These were the highlights of the first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump for the 2020 elections. In this video, the moderator asks questions only for the debate to turn into a personal argument between the two candidates. It happens a lot where they will just start insulting and making the other look bad after answering a question. There is a lot of interrupting and yelling and it is generally just chaotic.
Now how does this demonstrate core American beliefs? Well as you can see throughout this entire debate there isn’t much holding back. Biden and Trump are constantly interrupting each other, talking over the other about stuff that isn’t even related to the main debate. Well, I believe that this is due to some of the core American beliefs. First of all, this represents freedom and the 1st amendment pretty well. They are saying whatever they want with no limits, making this a very informal debate. This is one of the reasons a lot of people like Trump as well, as they like someone who speaks their mind freely. Another core American belief that this debate also represents is representative democracy. 2020 was a very strange time and Biden and Trump represent it pretty well. This was a time when this nation was more divided than ever. People were very individualistic and only wanted what was best for them. Most of all people just didn’t want the other side to win. The core values of freedom, representative democracy, and individualism are there but we are missing unity. It is the United States of America, and while individualism is a big thing here, I also think that unity is another belief that has been forgotten. The only way that we beat Britain was through unity, and I think that this debate represents a time when unity was left out.
Questions:
1: Do you think that this debate sets a precedent and all future debates will be like this or if this was just a representative of all of the 2020 events?
2: What do you think the founding fathers would think about this political division?
3: How do you think this debate represents America in 2020?
4: Is unity and community neccessary in an individualistic society?
5: Have any other elections been this chaotic?
This assignment was fun to think about. I don’t think I chose the best video but it was fun to think of a way to link it to an american belief. I do think that it makes sense though and maybe this election will be shown in the future as a reminder of what happens when america gets too divided. This assignment should be used in the future.