Truthout
Presidential Debates
![The stage is built and technology tested for the first 2020 Presidential Debate between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden hosted by Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 28, 2020.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2020/09/2020-0929-debate-stage-400x300.jpg)
Tonight’s Debate May Have Little Effect on Trump’s Base But It Will Affect Biden
Tonight may decide whether we face a protracted post-election mudfight, which could be averted through a landslide.
![The Cleveland Clinic is pictured in Cleveland, Ohio on March 10, 2020.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2020/09/2020_0929-cleveland-clinic-400x300.jpg)
Private Police at Hospital Hosting Trump-Biden Debate Mostly Arrest Black People
Even though most hospital employees, patients and visitors are white, Black people are disproportionately charged.
![Workers prepare for the first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden at Case Western Reserve University on September 27, 2020, in Cleveland, Ohio.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1276984530-400x300.jpg)
The First 2020 Presidential Debate Needs to Address Wealth and Income Inequality
In these days of despair over democracy, we desperately need to discuss how economically unequal we have become.
![](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2020/09/2020_0922-presidential-debate-400x300.jpg)
Topics for the First Debate Announced — Here’s How Trump, Biden Poll on Them
While polls show a clear preference for one candidate, Americans aren't confident on who they think will end up winning.
![](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2019/08/2019_0804-Democratic-debate-400x300.jpg)
The Democratic Debates Need More Questions About Nuclear War
Democratic candidates desperately need to articulate their plans to avert a nuclear crisis.
![CNN took an approach to the debates more befitting a football game than an exercise in democracy.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2019/08/GettyImages-1165424171-400x300.jpg)
We Need Independently Run Presidential Debates
CNN took an approach to the debates more befitting a football game than an exercise in democracy.
![Democratic presidential candidates stand on stage in a row behind podiums](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2019/07/2019_0729-presidential-debate-400x300.jpg)
Presidential Debates Reflect All That Is Wrong With Dominant Media
The shallowness of the debates is designed to serve the financial interests of Big Media and its wealthy patrons.
![Democratic presidential candidates stand at their podiums during the second dem debate](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2019/06/2019_0628-dem-debate2-400x300.jpg)
Democratic Debates Were Depth-Free. Will Future Rounds Be Better?
Many of the candidates were jockeying for prominence in promoting Bernie Sanders’s ideas.
![The 88-year-old ex-senator was recruited by teenage democratic socialists to push Democratic candidates to the left.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2019/04/2019_0418-mike-gravel-400x300.jpg)
Mike Gravel Is Running for President — But He Doesn’t Want to Win
The 88-year-old ex-senator was recruited by teenage democratic socialists to push Democratic candidates to the left.
![](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2017/12/2016-A-Bad-Year-for-Democracy-but-quotBest-Everquot-for-Big-Media-400x300.jpg)
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2016: A Bad Year for Democracy, but “Best Ever” for Big Media
The fact that the Trump campaign made 2016 “the best year in the history of cable news” should scare Americans.