10 Democrats in race to take on #Trump in 2020 election hold first debate

Published Jun 27, 2019

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Washington - Ten of the more than 20 Democrats running for

president faced off in Miami on Wednesday in the first of two debates

this week as opposition party candidates jostle for the chance to

take on US President Donald Trump in 2020.

American voters got their first look at just under half the crowded

Democratic field on a single stage, with the three women and seven

men gathered for the televised event.

Of the field of 25, only 20 qualified to take part in the debate.

The group included Senator Elizabeth Warren, whose support according

to polls is the highest among the 10. The front-runner among the

Democrats, former vice president Joe Biden, and Senator Bernie

Sanders, another candidate whose polling number are among the

highest, are scheduled to debate Thursday night.

Though the 2020 presidential election is still 16 months away,

Democrats are eager to winnow down the field and choose a candidate

they believe has the best chance to beat Trump.

Facing each other on the day a haunting photo of an immigrant father

and daughter who drowned in the Rio Grande at the US-Mexico border

was published, the candidates sparred over immigration policy, but

all agreed that separating families at the border, a controversial

Trump administration policy affecting migrants who cross into the

country with children, was wrong.

The candidates also answered questions on foreign policy, including

tensions in the Middle East, health care, labour law and climate

change.

Asked to name the greatest geopolitical threat to the US, Washington

Governor Jay Inslee received loud cheers when he said, "The biggest

threat to the security of the United States is Donald Trump."

Senator Amy Klobuchar took a jab at Trump's belligerent tweets and

decision to pull back from launching attacks on Iran in retaliation

for the downing of a military drone 10 minutes before the plan was to

go into action.

"This president is literally, every single day, 10 minutes away from

going to war, one tweet away from going to war," she said. "I don't

think we should conduct foreign policy in our bathrobe at 5 in the

morning."

But the candidates did not come down hard on Trump, as plenty of time

remains to do that in debates scheduled to take place over the next

several months. They stuck instead to outlining their own platforms

and trying to stand out in the pack.

Warren blasted large corporations that she said don't pay their fair

share in taxes and devote themselves strictly to profit.

"What's been missing is courage, courage in Washington to take on the

giants," she said.

Three of the candidates - former US Representative Beto O'Rourke and

Senators Cory Booker and Julian Castro - slipped into Spanish in

making their pitches to voters, while US Representative Tulsi

Gabbard, a combat veteran of the Iraq war, played up her military

experience.

Currently a major in the US Army National Guard, Gabbard warned

against a war with Iran and clashed with US Representative Tim Ryan

when he said the US must stay "engaged" in Afghanistan.

"We must have our State Department engaged. We must have our military

engaged to the extent they need to be," Ryan said in response to a

question about the lengthy war in Afghanistan.

Gabbard told Ryan she found his comment "unacceptable" and said the

US must bring its troops home from Afghanistan.

"We are in a place in Afghanistan where we have lost so many lives.

We've spent so much money," she said, adding that she'd rather see

that money spent on domestic programmes.

Trump, who was en route to the G20 summit in Japan during the debate,

expressed his opinion in a single-word tweet: "Boring," he wrote.

Nate Silver, a pollster, also saw little excitement in the debate.

"On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is the debate having no impact and 10

is a huge impact, I'd guess this was like a 2 or a 3," he tweeted.

dpa

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