trump of “dumbing down the presidency beyond what I even
thought he would do.”
The comments came at the top of a televised showdown in the shadow of
Trump’s impeachment for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
“My job is to go out and make the case why he doesn’t deserve to be
president of the United States for another four years,” Biden said.
The latest prime-time debate featured just seven of the 15 Democrats still
in the contest six weeks before the first nomination ballots are cast in
Iowa.
Senator Bernie Sanders, second in the standings, blasted Trump as “running
the most corrupt administration in the modern history of this country”.
The president has “sold out” working families, Sanders added.
But the liberal icon also appealed to conservatives, saying he believes
they, too do not want a president with the “temperament” that has led him to
dishonor the office.
Trump was impeached in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives
on Wednesday for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. One day later,
the spotlight was already swinging to the Senate trial, where the the
president is expected to be acquitted by his Republican majority.
Biden himself is a key figure in the impeachment saga, which centers on
Trump’s attempts to pressure the president of Ukraine to investigate the
former vice president and his son Hunter — which Democrats said amounted to
soliciting foreign interference in next year’s vote.
There has been no evidence of wrongdoing by the Bidens.
“This is a global Watergate,” Senator Amy Klobuchar said, referring to the
scandal that sank president Richard Nixon in the early 1970s.
Trump has blocked key officials in his administration from testifying in
the inquiry. But Klobuchar said that if Trump feels they could exonerate him,
“why doesn’t he have all the president’s men testify?”
The showdown marks a significant drop from the 10 candidates in November’s
debate, and the dozen who crowded the stage in October.
Cozier quarters allowed for more extended exchanges about policy between
participants hoping for their party’s nomination to challenge Trump.
While the attacks on Trump landed hard, some candidates urged optimism to
ease the exasperation many voters have expressed about American politics.
“It is up to us in 2020,” said Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of
South Bend, Indiana. “This is our chance to refuse to be taken in by the
helplessness.”
– ‘No love’ –
Biden, popular with blue-collar workers and African Americans, has
promised to raise America’s standing back to the way it was under Barack
Obama, rescuing it from the extreme polarization of Trump’s tenure.
But Biden has faced doubts about his health and age — he is 77 — as well
as the repercussions of the Ukraine affair.
The Democratic elder statesman, who served three decades in the US Senate
where he built deep friendships with rival Republicans, bristled at a
suggestion he was the candidate seeking to “return” America to normal after
Trump.
He referred to Republican attacks on “me, my son, my family,” and said: “I
have no love.” “But the fact is we have to be able to get things done.”
The centrist Biden is leading polls, trailed by Sanders and Massachusetts
Senator Elizabeth Warren who are competing for the party’s progressive wing.
Their leftist platform — universal health care, a tax on the wealthy to
reduce inequality, dramatic action on climate change — is very popular with
young and women voters, but makes moderates uneasy.
Buttigieg is in fourth place but has surged to the top in Iowa, which
votes first in the Democratic nominating process on February 3.
Further back in the pack are Klobuchar and entrepreneur Andrew Yang, whose
staying power continues to surprise.
California billionaire Tom Steyer rounds out the group.
While two women were on stage, Yang, who is Taiwanese American, is the
only non-white candidate in the debate. Senator Cory Booker and former
cabinet member Julian Castro did not qualify.
Senator Kamala Harris, the only black woman in the race, dropped out
earlier this month.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0842 hrs