the final live tv debate in the u.s
presidential election saw donald trump
and his democratic rival joe biden clash
over coronavirus
racial equality and allegations of
corruption despite the candidate's
bitter rivalry the debate in nashville
tennessee was significantly more
restrained
than their first head-to-head last month
and north america editor john sopple was
watching
joe biden emerged onto the stage masked
the president
maskless this was identical to the first
food fight of a debate
but this was altogether more restrained
and all the better for it
yes the shouting had been replaced by a
series of emoji faces
eye rolls mock indignation derisive
laughter
but the exchanges were still sharp the
president claimed coronavirus
was turning a corner we have a vaccine
that's coming it's ready
it's going to be announced within weeks
we're learning to live with it we have
no choice we can't lock ourselves up in
a basement like
joe does he says that we're you know
we're learning to live with it
people are learning to die with it you
folks home will have an empty chair at
the kitchen table this morning
that man or wife going to bed tonight
and reaching over to try to touch their
out of habit where their wife or husband
was is gone the president went after the
biden family
and the son of the former vice president
hunter and the money that he'd made
abroad
you got three and a half million dollars
your family got three and a half million
dollars and
you know someday you're gonna have to
explain why did you get three and a half
i never got any money from worship
but joe biden wasn't going to take any
lectures from the president
about transparency you have not released
a single solitary year of your tax
return
what are you hiding and on race and
racism
claim and counter claim nobody has done
more for the black
community than donald trump and if you
look
with the exception of abraham lincoln
abraham lincoln here is one of the most
racist presidents we've had in modern
history
and there were harsh words traded over
the administration's child separation
policy
to discourage illegal immigration at the
border
babies were separated from their parents
and three years on
there are over 500 children who've
become orphans
because the us authorities don't know
where the parents are
the president defended what they've done
they are so well taken
care of they're in facilities that were
so clean some of them haven't been
reunited but they got separated from
their parents
and it makes us a laughing stock and
violates every notion of who we are as a
nation
joe biden sought to portray himself as
the healer and unifier
donald trump as the outsider who'd fix
america's broken politics
i went to a bar in nashville where trump
supporters had gathered
most striking was how empty it was three
weeks ago for the first debate
it was rammed with a few hundred people
there last night
there were around a dozen so will this
final debate
make a difference to the outcome of the
election i think that most americans are
already decided
i think it may change a few people's
minds but statistically
it just doesn't change that many
people's minds debates don't still
pretty much undecided i think that
i'm just disappointed in both candidates
donald trump was much more disciplined
much more effective in the debate last
night
but is it too little too late with only
11 days to go
until polling and already in the united
states
it seems that probably over a third of
the electorate
have already cast their ballots john
sopel
bbc news nashville tennessee